SINGAPORE. ICA 36th CONFERENCE Singapore, October Introduction

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1 SINGAPORE Introduction The year 2002 marks the second year since the launch of the e-government Action Plan in June The Action Plan articulates the government s vision of being a leading e- government. This report is an update on the progress of s e-government efforts over the period June 2000 to August It highlights the progress and development made under the six strategies spelt out in the Action Plan: electronic service delivery service-wide infrastructure knowledge-based workplace infocomm education technology experimentation ICT governance and management. Electronic service delivery The government s electronic service delivery efforts can be largely categorised according to its interactions with its main stakeholders, namely its: Citizens (G2C) Businesses (G2B) Employees (G2E) The central tenet that the government adopts in the development and delivery of e- services to its constituents is that of Many Agencies, One Government. Therefore the emphasis is on delivering services that the public really values, even if it requires agencies to work beyond their traditional boundaries. G2C As of June 2002, about 77% of public services that were deemed feasible for e-delivery were enabled for online delivery. The ecitizen portal ( a one-stop website for government e-services, was re-launched in November 2001 with seven new towns or categories added, bringing the total to 15. It now averages 3.1 million hits a month, a marked improvement from 200,000 hits a month when it was first launched in May To date we have about 1,600 e-services available electronically. Of these, about 1,300 are at the interact and transact levels. One of the main challenges in the area of e-services is in the delivery of quality services that the public values. To that end, the government has begun its effort to move its e-service 1

2 offerings up the maturity curve. Agencies have started to collaborate across agency boundaries with the aim of providing the public with a seamless online experience when interacting with them. To ensure ubiquitous access to government e-services, we have established a network of ecitizen Help Centres around the island since November These centres, equipped with internet kiosks, give ans who do not have access to the internet or computers free public access to government e-services. Helpers are also present at these centres to assist the non-internet savvy. At present, there are a total of 24 such centres located at Community Development Councils 1 and Community Centres 2. G2B In the G2B arena, The Government Electronic Business Centre (GeBiz) has accumulated over $300m in amounts transacted since its launch in December 2000, up from over $80m the year before. GeBiz provides local and international suppliers easy access to procurement opportunities in the public sector, allowing them to trade with the government electronically. Suppliers are able to view tender documents online and submit their bids. As of June 2002, we have a total of over 3000 trading partners. G2E In the area of delivering e-services to employees, the government is developing a common personnel system for the civil service that aims to facilitate the implementation of central human resource policies and support the management and development of human resources in the individual ministries. Infrastructure to support electronic service delivery To support and accelerate the development and delivery of e-services by government agencies, the government has put in place the central Public Services Infrastructure (PSi) which seeks to cut the process by providing a standards-based infrastructure, application services and supporting procedures. Comprising common modules to facilitate e-services delivery, the PSi enables agencies to deploy their e-services in a much shorter timeframe with cost savings to the government, as there is no need to replicate common components or maintain many different technologies. Some of the common services that can be used by PSi e-services today include: Payment services There are two e-payment mechanisms available today: internet direct debit - a payment facility that supports real-time direct debit payments - and credit card - a payment facility 1 Community Development Centres or CDCs function as a local administration of their District, initiating, planning and managing community programmes to promote community bonding and social cohesion. They also provide various community and social assistance services delegated from the ministries. 2 There is at least one community club in every constituency that organises cultural, educational, recreational, sporting, and social activities with the aim of promoting racial harmony and social cohesion. 2

3 that government agencies can use to send credit card transactions to an appointed bank for authorisation and settlement. These will be supplemented by a multi-bank, multi-merchant payment solution which functions as a payment switch that enables a participating bank customer to effect payment to any participating merchant over the internet; and GIRO-On- Demand, a payment service that leverages on the existing GIRO infrastructure. Authentication/security services Work is in progress to consolidate the current PIN issued by a particular government agency for its e-services to a national cyber identity. This service-wide single factor authentication infrastructure will enable electronic transactions over the internet between the government and the general public and between the government and businesses. Common database services Development work on common data hubs such as the People Common Data Service is making good progress. These data hubs will provide for data sharing of commonly used data amongst government agencies. Service-wide infrastructure The exploitation of infocomm technologies (ICT) in the government needs to be supported by a strong and robust infocomm infrastructure. The Government Infocomm Infrastructure (GovII) provides the support framework that facilitates the development of government applications in delivering richer services more effectively. The result is a connected government where ICT is exploited to increase productivity and work efficiency, enabling the delivery of better services to the public. The Broadband Infrastructure for Government (BIG) was set up to leverage national broadband infrastructure to provide government agencies with flexibility of choice in the technology, access speed and access media to meet their different connectivity and budgetary needs. For each government agency, a single connection to BIG can provide all the required connectivity with all the other networks, whether it is with other government networks or with external networks. To cater for the projected growth in transactional volume and network traffic, the Government Data Centre was built and began operations in May Such an infrastructure not only provides a secure, non-stop and robust hosting environment, ready for applications implementation, as a central facility, it also allows government agencies to deploy application systems within a short lead time. In line with the Many Agencies, One Government vision, the government needs to create an environment of information sharing and interoperability within the public service. The Service- Wide Technical Architecture (SWTA) was developed to meet this objective. The SWTA is a set of principles, standards and guidelines to guide public sector agencies in the design, acquisition, implementation and management of infocomm technology. This common set of principles and standards will provide a semantic framework for information sharing and interoperability of systems across all agencies. 3

