The city of Federal Way activated its recently purchased GovQA software on cityoffederalway.com for public records requests for both city and police department records on May 10.

On Feb. 6, 2018 the City Council authorized staff to apply for the Washington State Archives Local Records Grant for the implementation of new public records software. A total of 170 agency applications were received by the state in the second round of grant awards, requesting more than $2.8 million.

The city was notified on Oct. 1, 2018 of the grant award for the amount requested of $26,455. The grant does not require matching funds from the city.

GovQA is widely used by public agencies across the country and in Washington. The program will enable the user to create a personal account to submit and track a records request in real-time, with the ability to view the status of their request as it is being processed.

Users are then prompted by email notification to easily retrieve their records from the online portal.

The State of Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee has imposed reporting requirements for jurisdictions in recent years. This software will ensure the city of Federal Way is in compliance with these mandates.

This software will provide access to records in accordance with the Washington State Public Records Act (Chapter 42.56 RCW), increase staff efficiencies and provide a more user-friendly environment for the requester seeking public documents, according to a city press release.