E-government projects in Lithuania: Problems and Prospects. 1.1. E-government project concepts and their relevance The implementation of the e-government projects is the creation of the online service, which allows more convenient to communicate with the authorities. Traditional, public service, administration and management in Europe is out of date and require the conversion and the search for new solutions. One such solution is the introduction of information technologies and wider use of government structures. According to the European Commission, the new information technologies can significantly contribute to improving public sector management and administration of quality and efficiency 1. However, all the focus should not be solely for the information technology. Information technology must be combined with organizational changes and the practical application of new theories, in order to improve public service delivery methods, their quality, as well as increase confidence in government and democracy 2. E-government associated with effective and efficient public administration. E-government system helps to improve the public administration sector, the effective application of new management systems (subsidiarity, efficiency, productivity), as well as the adoption of modern management problems, the challenges of increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Information Society development has led to considerable changes in the citizens' organization, culture and structure of perception. The government must take into account and adapt to the realities of the information society, if want to continue to be responsible for citizens' needs. E-government promote and address the following issues: a more effective cooperation between different departments, agencies and institutions, to share experiences and problems of citizens in the problems of reading, relationships with the private sector development. State officials must address these issues if they want to survive. Information technology enhances the supply of public services and public administration efficiency. Using the Internet can effectively gather and transmit information to clients. Performance significantly over the good exchange of information between the government and its structural elements. The client needs - this is the basic of the reform elements in all EU member countries. Good service (direct and indirect) based on the user's understanding of the requirements. The client needs the general sense, that means it is communicating with the authorities, do not understand the complex structure of government and its interoperability principles. The Internet can solve this problem, allowing the government as a united organization, and seamless service delivery via the Internet. As with all services, E- government services must be developed in accordance with citizens' needs and expectations. Public administration reform to increase efficiency remains one of the most important guidelines for EU governments. Actions in this direction are necessary in the light of the all encompassing process of globalization, fiscal requirements and challenges, the development of society and the expectations of 1 Millard J., Iversen J.S. Reorganisation of government back-offices for better electronic public services European good practices (back-office reorganisation). Final report to the European Commission // Danish Technological Institute, 2004, p.7; 2 European Commission, 2000a, eeurope an information society for all, 23-24 March 2000, Lisbon. Internet access: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/information_society/eeuropa/pdf/com081299_en.pdf>; European Commission, 2002, eeurope 2005 Action Plan. Internet access: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/information_society/eeurope>; Commission of the European communities Brussels, 28.5.2002 COM(2002) 263 final communication from the commission to the council, the European parliament, the economic and social committee and the committee of the regions eeurope 2005: An information society for all An Action Plan to be presented in view of the Sevilla European Council, 21/22 June 2002; Commission of the European communities Brussels, 26.9.2003 COM(2003) 567 final communication from the commission to the council, the European parliament, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions The Role of egovernment for Europe's Future {SEC(2003) 1038 }. 1
customers, this means continuing the reform process 3. Fundamental issues and the determination of elements, in particular, such as: improved activity at lower cost, time, the reform steps and the nature of diversity, to reflect each country's reform strategy. Reforms must be reflected in all the traits of good government: legitimacy, law, transparency, accountability, fairness, efficiency, consistency, adaptability and cooperation. In many areas, information technology (IT) has become a significant reform in the mechanism. At a time when greater efficiency is achieved by the government mainly uses the results of their IT service delivery, or, recently, attention is increasingly shifting to the of good government facilities - service improvement, accountability, and transparency-building, as well as the strengthening of communication with citizens. E-government encourages the government apparatus in constant change, increasing efficiency, development and improvement of the knowledge society and the development of the system 4. This means: The public sector is open and transparent: governments do not alienated and accountable to citizens, ready for civil participation and control; The public sector which is addressed to all, without reservations: the public sector will be all encompassing, i.e. all will be able to use it. Become obsolete meaning of corruption; Productive public sector that delivers maximum value for taxpayers' money: it means that less time spent queues, avoiding the many errors and misunderstandings, more time to remain professional "face to face" service and cooperation, increasing confidence in the public administration employees. During the last years of management and the concept of power has changed significantly. It was influenced not only the increasing pressure on the administration of the latest techniques in power applications, such as efficiency and productivity (growth in productivity, efficiency and effectiveness at lower cost), but greater transparency, openness, citizen access control requirements. It is the latest knowledge on digital technology coupled with the latest management practices will help to implement all of the modern bureaucratic system requirements. E-government makes possible the implementation of those requirements - increasing efficiency and transparency at the lowest cost material than it could have something to imagine the concept of the discovery system. However, modern technology allows going further. They allow a major change so far used, and all the relations between the government and the citizens (of power and responsibility), public sector and business, between business, government and public organizations. New forms of government management are constantly changing, responding to the organizational and economic change, focusing on the effective result of the development of civil society. E-government concept includes not only the transfer of public services to a virtual level, but also encourages the media processes, which could change the government and citizens interact, and spheres of influence 5. 