The e-Government Fund Committee said it has approved this week a R194 million (US$3.5 million) project dubbed as Public Safety Information Network (PSIN) whose aim is to interconnect the disparate database systems of different agencies under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and two other agencies under the Office of the President (OP). Science Undersecretary Fortunato dela Peña, a member of the e-Government Fund Committee, said the formal communication regarding the project proposals will be forwarded to the Department of Budget and Management for final approval.
According to Dela Peña, the cost of the initiative will be met by the 2003 e-government fund, which currently has more than R463 million (US$8.3 million) remaining to be disbursed.
The PSIN project is expected to establish interoperability among the fragmented information systems of DILG units, which include the Philippine National Police, National Police Commission, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Philippine Public Safety College. It will also interconnect two OP agencies - the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC).
The project will be undertaken in three years, consisting of three phases. The first phase will involve the development of Public Safety Management Information System (PSMIS), a browser-based application system that will make use of a private data center.
The second phase will establish a Public Safety Command and Control Center (PSC&C), which involves the acquisition of hardware and software components. The last phase will build a Public Safety Management Information Network (PSMIN), a nationwide set up of communication infrastructure to serve as the backbone of the entire system.
Dela Peña said the PSIN has the "semblance" of the National Crime Information System (NCIS), which the National Computer Center has earlier proposed. "Unlike the NCIS which is more comprehensive in scope, the PSIN is limited to agencies of the DILG. The system will also go down to the level of police stations."
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 06.09.2004
