International IT service provider Siemens Business Services announced on 5 July 2004 it had won a US$64 million order from the Turkish Ministry of Finance to integrate 326 government offices into a nationwide communication network and to implement the necessary hardware and software for the use of electronic signatures With this initiative, the Ministry of Finance aims to implement quick and straightforward administrative workflows, accompanied by greater transparency in its tax data. By the time the project is completed in the summer of 2005, all 599 offices – including tax offices, regional finance offices and tax inspector offices – of the General Directorate of Revenue will be networked.
Turkish citizens will then be able to submit their tax returns via the Internet and to call up their tax file online whenever they want. All tax data will be centrally stored in a data warehouse system, and access to the system will be secured by the use of digital signatures and encrypted data transfer via a Public Key Infrastructure. Siemens Business Services will also establish the necessary IT infrastructure for the creation of a call centre.
As prime contractor, Siemens Business Services will be responsible for all services, from system design to rollout and training. Since April 2004 the IT service provider has installed more than 300 servers, some 10,000 PCs and over 5000 printers, and has networked the tax authorities with a Wide Area Network. The project follows a previous order to automate the Turkish tax authorities processes that was awarded to Siemens Business Services in 1998.
"This project will provide the foundation for additional public projects that will bring Turkey closer to e-government”, said Osman Arioglu, General Manager of the Turkish Ministry of Finance.
The Government also hopes that this initiative will help fight the country’s huge informal economy: "We believe a more efficient system means more people will comply,” said Arioglu. “If the people know the informal economy is collapsing, they will feel more confident in the political and economic systems. The new technology will help combat the informal economy."
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 14.07.2004
