The Steering Committee for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) e-Government project met this week to finalize the selection of e-government related opportunities that are ready for implementation under the E-Government Strategy and Foundation Project.
The project is an overall assessment of the readiness of the UAE Federal Government to transform into an electronic government and forms the first phase of the government’s overall e-Government initiative.
UAE Minister of State for Finance and Industry and Chairman of the Steering Committee Khalfan bin Kharbash said that the 450 different services currently being reviewed for ‘readiness’ are being assessed according to specific factors.
“Those services selected are chosen on the basis of five criteria: their ability to be integrated into government systems, their level of coverage, how “doable” they are, how “measurable” they are and how “transformational” they are. The chosen projects represent high value added opportunities that will make a tangible contribution to the e-government transformation process.”
Projects will also be assessed on the basis of costs, challenges and schedules as well as the expected benefits. Implementation will take place in 2004 under the second phase of the e-Government Project. In parallel, members of the Information Technology (IT) team will also prepare new Intranet and Internet standards which will define IT operational policies for managing all e-Government activities.
Federal entities have been actively participating in three data gathering cycles covering both their business and IT set up. The main focus of the data collected was the services currently being offered by the government to business (G2B), public (G2P) and other government entities (G2G).
Various ministry officials in addition to other members of the managing team including IBM Business Consulting Services and Smart Square, the project manager, attended the meeting. The overall project involves all ministries, authorities, institutes and agencies of the UAE Federal Government.
A clear and strategic selection process was developed at the last meeting of the Steering Committee held in Abu Dhabi on 11 May. During the meeting criteria for the future selection of e-Government related opportunities for implementation were defined. The UAE Government has undertaken extensive studies to build a comprehensive e-Government and has visited other countries undertaking similar initiatives to draw on their experiences. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
