Colorado State Government has been desirous of acquiring, operating, and maintaining a statewide Internet Web portal for some time. Initial efforts toward developing this capability were a part of the New Century Colorado Project in 1999 and 2000. Due to lack of initial funding, the project was suspended in 2001. During the interim, the Governor's Office of Information and Technology (OIT) in cooperation with state agencies, collected requirements, refined approaches, and studied Internet portal approaches in other states.

In 2003, Governor Owens identified funding for the project and legislation (Senate Bill 03-336) was signed on June 15, 2003.  Senate Bill 03-336 gave recommendations on the appropriate state agency to serve as the operating authority of the statewide portal.   The Governor's Office of Information and Technology (OIT) and the Commission on Information Management (IMC) developed a detailed Statewide Portal Plan, which determined that the critical success factors of a sustainable portal are governance and funding, and without these elements, portals fail.  They also determined that statewide portals are most successful when they enable maximum participation from state, county, and municipal governments, and are operated using commercial business practices.  The  Portal Plan was delivered to the Legislature on April 16, 2004.

In response to the Portal Plan, Governor Owens signed Senate Bill 04-244 during the 2004 Legislative Session.  Senate Bill 04-244  created the Statewide Internet Portal Authority, identified the SIPA Board's membership, and established the legislative guidance under which the Authority would operate.  The Statewide Internet Portal Authority is an independent public body politic and corporate.  In 2007, some changes were made to the make up of the Board of Directors by Senate Bill 07-254,  in which SIPA is now governed by a 13-member Board.