Most information and communications technology (ICT)-related projects in government are e-government projects, explained Virgilio Pena who is now a consultant for the "E-governance for Effectiveness and Efficiency" (E3) project of management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint.
Bearing Point has won the bid to implement the E3 project under a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency.
Pena said that e-governance, on the other hand, describes an encompassing use of ICT to deliver better public service. Put simply, e-governance is "providing best service to clients" using ICT, he added.
Amid the controversy hounding the National Broadband Network project of the Department of Transportation and Communications, Pena stressed that this project could have been justified if government had an e-governance policy and strategy in place.
“NBN could have been easily justified if e-governance is in place. This is so because you would need a government network to deliver government ICT services,” he said.
In his years of public service, Pena said he has seen that most government ICT projects are designed without the idea of having them “connected” to other government ICT projects.
He cited mega ICT projects of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the LTO, which are essentially e-government projects that automated a government process or service.
His idea of e-governance would now allow people to transact with one agency that has access to all government records. Thus, in the case of getting a passport, people don't need to get NBI clearance to apply for a passport. DFA would already have access to other agencies to verify the identity of applicants.
Hoping to push the idea of more public-private partnerships in ICT projects in government, the E3 project is working on a study that would come up with policy recommendations for e-governance, Pena said.
“We need a vehicle to push the e-governance policies,” the former government executive said.
Results of the E3 study will be presented to the National Competitive Council, which is currently headed by the Department of Trade and Industry in cooperation with the private sector, Pena said. The NCC was created through an executive order.
E3, which started late 2006, is a five-year project that has received about $10 million in grant from CIDA. The E3 study will look into existing government policies and laws and to identify best practices, wherein government could effectively outsource ICT systems to the private sector, he said.
“Our study will find out if the BOT law needs to be amended to become applicable to ICT projects,” Pena said.
The E3 study will also look into international experiences in terms of government outsourcing ICT projects.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Erwin Oliva
Quelle/Source: Inquirer, 29.11.2007
