Ireland is finally moving ahead with its central e-government infrastructure, known as the Public Services Broker, after lengthy delays in the project. Seamus O'Farrell, senior business manager at the country's e-government agency Reach, said on 7 January 2004 that it has selected IT firm BearingPoint as the "preferred supplier" for the system. Negotiations with the company are continuing and Reach expects to sign the final contract in the next few weeks.
He told Government Computing News that the Public Services Broker will provide "a single point of contact for the public to access public services and facilitate some transactions between different areas of government". The target date for delivery is June 2004.
O'Farrell declined to state the value of the contract, but said the Irish Government had allocated Reach a budget of €8m for the year and that "this would be considered adequate for purpose". The Irish Times reported that the first stage of the Public Services Broker is said to be worth around €15m.
Although the system is key to Ireland's e-government efforts, the procurement has been heavily delayed. One reason for the delays was that the Government launched a review of the project following concerns over costs of the e-government programme.
Ireland's independent Information Society Commission has been critical of the procurement process, warning that the setbacks were jeopardising the overall e-government programme.
Accenture, HP Services Consulting & Integration and Siemens Business Services were also in the running for the contract.
Quelle: Kablenet, 07.01.2004
