E-Government

Introduction

'E-Government refers to the delivery of information and services online through the Internet or other digital means''[2] The development of e-government will, it is argued, improve government, by allowing people to have their say in government and offering its citizens better services from government organisations. The services offered by government will be more integrated and communication more effective between organisations, keeping citizens more informed about government laws, regulations, policies and services.  Traditionally, e-government has referred to central government, and indeed this report focuses on that aspect, but there is no reason in principle why it cannot be extended to local government, or to international bodies such as the UN and its special agencies, the European Union, etc. for whatever reason) and thereby bridging the 'Digital Divide'.

The Cyberspace Policy Research Group (CyPRG)[3] monitors the development of government Web sites worldwide.  The group has carried out research regarding applications established by Government agencies.   In 1995, it recorded only 142 established Web sites.  The number increased to 2617 by 1998.  The number has gone up sharply since then.  The latest figure is 16,998 in late 2000.[4]  The two sites^3,4 are invaluable for assessing the growth of e-government and are strongly recommended to readers.

In our view, e-government can be divided into three broad areas.  These are: the development of the use of IT within government (government as an exemplar of good practice); the provision of electronic information by Government to citizens in a transparent, user-friendly and cost-effective manner; and the two-way interaction of government with citizens.  This includes, for example, citizens being able to fill out forms or business being able to make tenders bids to government electronically; citizens and pressure groups being able to lobby government via e mail; electronic voting; or use of ICT so that citizens can observe, say, Parliamentary proceedings.  Each of these has to be taken in turn.  In other words, the third broad area cannot realistically be achieved until the first two are achieved, and the second cannot be achieved until the first is well advanced.    We believe that whilst the first area is therefore an essential prerequisite of all e-government, it is in fact well under way in most countries.  So our focus will be on the second broad area.

The provision of electronic information by government

This has been the subject of a recent literature review.[5]  In 1989, Directorate General XIII of the European Commission issued a document with the aim of co-ordinating national policies within the EU on access to government-held information.  These ‘Guidelines for Improving the Synergy between the Public and Private Sectors in the Information Market’ were designed to assist government bodies on access issues.  The main idea was that public sector information could function as a motor for the development of an information market.   Despite promises of a Green Paper, and then a draft Directive on the topic, nothing more has been heard.  This reflects that fact that the area has proved to be surprisingly contentious.  The market development implications and recognition of the need for open government as a guarantee of the rule of law is balanced by Governments’ wish to operate on a confidential basis.[6]  It is clear that the area is politically sensitive, and that whilst paying lip service to the notion of unqualified public access, many governments are reluctant to put the rhetoric into practice.

Public access rights and public information activities are two central aspects of an open and transparent public sector. The term ‘access rights’ refers to the right for everyone to have access to information from governmental bodies on request.  This right is particularly important where that information pertains to the exercise of public authority and is considered elsewhere in this report under “Freedom of Information” (FoI). The e-government concept goes further than this, i.e., a right to receive electronic information disseminated by the government on its own initiative. Information activities constitute an important part of public authorities’ tasks. Public information often addresses citizens’ duties and rights as well as their standard of living, health and safety.

There are important differences between FoI and public dissemination.  With FoI, the citizen must choose which documents (s)he wants to read and interpret the contents. This approach presents a difficult challenge for the large majority of citizens, especially in complicated subject areas. For this reason, the requirement of public dissemination of information is desirable and necessary. However, in contrast to FoI, public information permits the public administration itself to select and interpret documents.  Therefore, the potential for examining the validity of the public administration’s statements is limited. FoI and public information activities are complementary and both are needed to ensure quality access to government information.

We now consider e-government initiatives country by country.

Australia

The Australian Government is clearly heavily committed to an e-government strategy. The primary focus is its main Web site[7].  This provides a comprehensive and integrated access to the Australian Commonwealth Government Information and Services. It offers full access to over 300 Federal Government Web sites, with more than 500,000 pages indexed. It allows users to provide feedback and input.