1.2. Electronic service quality assessment Information and communication technologies in the public sector are more than fifty years. The emergence of the Internet has not only the process of a new name - E-government, but it raised a higher level. It also led to the dissemination of E-government systems around the world. Therefore, there is a growing virtual public institutions using ICT. Worldwide-up of ICT in the public sector, a growing number of public domain actors meet new technologies. According to R. Heeks ( "e-government as a Carrier of Context" in 2005) the study of such countries is that the statistics: 35 percent. were completely unsuccessful; 50 percent. were partially unsuccessful; 15 percent. were successful. 3 Held D., McGrew A. The global transformations reader: an introduction to the globalization debate // Polity, 2003; 4 Thorleifsdottir A., Hjorvar T. Best practices in egovernance. Review and Documentation // GoPro/Hugvit, 2004, p. 35; 5 Ailioaie S. ARS Portalis. The road ahead towards electronic government in Romania // Central European University, 2001, p.18. 2
However, in the available data, we find E-government dominance of failure. There is a direct relationship between economic power and resources, investment and implementation E-government success. The price of success is particularly high in poor countries, because they have fewer financial and skilled manpower resources. It is also the threat of failure in the political support and confidence. 1.3. Implementing of the E-government projects in Lithuania Information Society Development Committee (IVPK) under the Lithuanian Government ordered the creation of a "public electronic gates" which are already available online in three locations www.epaslaugos.lt, www.govonline.lt, www.evaldzia.lt. These portals are currently available public electronic services and information for residents and business operators. For businesses offering services and information for the following themes: the search and recruitment, data and statistics, finance and business support, sales and the closure of the company, corporate taxes, business registration, international trade and relations, business permits, licenses, patents, government procurement, agriculture and others. For residents the service delivery and provides information on environmental protection, identity documents, housing and real estate, labor and employment relations, immigration and emigration, public service, mail, telecommunications, defense, culture and leisure, transport and other topics. Information Society Development Committee, together with the Ministry of the Interior, Information Policy Department provides to assess whether public services are provided efficiently. If necessary procedures promised to correct, and then attempt to provide these services via the Internet "one window". These portals is planned to install three of four levels of personal identification system. It is expected that this will allow creating and providing the residents and business operators in the full interactivity of public services. The Ministry of Interior is responsible for the e-government project management and public service, using IT surveillance 6. In e-government project management includes SVIT 7 development, customer identification system and cooperation with international organizations. Meanwhile, the Information Society Development Committee is responsible for e-government project coordination and monitoring. This function, under the Lithuanian e-government concept 8 of the project financing and e-government management (or investment project management). As many e-government projects are financed from the EU Structural Funds, e-government project management, project management - training, selection, evaluation, procurement organization, the supervision and control of the disbursement of the funds and accounts are under the Central Project Management Agency (instrument "3.3. information technology services and infrastructure development). According to the Information Society Development Committee, in 2005 the largest investment in the projects did State Tax Inspectorate and the Customs Department, in the following figure shows the graphical distribution of investment: 6 Lithuanian e-government concept 7 Secure the network, according to the Lithuanian Seimas Information Society Development Committee. E - government concept in 2001, Internet access: http://www3.lrs.lt/owabin/owarepl/inter/owa/u0038182.doc 8 Lithuanian Seimas Information Society Development Committee. Lithuanian e-government concept, 2001 m. 3
Structural Funds ; 20% Other institutions; 22% Ministry of Agriculture; 4% Ministry of the Interior; 8% Ministry of Education and Science ; 10% Customs Deparment 20% State Tax Inspectorate; 16% Source: Information Society Development Committee under the Lithuanian Government Figure 1.The largest investment in the projects in 2005 Even 20 percent of all investment in the e-government projects consists of the EU Structural Funds. This number is increasing since 2005, when accounted for only one of millions until 2008, when it reached 217 million litas. Many experts believe that, before implementing any e-government project, it is necessary to take into account the potential need for one or the other electronic services. According to TNS Gallup survey 9 of 2007, Lithuanian citizens of the most interesting of this service: 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 68% 51% Job search Health service Income tax declaration 41% 39% Higher education Source: TNS Gallup survey of 2007 Figure 2. Needs if the Lithuanian citizens 9 According to the Information Society Development Committee (IVPK) under the Lithuanian Government survey 4