4 Knowledge-based workplace In July 2001, a Knowledge Management Experimentation Programme was established to nurture knowledge management (KM) ideas and develop prototypes and trial systems. The $5 million programme will co-fund the cost of approved projects subject to a fixed cap per project. Participating agencies will fund the remaining amount. Apart from providing seed funds to participating agencies, the programme aims to facilitate public sector-wide learning through co-ordinated planning and research on KM concepts; promotion of KM ideas; as well as sharing project experiences amongst participating agencies. As of June 2002, seven agencies have benefited from the programme. When completed, we will see some knowledge bases and intellectual assets created in legal service, scholarship administration, education and best practices in productivity. Infocomm education Public officers are vital in the success of policy implementation and service provision. The Infocomm Education Programme (IEP) aims to equip public officers with new ICT-related skills and competencies to meet the challenges in their workplace. The Infocomm Education Programme aims to equip public officers with the necessary skills to see possibilities and capitalise on the opportunities for the co-creation of an e-government. IEP also aims to ensure that all officers are fully equipped to work adeptly within an e-government. Set up in August 2001, this programme is mindful of the different roles that various public sector executives and managers play and has core and elective courses to meet the needs of officers who are users or owners of ICT projects. As of June 2002, the development of two out of four core and three out of eight elective courses defined has been completed. In addition, the programme also includes a Distinguished CIO Speaker Series and strategic computing courses for public sector leaders. Technology experimentation Launched in June 2002, the Technology Experimentation Programme (TEP) seeks to facilitate experimentation of emerging infocomm technologies and innovative infocomm solutions in the public sector, with a view to understand the impact of the technologies for possible large scale exploitation. Like the KMEP, the TEP is based on a co-funding principle. The programme will last three years. Technologies like Free Space Optics and Next Generation Wireless LAN have been identified for trial for this programme. ICT governance and management To ensure that all agencies are subscribed and aligned to the e-government vision, a sound governance and management framework needs to be in place. To provide that strategic direction to the e-government vision, we have the e-government Policy Committee (egpc) which the Head, Civil Service chairs. The egpc is assisted by the Public Service Infocomm Steering Committee (PSI SC) and the Public Service Infocomm Review Committee (PSI RC). The PSI SC is charged with setting directions and formulating policies for the implementation of infocomm initiatives in the public sector as well as monitoring infocomm trends and 4

5 evaluating their impact on public sector deployment. The role of the PSIRC is to guide the effective and cost-efficient ICT deployment and ensure alignment of ICT implementation with service-wide standards. To ensure compliance, service-wide ICT policies are implemented through the public servicewide Instruction Manual (IM) framework. The IM is a set of instructions governing the conduct of public business. ICT policies on matters like security management and preservation and disposal of government electronic records now exist side by side along with policies on procurement and staff matters. In the past 12 months, 7 existing policies have been reviewed while 2 new policies have been published. Forums targeting different audiences within the public sector are also held regularly to promulgate ICT policies and to bring public agencies up to speed with the latest in ICT developments and service-wide initiatives. For these purposes, the Public Sector Infocomm Forum (PSI Forum) and the Public Sector Infocomm Seminar (PSI Seminar) target the senior user management and CIOs respectively. Discussion forums like the CIO Network and Infocomm Discussion Group (IDG) are also organised to elicit feedback and views on policy formulation and best practices. Conclusion As we move into the final year of the three-year e-government Action Plan we realise that there is still much to be accomplished in the ever-evolving field of e-government. And as we embark on the conceptualisation of the next e-government Action Plan, we will continually benchmark ourselves against the best practices around the world. We are convinced that the concerted effort of all is key to realising our vision of Many Agencies, One Government. 5