The Australian Government has also created an organisation called Centrelink that has its own Web site[8].  Its primary focus is for services between the Government and citizens, including payments, benefits and other social services.  It includes information for first time visitors, providing detailed information on how to use the site. It also provides a link to all new and updated pages within the site, some of these listed include, allowance and Benefits, job vacancies, disability and carer connections. There is the option for individuals to find out information regarding payments and services options, and a contact list with e-mail, telephone numbers and addresses provided. This site operates under the Commonwealth Services Delivery Act of 1997.[9]

FedLink[10] is a communications network initiative for secure transactions between participating government agencies across the three levels of Government - as well as approved clients and suppliers. .  The network will ensure security of data transfer up to 'protected' level by sending information between participating users through encrypted tunnels.  FedLink meets the security requirements of Government while also providing flexibility - not all traffic between clients requires encryption.

A Strategic Framework for the Information Economy[11], was released in December 1998.  This document outlines the Government’s ten key strategic priorities for the information economy together with associated key action areas, covering areas such as skills, infrastructure, electronic commerce, industry development, health, culture, and regulation. First priority was maximising the opportunities for all Australians to benefit from the information economy. One of the ten key strategic online priorities is to ‘implement a world class model for the delivery of all appropriate government services online’.

Australia’s Government Online strategy was released in April 2000. This outlined in more detail the Government’s approach to providing services online. It provided agencies and stakeholders with an operational framework for agencies to meet the Prime Minister’s 2001 target. It also defined the role of agencies in developing online.

The Government’s  stated commitment was as follows:

·        Agencies take full advantage of the opportunities the Internet provides;

·        The facilitation of enablers such as authentication, metadata standards, electronic publishing and record keeping guidelines, accessibility, privacy and security;

·        The enhancement of Government Online services in regional Australia;

·        The enhancement of the impact of the Government Online initiatives on development in the Australian IT industry;

·        Government business operations to go online, particularly payment and procurement;

·        The monitoring of best practice and progress;

·        The facilitation of cross-agency services and communication with stakeholders.

In November 2000, the Australian Government decided to restructure the Australian Federal Government’s Web presence around customer-focused portals. It also confirmed measures to improve security and privacy arrangements, and measures to speed up the adoption of electronic payments. It noted that the “growing use of the Internet by government departments and agencies to present their information and service resources to the Australian people has created a collection of websites and resources available on the Internet. These websites vary from simple menu driven processes to quite complex sites that provide sophisticated discovery mechanisms of resources residing in many other locations. Although there is a great deal of linking between these websites and various search resources exist, people generally need to understand how government is structured in order to interact with it online”.[12]

The Australian Government’s Online Strategy aims to ensure that the Prime Minister’s commitment that all appropriate Commonwealth services are available online by the end of 2001 is met. Agencies are required to report regularly on progress. The next round of reporting is scheduled for September 2001, followed by March 2002. The results of the first two completed surveys indicate that agencies are on track to meeting the Prime Minister’s commitment. The majority of agencies expect to have all appropriate services online by December 2001. The Government has announced a whole-of-government Portals Framework to provide a customer-focused co-ordinated approach to the Commonwealth’s online presence. This framework will facilitate cross-agency services and capture the opportunity that exists in the online environment to package together information and services, which would otherwise be delivered separately. This provides efficiency benefits both for users and for government. Nine portals were due to be online by August 2001, with a further nine established by June 2002. The portals are based on customer groupings and topics. For example the first nine portals are: business; regional; youth; families; education; agriculture; culture & recreation; science & industry; and employment.

The portals framework will build on the Commonwealth’s Government Electronic Resources Network (GOVERNET)[13].  Currently, 90% of federal government agencies are on track to provide all appropriate services online by the end of 2001.

There is also a growing interest in syndicated procurement and the project is developing rules and operating protocols for government agencies to work together to purchase goods and services more efficiently and for better prices. For example, the Police contract terms for the purchase of vehicles are available to other departments.

Other syndicated purchasing agreements are under consideration, such as several departments negotiating on fuel and a group of thirty departments considering travel purchasing.  An important characteristic of the approach to syndicated purchasing is that it is not managed centrally, but by the agencies that have decided to consolidate their efforts.

