"It is important to recruit ICT (information and communication technology) human resources through the revenue budget to ensure the sustainability of eGovernment projects, many of which are launched under the development budget through financial assistance from donor agencies," the BEI said in a recent study of eGovernment in Bangladesh. The BEI study highlighting the potential of the ICT as vector of economic growth placed some specific action proposals for addressing many of the existing weaknesses in governance in the country.
The proposals include establishing an eProcurement system, creating incentive for championing ICT, establishing a maintenance team to be shared by different offices, building internet kiosks around the country, creating one-stop government portal, developing a scheme for national ID, creating online payment gateway, introducing cyber laws and setting up eGovernment resource centres.
On the recommendation of establishing eProcurement system, the BEI study said the online procurement system is one of the most popular eGovernment initiatives in neighbouring countries to address corruption and lack of transparency in government procurement.
Malaysia's eProcurement system, known as e-Prohelan, has over 4,000 government procurement points and over 30,000 suppliers are registered with the system.
It supports the entire procurement cycle from request for quotations, through request for tender, to direct purchase. It provides easy procedures for comparing quotations and specifications of goods and services offered. Besides accountability and transparency, other benefits of e-Prohelan include increased efficiency, reduced time for processing and reduced operational costs due to electronic retrieval and submission of quotations.
Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore governments have also introduced the online procurement system to increase transparency, reduce corruption and minimise time and cost of processing tenders.
On creating incentive for championing ICT, the BEI said an incentive structure should be introduced for the promoters and champions of ICT in the government. The existing ICT policy that states 'ICT-literacy shall be evaluated in the annual confidential report of officials' should be implemented to ensure utilisation of ICT in the public services. On introducing cyber laws, the BEI said the enactment of cyber laws is becoming increasingly important.
"Some of the issues to be included in the legal framework are laws to protect intellectual property, laws for acceptance of documents in electronic format (such as downloaded documents), cyber-terrorism laws for protection against unauthorised hacking and laws to enable electronic authentication."
There is a further need for an Electronic Certification Authority designated by the government, which should have the authority to provide electronic certification to organisations and individuals. On establishing a maintenance team, the BEI said the government should appoint a technically competent maintenance team, possibly located within the ministry of science and ICT, that can be called up for maintenance and other ICT-related needs when required.
"The ICT Policy should incorporate this idea of a shared ICT Cell rather than one for each government office," the study said.
On Iinternet kiosks, the BEI said building such kiosks for community access has been an effective model in other countries such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka where penetration rates are low.
"The government should develop partnership with NGOs and the private sector to establish such kiosks," it said.
On creating one-stop government portal, the BEI said the government should create a one-stop government portal that is designed to serve the specific needs of citizens and businesses.
The portal that is now touted as national portal of Bangladesh is not comprehensive and also not genuinely user-friendly in assisting users to access necessary information and services.
"Though this is not a high-priority item for the present time, it will become an important issue in the next few years as an increasing number of e-Government services go online and a single entry-point to various services becomes increasingly needed," the study commented.
Mentioning the importance of the study, BEI President Farooq Sobhan said the growing and expanding use of ICT through the use of informatics can help improve governance in multiple ways. It can also serve as a tool to enhance productivity and improve the quality of government services.
Quelle: The Financial Express, 29.05.2004
