Software development is likely to begin this month on an ambitious project that will allow Nevada companies to conduct much of their business with the state through a single Web portal.

Capgemini Government Solutions LLC, a French firm, has been awarded a $4.5 million contract by Secretary of State Ross Miller, who conceived the project.

The State Board of Examiners — Gov. Jim Gibbons, Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto — is scheduled to review the contract July 13.

Capgemini, which also is handling a major project for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, will partner with Lucidity Consulting Group of Richardson, Texas, on the business portal. The company’s proposal was selected from a field of six submissions.

The Secretary of State’s office began laying some groundwork for the project in October, when it took over administration of the state’s business license program. That work previously had been handled by the State Department of Taxation.

The next phase to be handled by Capgemini involves integration of the business services and the creation of a system that will allow companies to handle their business with the state in one online visit — and with one payment.

Among the services to be integrated, Miller said, are sales-and-use tax permits, state business licenses and corporate filings such as articles of incorporation and annual lists of officers. Capgemini’s contract runs through Feb. 1.

Miller said the Secretary of State’s office doesn’t expect any major challenges with the portal system. Similar software, he noted, is common in the private sector.

And that means, he said, that the state isn’t entirely starting from scratch even though the one-stop-shopping portal is believed to the first of its kind in the United States.

The Secretary of State’s office estimates the new system may help the state recover $32 million to $35 million during the next five years as it ensures that businesses in the state are properly licensed and registered.

Miller said his office plans educational programs to teach business managers about the new portal as development is completed.