1 Organizational Reform and Technological Modernization in the Public Sector or A view over some Information Society initiatives in Portugal Pedro Veiga 5 March 2005

2 Agenda Digital Cities initiative ( ) Information Society Operational Programme ( ) UMIC Work program ( ) Concluding Remarks

3 Digital Cities initiative ( )

4 National Initiative for the Information Society Launched March 1996 Green Paper for the Information Society in Portugal –April 1997 Action Plans –November 1997

5 Digital Cities Programme (pilot phase) E-Government –Local government Tele-medicine Initiatives for schools –Connect schools to the Internet –Educational Contents Local economy –Tele-work, eCommerce for the local economy, Citizens with special needs

6 e-Gov sub-projects e-Gov projects were considered a priority Finding: –Limited capacity to develop sub-projects in this area But some success cases –Forms for the Agriculture Department (Vila Real) –Wireless Community Network (Bragança)

7 e-Gov sub-projects (some difficulties) Availability of communications infrastructures –Limited broadband access –Very expensive Lack of human resources Limited understanding of the objectives of the programme –What means putting administration services on-line?

8 Information Society Operational Programme ( )

9 Information Society Operational Programme –First phase Several action lines –R&D, Accessibility, Contents, Training (basic and advanced), –Espaços Internet, connect all schools,... Digital Cities and Regions –e-Gov projects (Municipal level) –Communication Infrastructures Open Government –e-Gov projects (Central Government level) –Communication Infrastructures

10 Digital Cities and Regions e-Gov projects difficult to be designed –Municipality Web sites – YES –Delivery of on-line services - NO Lack of human resources to re-engineer the back- office –In expertise and number –Some municipalities are too small Complex legal framework Difficulties in changing the legacy systems Cost and availability of communications

11 Open Government Some objectives –improve the level of communication between governments and citizens and companies; –greater efficiency in administrative processes –better level of service and reduction of running costs; –increase in the transparency of the decisions and in the steps taken during the decision process Basis of evaluation criteria

12 Open Government Some success cases –Ministry of Justice network and services –Ministry of Environment Data networks and data exchange –IRS submission –Ministry of Finance network but...

13 Open Government Web layer over existing bureaucracy –Organizational engineering –Re-engineer administration processes Difficult cooperation between departments –The administration archipelago –The “Certidão” Complex and moving legal / regulatory framework

14 FCCN Example Connect schools to the Internet –eEurope 2002 objective Challenges –Gather very reliable and updated data on schools –Give updated information to staff teaching and technical at Municipalities Centralized system consisting of two portals –Worked well

15 UMIC Work program ( )

16 UMIC – Unidade de Missão Inovação e Conhecimento Action Plan for the Information Society Action Plan for the Electronic Government

17 Some UMIC Projects b-ON –On-line access to scientific journals Virtual Campus (e-U) –Wireless networks in all higher education campuses –Educational and administrative contents on-line –Roaming between campuses

18 Some UMIC Projects Broadband for Universities –Optical cable connection some major Universities Broadband for schools –Migration to ADSL –Teacher training

19 Some UMIC Projects PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS POINTS ICT IN SCHOOLS DIGITAL CITIES AND REGIONS DIGITAL INCLUSION - for a society where ALL participate NATIONAL e-PROCUREMENT PROGRAM CITIZEN´S PORTAL INITIATIVE OF PROCESSES REENGINEERING IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS RATIONALIZATION NATIONAL INFORMATION SECURITY FRAMEWORK ELECTRONIC VOTE

20 Concluding Remarks

21 A significant amount of work has been done... but The public administration works as “isolated islands” Tendency to “reinvent the wheel” –... I’ve done it my way Duplication of efforts and resources –Resource sharing is difficult for cultural reasons –Frequent changes in the structure of government cause waste of resources (e.g, ministerial networks) –Lack of interoperability standards Need to re-engineer administration processes

22 Complex legal framework –Too many exceptions, frequent changes,... –Complex and long decision process Too much legislative/regulatory production –Overwhelming bureaucracy –Cost and complexity of updating information systems Human resources

23 Thank You