As part of its adoption of the strategy, the Government also released an e-procurement implementation strategy[14], and adopted specific procurement and payment goals. These are that:

·        All procurement payments will be made electronically by the end of 2000

·        All simple procurement suppliers who wish to trade electronically with the Federal Government will be able to do so by the end of 2001.

The Commonwealth e-procurement strategy was released in April 2000. Five government departments and one Crown entity have signed up to be part of the e-procurement trial that will run until February 2002. Subsequent phases of the project will take on more agencies and more suppliers. The strategy consists of an overarching framework and a series of projects, and will assist Commonwealth agencies and their suppliers implement online procurement.

The e-procurement strategy sets two goals:

·        The Commonwealth Government will pay all suppliers electronically by the end of 2000.

·        All simple procurement suppliers who wish to deal with the Government Commonwealth electronically, using open standards, will be able to do so by the end of 2001.

The e-procurement strategy forms a component of the Government’s overall Online Strategy. It was developed through a broad consultation process with agencies and industry, which will continue to be involved in the implementation of the strategy. A key part of the strategy is the provision of a single point of registration for suppliers to government. The outcome of the Single Supplier Register (SSR) project will be a single source of data on suppliers for agencies to use to facilitate electronic trading, and to ease the burden to suppliers of maintaining information across Government. Phase one will scope the requirement for a single supplier registration database and will begin work on the development of data fields for the database. Subject to technical feasibility, phase two will enable the design, development and implementation of a web-based process to provide businesses with a single location to register as a supplier to the Commonwealth Government. [15]

Canada

The Canadian Government’s Web site[16] is the primary gateway to information about Canada and its governments. It provides information about its services and initiatives. In January 2000, the site was improved to include three different gateways.  The first, called "Canadians", provides information and services for health, jobs and taxes. The second, "Canadian Business", provides financing, taxation and human resources information and services.  The final one,  "Non-Canadians”, provides information and services for people visiting, immigrating and doing business in Canada. Each of these gateways provides information and services offered.  Each also provides up to date information about Government documents and services. 

The Canadian Government has an Action Plan[17] for its government online initiatives. Its aims and objectives are to become the government that is most electronically connected to its citizens by 2004[18]. Canada's goal is to have an electronic government that enables citizens to interact with their government via computer or any wireless device, from anywhere at any time by that date.[19]  Currently, it offers a wide range of interactive facilities and is on schedule for further developments outlined in its Action Plan.

The Canada Site Portal[20] is the primary Internet gateway to Government of Canada information. Service Canada provides access to government information and services over the counter, by phone or through the Internet portal, via the Canadian government portal. The Canadian Government site offers access to electronic directories and forms and publications of government information. There is also a link to the Government of Canada InfoCentre, which is a single point of access to the governments most used products and services. Other services and information currently available is the 'Canadian Health Network' providing citizens with links to over 460 health related organisations.[21] The site has information on over 1,000 topics related to lifestyle, health and disease. The site also offers a national job bank that is available at kiosks across the country and through the Internet. It lists available job vacancies. The site also has information available on travel and culture, and the environment.

The site also facilitates 'The Electronic Labour Exchange' which is an automatic, skills-based matching service. The users make profiles of themselves, making it easier for organisations to match up potential employees with the right skills for the job. Another initiative, 'CanLearn Interactive' has been developed for citizens to explore education and career opportunities.

The Government has also implemented a service for filing taxes via the Internet; it allows users to deliver Income Tax returns electronically, and individual Canadians to file their own tax and benefit returns. It is also possible to register trademarks on-line, and to search Canada's database of more than 1.4 million patent documents. In addition, up-to-the-minute business information is available through the government's Strategis Web site[22], Canada's most comprehensive on-line source of business information. And new interactive services are premiering on-line all the time.

In 1999, Canada became the first country in the world to have virtually all its public libraries and schools connected to the Internet.  Only very small libraries in rural communities and villages were excluded. The Canadian Government’s future developments include an online network known as the 'Secure Channel'. This will enable citizens to carry out any transactions with government, with the assurance that transactions will remain private and secure. This will be the country’s largest technological undertaking at an expected cost of more than $2 billion.