According to experts, a significant impact on the success of the projects the population to the digital divide in spite of well-developed ICT infrastructure, but because of the lack of systems and the promotion of IT illiteracy. According to the Department of Statistics under the Lithuanian Government 2006 data only a third of those surveyed use e-government services. 44,5 31,8 23,7 16-71 y.o. persons Using services Interested but not using Not using and not interested Source: Department of Statistics under the Lithuanian Government 2006 data Figure 3. Use of state institutions provided services According to the Information Society Development Committee under the Lithuanian Government 2/3 of e-government implementation is supply capacity building and other activities related to skills and infrastructure improvement. 1.4. Lithuanian e-government projects implementation in the context of European Union CapGemini in 2007 carried out the European Union in the EU-27 +, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Turkey, sites analysis. While, in the public service transferred to the electronic medium, Lithuania only a few percentage points behind the overall European Union average, according to the same survey, significantly lagging behind the public service under full access to the Internet scale 10 : Source: Capgemini, 2007 Figure 4. Full access to online public services 10 Šaltinis: Capgemini, 2007 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/benchmarking/egov_benchmark_2007.pdf 5
According to the Information Society Development Committee, the average European level - 58% 2007., 50% - 2006m., 40% - in 2004. 35% of Lithuania - 2007., 40% - 2006m., 40% - in 2004. 1.5. Lithuanian e-government projects At the same CapGemini study, the transfer of public services under the service to residents and businesses in Lithuania criteria, the data show conflicting expert receiving the results of the evaluation - even though the traditional business are more likely to have ongoing relations with public administrations, and are more interested in public service delivery through electronic means, Lithuania has the widest choice of services to the citizens, although according to the completeness, without doubt, a leading services business. Percentage of public services into the electronic environment for citizens, 2007. Higher education Health care Declaration of the place of residence Birth and death certificates Search of the publications in public libraries Reports to the police Permits for the construction of buildings Vehicle Registration Personal documents Social benefits and compensation Job Vacancies Search Income Declaration 26 25 28 35 40 50 55 67 75 80 0 20 40 60 80 120 Percentage of public services into the electronic environment for business, 2007 Permits, which must be coordinated with environmental agencies Customs declarations Employee benefits Procurement Data provision New business registration Value added tax Corporate taxes 20 50 75 75 80 0 20 40 60 80 120 Source: Capgemini, 2007 Figure 5. Percentage of public services into the electronic environment for citizens and business, 2007 The majority of experts believe the main strength in Lithuania has a well-developed ICT infrastructure in major cities of the country, extensive use of ICT among young people, is widely used in mobile communications, a well-developed public Internet access centers in the network and the relatively 6
high level of business use of ICT level. Meanwhile, the overall low level of ICT use among the population, compared with the EU indicators, do not cover the information society opportunities among older, rural, low income, lack of electronic public services (especially health) and intelligent transport management and installation services, their level of integration named as having a significant impact on the factors determining retardation Lithuania EU. The main obstacles to the implementation 1 0,5 0 0,536 0,545 0,529 0,273 0,182 0,176 0,235 0,294 0,091 0,091 0,091 0,059 0,059 0,118 Ministries Institutions under the Ministries Lack of the computers Weak level of implementation Lack of know ledge of the steps of implementation Lack in IT know ledge Slight interest in the activities of civil servants reconfiguration Inadequate legal framew ork Other Source: Information Society Development Committee under the Lithuanian Government Figure 6. The main obstacles to the implementation in 2005 According to the Information Society Development Committee under the Lithuanian Government, the Lithuanian authorities indicate a weak overall e-service implementation and imperfections in the legal framework as the main obstacles to the deployment of e-government projects. Meanwhile, the growing digital divide of the residents, business failure to successfully integrate ICT into their business processes, growing ICT security problems (computer viruses, attacks, etc.) and the weak competitiveness of the Lithuanian economy in international markets, due to the lack of ICT use is a serious threat to the implementation of the EU and e-government national deployment plans and strategies. Despite all the weaknesses and threats, Lithuania is invited to exploit these opportunities: 1.6. Conclusions To increase the population's interest in the use of public electronic services and e-learning opportunities; To encourage the active participation of citizens in e-democracy; To encourage the development of e-business solutions and business development; To develop an advanced communications infrastructure; To encourage the development of a knowledge economy, business and the country's international economic competitiveness. In most cases the system was developed in cooperation with one or more private companies, ie was carried out by a so-called public-private cooperation. Such cooperation has led to several reasons - the 7
funding, evaluation, mutual needs and transparency. The most commonly used on both sides - the private and public, technology and operating principles. In several cases, private companies in the technology and operating principles - after a few applications of procedures have been used in state e-government systems. The majority of systems is the goal of the systems and technical standards for compatibility. This is reflected in homogeneous systems, which do not require a lot of carry and deployment. Most solutions use open content (open source) software. Another important and ambitious aim - to create a transparent and open systems and process. One of the key elements of this process decentralization of the organizations. This process is a general assumption of the creation of a one-window in which to formulate all of the restructuring process with all of the institutions included in the enforcement process. Good practices and strategies necessary for the factor analysis of the e-government system concept through the various activities and programs of reform, such as research, eeurope, IDA, etc.. As well as the initiation of similar processes in the international, national and regional levels. This paper examined the cases shows that there are several examples of good practice, so the further successful implementation of projects e-government applications need to be taken into account. Most of the case, the country built its e-government systems in a similar way. The development and implementation of systems of success certainly had an impact on e-literacy, computer and Internet access points, data networks and mobile development. 8