The Department of Internal Affairs wants to hear from businesses that could benefit if the secure online igovt logon service and igovt identity verification service is extended beyond government agencies.

The services use information already held by the government to verify people's identities online, but only when people choose to do so.

The Department today released an Invitation to Present Commercial Opportunities. It asks for responses from organisations with specialised expertise and innovative ideas for online services. This follows a Cabinet decision on 24 August to continue the roll-out of igovt over the next two years using the existing funding, and explore options for commercial sector involvement in the programme.

Internal Affairs is interested in any proposals for commercial use of the services, including through public-private partnerships. Businesses might be interested only in using the services, or might want to take part in developing, distributing or increasing public and private sector use of igovt services.

In any arrangement, the government would continue to own and protect personal information about people. New Zealanders would be able to choose if they wanted to use igovt services. By doing so, their identity and privacy would be protected when doing business online.

People would have to give their consent each time their personal information was sent to a participating service provider. The government would have no way of knowing what people did on a private organisation's website, and this information also could not be shared between organisations offering and using igovt services.