"In a demonstration of their countries' commitment to encouraging electronic commerce and e-government, Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) on February 22nd 2001 signed a joint statement, acknowledging their shared vision and confirming their intent to co-operate on these two important initiatives of E-Commerce and E-Government.” To emphasise this commitment, the statement was signed by two Canadian Ministers and two British Ministers using secure digital technologies.[23]

The Canadian Government is running a project aimed to increase communication between citizens and public institutions in French speaking areas, as well as to help to embrace e-commerce activities for those areas.[24]

European Union

The European Union has a number of its own e-government initiatives in progress.  This topic was one of the key issues of the EU’s E-Europe2002 Action Plan[25] that was endorsed by the heads of State and Governments of the Member States in June 2000.

The main EU targets for e-government are detailed as follows:

·        Essential public data to be brought online (end 2002)

·        Electronic access to main basic public services (end 2002/3)

·        Simplified online procedures for business (end 2002)

·        Electronic signatures within the public sector (end 2001)

·        All basic transactions with the Commission online (end 2001).

"Senior civil servants from the public administrations of 28 European countries have endorsed recommendations for the development of on-line government services. Putting more government services on-line for citizens and businesses across Europe is an important element of the Commission's E-Europe Action Plan".[26]

A joint Swedish Presidency and European Commission conference called "E-Government in the service of European citizens and enterprises what is required at the European level" was held in Sweden in June 2001[27]  The main objective of the conference was to identify and promote E-Government services at the European level for citizens and enterprises, and to examine what needs to be done and how it should be done.  This was the first time that Europe's senior civil servants, from the EU Member States, European Economic Area (EEA) countries, EU candidate countries and European institutions, had come together to discuss the requirements of national e-government services to citizens and enterprises in other European countries.  The conference endorsed a set of recommendations for action in the areas of e-government and ways for administrations to work electronically with businesses, citizens and other administrations.

The following general conclusions were reached:

·        Europe's public administrations need to develop a common vision of how e-government services will develop, and should be committed to its implementation. This should be based on decentralised responsibilities with a clear outline of the roles of the Member States, the European Commission and other Institutions.

·        The vision should include what public administration will do to ensure that citizens and enterprises have trust in electronic ways of working (e.g. privacy and security issues).

·        It should also include measures to ensure greater openness and citizen's involvement in the EU and national administrations' regulatory processes.

·        Public administration cannot do everything; there is a need to involve the private sector (e.g., possibly through public private partnerships, involvement of chambers of commerce, etc.)

·        It is not just an issue of providing technical solutions. For e-government to work, the bulk of changes are required at the organisational level.

·        There is no single solution. A multi-channel approach (e.g. PCs, kiosks, digital television, GSM, SMS, WAP, etc.) is recommended for administrations to provide services.[28]

All Member States are now launching e-government services aimed at citizens and enterprises by public administrations via digital and Internet-based technologies. These services are mainly aimed at their country's own citizens and enterprises. Examples include online public procurement, company registration, change of address, etc.

The E-Europe initiatives have been developing since 1999 and the intention is to have e-government fully implemented by the year 2004. The Belgian Presidency and the Commission will jointly run a high-level conference on e-government applications in November 2001. The conference will focus on interactive public e-services, and make visible how citizens and businesses at present can reap concrete benefits from their delivery on-line.  The conference will also consider where Europe stands in this field, and what lessons can be learnt from the currently working applications.

The conference should also stimulate the uptake and dissemination of best practices and provide an appropriate framework to address e-government issues beyond the 2002 E-Europe Action Plan.

Key issues in the E-Europe Action Plan are to invest in people skills, and to provide digital literacy for all pupils by investing in equipment in schools and to connect schools to the Internet and train teachers. Another important area is to promote life long learning to reduce the skills gap in society. All of society should be able to get access to the new technologies available to date to develop the information society.

