To explain the details of the fourth edition of this award, the ITA held a workshop on Tuesday. About 120 participants represented around 45 governments, private institutions, and SMEs at the workshop.
At the outset, Shaima Hamdan Al Mahruqi, projects specialist at the ITA, gave a presentation about the award since its inception in 2010. In the first edition, the award was meant only for government entities, and in 2012 the titans of the private sector were given the chance to compete along with the government institutions.
The competition was primarily in the Best Public Mobile eService and Best Public eService categories. This year, the SMEs have been encouraged to innovate in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). They will also participate in the Best eSolution and Best Public Mobile E-Service categories.
To touch upon the security aspects during the registration process and the projects that will participate in the award, Dr Badr Salem Al Mandhari, director- general of Information Security, ITA, gave a presentation on the best practices in participating in such awards.
Al Mandhari explained the importance of the project quality through excellent preparation and the need to clearly understand the standards and requirements as they are the basis for the evaluation process. He pointed towards some important aspects to be considered in delivering the service to the public and its impact. Social justice and gender equality in the provision of eServices, in addition to credibility and transparency are very important factors to be considered by the institutions keen to participate in the award, Al Mandhari said.
All ICT-related SMEs in Oman that are registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) and are classified under the ICT category can nominate their solutions. The eligibility criteria for the SMEs include having operated in the Sultanate for at least a year, project maturity of more than six months and that only one project under each category will be accepted.
The criteria
The criteria also include that the registered eServices should have been developed and provided by any private or public sector organisation or to any non-government organisation (NGO) serving public service and that the eServices should be within the definition of SMEs as prescribed by the Ministry of Commerce.
Finally, the winners of last year presented their experiences. Wadea Al Lawati, IT Projects Manager at Royal Oman Police, talked about the benefit of winning the award.
"Winning the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment in 2012 has increased our knowledge to further develop and create a fertile ground for creativity and excellence. Participating in the competition stimulates us to make an effective contribution in the implementation of His Majesty's directives to shift to eGovernment. We strive to be the best, locally and internationally, in the implementation and use of ICT," he said.
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Quelle/Source: Times of Oman, 03.06.2014
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