Canada, widely acclaimed as a global e-government leader, is facing serious "stumbling blocks" with its Government On-Line (GOL) programme according to the country's official auditor. A report by the Auditor General of Canada has warned that the programme risks becoming an "expensive and underused initiative" if key issues are not resolved.
It said that the Canadian federal Government needs to confront complex legal and privacy issues and should provide long term financing for e-government.
Many federal departments have only "high level" plans for service transformation and for dealing with the changes that will occur as a result of putting services online, says the report. In particular, there is no sign that departments have plans for dealing with issues like staffing, marketing online services, integrating IT systems and developing business processes.
One crucial but worrying project is the Secure Channel. It is intended to act as a secure hub for electronic transactions with the Government. A $57m contract for the Channel was first awarded to Bell Canada Enterprises and IT firm CGI during 2001, and a prototype was scheduled to be running two years ago.
But according to the auditor's report, issued on 10 February 2004, the Channel is now expected to cost $604m and faces "major challenges" especially over funding.
Quelle: Kablenet, 13.02.2004