The EU’s efforts have been in two directions; firstly, to improve its own communications with citizens, and secondly to encourage Member States to do likewise.  However, Directives are unlikely to arise, as it would be difficult to argue that the presence or absence of e-government affects the workings of the single market, or prejudices its development.  It has to be said that the EU itself, concerned though it is by declining citizen confidence in both it and its methods of working, has been unable to put many changes in place up till now.  The recent flurry of initiatives is therefore particularly welcome.

European  Union Member States

Denmark

In 1998, the Danish Government drafted a law on the secure and efficient use of digital communications for promoting e-government. Danish local government has a portal[29] offering access to municipalities' Web sites. The portal also offers some administrative forms.

In 1999, the Ministry of Research and Technology published a White Paper[30] along with a corresponding IT Action Plan, dealing with technical innovations in the interaction between the public and administration authorities. The Government also has an on going pilot project entitled ' implementation of digital signatures'[31]. Currently the government site offers the download of forms for completion, but does not allow for electronic submission.

France

In 1998, the French Government brought into legislation the use of digital signatures in social and public health and the supply of e-signature products and services subject to information procedures, use, import and export of e-signature products.

The Government is currently in the process of establishing electronic procedures for some administrative operations, such as tax returns and payment, business and association registration, requests for Government funding, etc. The French Government has achieved the target of getting all administrations to provide public access to government services and documents by the end of 2000 through the Service-Public portal that was launched in 2000. This e-government Web site[32] offers free access to legislative documents and it will in the near future make available official bulletins released by Government departments as well as the entire texts of the Official Gazette since 1990. Its design is focused on answering users' needs and on simplifying a user's relations with Government agencies and services.

Some of the linked sites are also available in English.   These include a directory of French Government Web sites and foreign government sites.

The French Government site allows for the download of forms, but it does not allow citizens or businesses to submit forms electronically.

Germany

In 1998, the German Government put in place a law on electronic exchange of information in administration and administrative judicial procedures. In 2000, the 'Forum Info' working group[33] was established by the federal Government to promote the progress of e-government as an application of multimedia in cities. All administrative targets that lend themselves to electronic service delivery are to be made available by 2005.

Ireland 

The principle vehicle for the development of e-government in Ireland is the Information Society Initiative, run by the Information Society Commission.  The Irish Government has claimed it is its intention to “e-enable” citizens and businesses, who together are described as “the customers of Government”.[34]  Such customers will be given the option to do their business, including interactions with public service, electronically. This, it is claimed, will lead to less red tape, quicker access to services, enabling access from home, better quality and more efficient services.  As with a number of other e-government sites, the primary portal, known as eBroker, is linked to so-called “life events”, including birth, getting a job, buying a house.  More interestingly, an alternative approach is “business events”, including starting the business, registering a company, filing returns, recruiting staff, etc.   The eBroker service will also allow for e-commerce with the Irish Government.   The Initiative is based upon an Action Plan[35] that was published in 1999.    Regular progress reports have been issued since then. The major achievements so far have been the development of high capacity international telecommunications infrastructure; deregulation of the telecomms market; the passage of the  eCommerce Act in 2000; a £30 million fund to support initiatives; the setting up of a high-level implementation group; £81 million funding to purchase hardware and software in school education;  funding for use of IT in community applications;  the development of a public sector tender portal[36]; a joint public/private research programme;   development of a secure online tax service; and new government services on the Internet, such as one for job-seekers, online application forms for those wishing to do their driving test,  and an online version of the Land Registry Database. 

The Irish Information Society Initiative has been the subject of a detailed critique.  This critique[37] could equally well be applied to many countries’ e-government initiatives.  It criticises the “technological determinism” of the approach, the failure to involve those with expertise in human, psychological, social and economic aspects,  and the failure to have representation for those  who are elderly or have disabilities.

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Government provides a Government site for citizens with Government information and a guide to major governmental departments, including Government Bureaux, a guide to government services, employment services, business licences, government forms, electronic services, government vacancies and police recruitment. It also provides the citizen with up to date news, government announcements, advice, events and documents, with the facility to external links.   It is claimed that 90% of the government services "amenable" to electronic service delivery will be online by the end of 2003. Currently, the government has 65% of its services online.

