Florida set to ink IT outsourcing deal: The state of Florida is set to award contracts for an IT outsourcing project to two companies this summer. According to the state's chief information officer, Kim Bahrami, Florida plans to ink deals with Accenture and BearingPoint for work on the MyFlorida Alliance portal project. Under the terms of the proposed seven-year contract, Accenture will supply applications management in support of the state portal and will manage the delivery of e-government services, while BearingPoint will provide desktop management, e-government services and desktop services for the state's data centre. Over 30 companies will have major roles in the project when it is awarded, said Bahrami, including NIC, Affiliated Computer Services and WorldCom, each of which will act as subcontractors for the project. Describing Florida's strategy as "partial outsourcing," Bahrami said that the state will collect fees from e-government transactions, from which it will pay the contractors. The value of the contract has not yet been agreed, but analysts estimate that it could be worth as much as USD80 million.
France pilots e-voting for overseas citizens: The French government has declared a pilot e-voting scheme for overseas citizens a success. The experiment involved electing new members to the Upper Council of French Expatriates, or CSFE (Conseil Superieur des Francais de l'Etranger), an organisation that represents French citizens who are based abroad. There are an estimated 2 million French citizens living overseas, 600,000 of whom are registered to vote with French consulates. The government said that participation by such citizens in previous elections had ranged from 10 percent to 25 percent, and the e-voting trial was aimed at upping that figure. Two electoral districts in the US -- Washington and San Francisco -- made electronic facilities available for more than 50,000 French residents between 19 May and 31 May. Election software specialists Election.com provided the secure Internet-based technology. French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Renaud Muselier described the e-voting trial as "an encouraging success" and said that it had boosted overseas voting by 2.5 percent. Muselier said that Internet voting will be extended for future CSFE elections and may be considered for other elections in France.
Lebanon reveals details of e-government roadmap: The Lebanon's e-government strategy has been finalised and is awaiting approval from the Council of Ministers, according to the Minister of State for Administrative Reform, Karim Pakradouni. Speaking in Beirut at the recent "Solutions to the Power of Four" event, organised by Cisco, HP, Intel and Microsoft, Minister Pakradouni outlined the Lebanese government's "road map" for e-government. Pakradouni drew attention to the government's on-line portal Informs, www.informs.gov.lb, which now provides access to 4,555 forms for use by public agencies and citizens. Alongside the portal, a citizens' information hotline has been established. The minister also highlighted the government's on-line customs filing system, which was developed by the Ministry of Finance, and said that similar on-line systems were being deployed by other departments. He also noted that work was underway to install a wide area network to connect key government offices with their branch divisions and said that a national government WAN was being considered. There are also plans to link up the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Lebanese Embassy, Consulate Generals, and UNESCO in France over a secure network.
New Zealand reassesses e-procurement goals: The New Zealand government seems to have re-defined its plans for the creation of a comprehensive electronic procurement system. The original intention of the GoProcure project was to install an e-procurement application that would allow government departments to order electronically from suppliers. According to State Services Minister Trevor Mallard, the project's aims have been redefined and the goal is now to set up a "core transaction hub," which suppliers can use to offer their catalogues to government agencies. The hub uses technology from Oracle and is being built and maintained by consulting firm Cap Gemini New Zealand. The cost of the initiative has been cut from an estimated USD5.5 million over five years to a spend of only USD2 million now, with a review of whether to proceed further in November. E-Government Unit director Brendon Boyle said the original Oracle full-suite option was more difficult to implement and operate than initially thought. Boyle said the project had been reorganised into three parts: completion of evaluation and testing of the first phase, a consideration of what might happen after November, and a project to assess how government agencies could implement syndicated procurement.
Microsoft to aid e-government in New Zealand: Microsoft has compiled a shortlist of e-government initiatives that it plans to support through its recently launched Innovation Centre in Wellington, New Zealand. The software giant has pledged to provide free technical assistance to five public sector technology projects, saying it will spend around USD800,000 on developing prototype applications for the initiatives. Among the proposals under consideration are a request from the Fire Service to develop special software for use in tablet PCs, so that crews can download information about hazards en route to an incident. The Defence Force is seeking to develop handheld technology in order to capture information about its assets, while the Culture and Heritage Ministry has asked for technical help in making its databases accessible to the public. In addition, the Crown Research Institute has asked for the design of an Internet-based biological and land resource database. A Microsoft spokesperson said the projects that are selected -- due to be announced shortly -- should be prototyped by the end of the year.
Quelle: electricnews
