Of the 14 companies roped into the alliance, 11 are software development companies while the remaining four are software consultancies.
The concept, Dr Gatt explained, is simple: to deliver more sophisticated e-government services at a quicker speed than had been seen in the past – effectively turning the roll out of Malta’s e-government services up a notch.
“It is not enough that Malta is among the leading EU states in information technology,” Dr Gatt stressed, “we have to be the best, and within the coming three years I believe we can do just that.”
At the same time, the government has guaranteed itself stable software development prices, as well as guaranteeing work for the participating companies over the coming years, without having to go through a lengthy tender awarding for each and every e-government service to be developed.
The strategy, Dr Gatt added, fell in line with the administration’s policy of strengthening the private sector, which previously had to seek overseas pastures in which to expand their operations.
But given the business opportunities presented by the 14 new e-government services currently at different stages of development – out of 40 new services to come on stream in the coming 15 months – they have now been given ample elbow room in which to expand on their home turf.
Never one to miss an opportunity to take a jibe at the opposition, Dr Gatt recalled the previous government’s policy between 1996 and 1998, when the opposition had last been in power, of centralising all government software development at the state-run Malta Information Technology and Training Services (MITTS), which, he said, had resulted in more expensive software that took longer to develop.
The “mistaken” policy, which had also seen the government effectively competing with the private sector, began being phased out as the current government took power in 1998.
The internet, Dr Gatt observed, is changing quickly and moving toward more interaction rather than the viewing of static web pages, and the government is keen to remain at the forefront of the growth of the internet.
Among the new e-government services being contemplated through the alliance for the MyGov portal are services such as MyAlerts, MyForms, and MyBills.
The idea, Dr Gatt said, was to give the people the best and most sophisticated service while continuing in the work of rendering governance more transparent as it has been doing through investments enacted over recent years.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): David Lindsay
Quelle/Source: The Malta Independent Online, 18.01.2008