New Zealand

The New Zealand Government provides a Web site that informs the citizen of the government Services available and how to access them. It also provides Government contact details. The New Zealand Government Online (NZGO) was originally formed from the amalgamation of two previous government sites - The Government of Ministry of Commerce and the New Zealand Government Online Blue Pages by the Department of Internal Affairs Government. The NZGO was redeveloped and launched in September 1999. The site was then moved in July 2000 to the E-Government unit within the State Commission, "where it will be an integral part of the E-Government initiatives".[38]

The New Zealand Government has a strategic action plan for 2001[39] through 2002 for implementation of the '@yourservice' Web portal[40]. The e-government portal will provide a single Internet address through which the user can search for online and offline government information and services without having to go to individual government agency Web sites. It is a convenient way of finding out about government information and services from one place, without having to understand how government is structured and therefore which sites the user needs to locate.

From June 2002, the user will be able to look for information on New Zealand government services and public information through  @yourservice.  Government agencies will still keep their individual Web sites as well. The government is currently describing its online and offline information and services using a consistent classification system. The result is an integrated catalogue of information for the user to search through the Internet. An example of a search using this system is if the user carries out a search for  'licence', the user will be given a choice of marriage, dog, gun or driver licences.

The government is trying to ensure that if the user is looking for a particular government service or piece of public information, then the user will be able to locate it easily. The site will also cater for citizens who have difficulties in spelling.

The e-government unit will work in conjunction with the Privacy Commissioner to ensure that mechanisms, policies and procedures are in place to ensure that customer information is kept secure. Parts of this initiative will be incorporated in both the Trust Charter and Infomediary Code of Conduct and management procedures and protocols. [41]

The New Zealand Government Portal strategy will be implemented progressively. The transition from the NZGO to the new environment should be perceived as the start of the transition process, not the end. It will build on lessons gained from NZGO. It can be expected that the portal will upgrade over the next few years, as customers increasingly demand services and information online, with a great degree of personalisation.

The portal strategy itself will be implemented as a project incorporating a range of sub-projects. Milestones and service level agreements will be developed between the New Zealand Government and those agencies accountable for the delivery of information and services via the portal. These service level agreements will define the roles and responsibilities of both the agency and the New Zealand Government Portal. They will include:

·        Quality of metadata

·        Hours of operation

·        Currency of links

·        Quality of content

·        Compliance with standards

·        Service delivery commitments - especially if a portal initiated transaction requires back-office fulfilment activities

·        An explicit statement of accountability and ownership in government

·        Compliance with Trust Charter.

Government pages referenced online will be expected to carry a certification symbol providing users with confidence that the information is mandated by government, is current and has been through a quality control process. It can also be used to differentiate government pages from those provided from other sources."[42]

Singapore

Singapore has been developing e-government services for many years. The government has set aside $870 million from 2000 to 2003 for the project. Singaporeans will have access to 200 electronic services via the E-Citizen Centre by June 2002. There are many services already available on its E-Citizen site[43], such as registering a birth, checking the balance of a pension fund, apply for a scholarship or registering a motor vehicle.

The so-called digital divide is, it is claimed, not very deep in Singapore, as many children are assigned an e-mail account at school at the age of 5.  People without Internet access at home have are plenty of other places to connect to the e-government, as most schools and libraries are fully networked. More than 40 percent of the country's homes have on-line access.  The E-Citizen portal is an interactive 'one-stop' government Web service centre.[44] The portal integrates information and services from various government agencies to help the user handle common events in their life. Access to the E-Citizen portal has been developed to enable the user to connect at any place, and at any time.

South Africa

The Government's main objective is to create a comprehensive set of official Government home pages. Despite these initiatives, however, its progress in e-government has proved to be slow, and arguably South Africa has fallen behind other countries in terms of e-government. In particular, we note that the South African Government currently has no explicit initiatives or plans concerning the development of e-government. The only progress so far is that the South African Government has created a "one-stop" gateway[45], which provides government information, current events, daily updates and texts from speeches and statements of key political figures.

