Global e-government
NI firm wins contract for European survey: A Northern Ireland consultancy has won a European Commission contract to carry out a survey of e-government initiatives across Europe. County Down-based Helm Corporation secured the STG250,000 contract to study e-government projects in the 25 EU member states and Norway. The two-year study will assess the impact of e-government initiatives on citizens and highlight measures needed to further commercialise the opportunities available through the re-use and re-sale of public sector information (PSI). Data produced by the study will also enable the European Commission to test the effectiveness of the EU Directive on the use of PSI, and to consider how governments can make information available quickly, effectively and cheaply. Helm has established a network of researchers in each of the 26 countries to undertake the study at a local level. The researchers will scan relevant websites for public sector data in specific areas such as business, geography, legal issues, meteorology, society and transport.
UK reaches online government target: The UK government has announced that local authorities have e-enabled on average 97 percent of their services. The statement, issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in late December, noted that 3 percent of services were not moved online on account of "legal or operational" barriers to e-enablement. Local e-government minister Jim Fitzpatrick pronounced the figures to be "very satisfying" and said that the government's targets for online public services had been achieved. "The challenge for local government now is to ensure that this valuable work continues and that innovation and focus on the needs of local people continue to be at the heart of local e-government," said the minister. A national campaign will be launched early this year to raise awareness of online government services and to encourage citizen take-up and usage. The campaign will focus on the benefits of accessing council services over the internet.
US agencies fail to meet e-gov goals: Government agencies in the US have not yet achieved the goals set down under the E-Government Act of 2002, according to a new White House study, reports ZDNet. The "Expanding e-Government" report says that so far only four federal agencies have successfully implemented the e-government plans: the National Science Foundation, the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, and the Small Business Administration. Of the 26 agencies evaluated, nine were deemed to have an "unsatisfactory" status, while the remainder achieved "mixed results." The four top-rated agencies achieved good results in three areas: being able to justify and manage their IT investments, "with benefits far outweighing costs"; achieving less than 10 percent variation on cost, schedule and performance; and enabling citizens and government decision-makers to find information "easily and securely". Download the report (PDF format) here.
South Korea promotes open source uptake: Two state-owned financial institutions in South Korea are rolling out open source internet banking services, according to a report in the EFY Times. The projects, run by the Korea Post and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, are part of an initiative by the Ministry of Information and Communication to encourage the use of open source software among public bodies. "The ministry is fostering open source software such as Linux in order to end the monopoly by Microsoft. Linux system users have demanded the new banking system as well," said Korea Post official Oh Kwang-soo. "We believe that private firms will follow once our Linux online banking system proves successful," he added. The government said it plans to spend at least KRW100 billion (around EUR82 million) next year on promoting the adoption of open source software in the public sector.
China launches e-government portal: The Chinese government has officially launched its e-government portal, www.gov.cn, according to a report by the People's Daily Online. The site, available in both Chinese and English, provides a central resource where citizens and businesses can go to access the more than 10,000 government websites that are online. The site is divided into four sections: information on government affairs, online services for citizens, information for businesses and foreigners, and an area for interactive communication between government and citizens. All decrees and documents that have been released by the central government since 2000 have also been published on the site. The portal's editor, Zhou Xisheng, said the site aimed to improve the transparency and effectiveness of the government.
posted by Unknown @ 12:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home