There are nearly three million citizens in South Africa connected to the Internet., and 12% of the population have cellular phones.  32% of the Internet users use it to access South African Government Web sites (of these, 67% at a provincial level and 59% at a national level).  There is therefore strong pressure on the Government to develop its e-government services.  It has been suggested that the services could be used for: job applications; licence applications; obtaining copies of documents;  and doing tax returns.  It is also argued, that entering this arena will improve trust and the image of the Government.  It would have to be a 24/7 service with personalisation to succeed. [46]

Sweden

There is an official gateway[47] to the Swedish government information and services. It currently offers access to Government agencies, and provides links to non-Governmental organisations available on the Internet. These links provide information about Sweden.  The Government portal provides information ranging from politics to education and from health to tourism.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Swedish Government (along with Spain) are the only EU countries that do not publish top-level targets for implementing e-government targets. The interaction between government to citizen or government to business does not allow the electronic submission of forms as yet but does allow for the download of forms for completion and submission by post.

USA

The Clinton-Gore administration was heavily committed to the concept of the National Information Infrastructure[48].  The primary purposes of this initiative were:

·        Reduction of health-care costs and an increase in quality of health care services using tele-medicine

·        Delivery of high quality lower-cost government services to the public

·        Preparation of the nation’s children for the 21^st century

·        Sending educational materials to homes so that students of all ages no longer need to travel to college or school

·        Promotion of technological innovation

·        Development of the electronic information industry

·        Extension of universal access (see the chapter in this report on that topic)

·        Protection of IPR (see the chapter on IPR)

·        Improvement of federal information resource management

·        Improvement of public access to government information

·        Support for lifelong learning

·        Creation of a more open and participatory democracy at local , state and federal level[49]

The NII initiative is well known, and was largely established and carried forward by means of Acts and policy initiatives in the period 1993 – 1996, and so is not considered in this Report.  It will be interesting to see if the Bush administration continues the previous administration’s commitment to the NII. The early signs are promising.

The United States Government site "firstgov"[50] was officially launched in September 2000 and is a centralised Web site providing information about local, state and federal government Web sites. It provides various interactive services; including applying for jobs, Web forms for providing feedback and online filing of taxes. The site also provides a directory of contact details for the relevant government by topic, agency, congressman, government and state governors. The "firstgov" portal is a single, customer-focused Web site where citizens can find every online resource offered by the federal government.[51]  FirstGov is a public-private partnership launched in September 2000[52], as the only official US Government portal to government information, services and online transactions. The original funding for this service came from a combination of the Federal Chief Information Officers Council and 22 other federal agencies.

President Bush’s proposed 2002 Budget has recognised the role of FirstGov. This budget has proposed to provide a fund up to $100 million over a three year period to support electronic government, of which part will include the FirstGov web site as one of the “essential Building blocks”, thus increasing the USA’s support for government information delivery and co-operation between the private-public sector on developing an electronic government.  The portal has been criticised  for its lack of navigational tools, however.[53]

The USA is significantly accelerating its development of a secure, seamless, “citizen-centric” e-government. The goal is to enable Americans to have access to all government information and be able to conduct all their government business online by 2003.[54] The initiative will incorporate transactions of all kinds including citizen-to-government, business-to-government, and government-to-government.  There is evidence that US citizens accept the delivery of government information in electronic form.[55]   This paper also provides a useful brief overview of the concept of e-government. The General Services Administration (GSA) has the lead on one aspect of this important initiative, for security; i.e., to enable secure electronic transactions within the government and with the private sector.

The US Government also has Web site called "US Blue Print"[56] this is Web site that provides a guide to the US Government, its contents are federally funded and administered by the US General Services Administration (GSA). The "Blue Print" site is a directory, linking the citizen to the appropriate Government agencies and federal services. It provides a list of contact details, and quick links to the most requested federal sites. Some of the services available include agriculture and food, arts and humanities, business and economy, consumer service and safety, education and the workplace, elected official, money and taxes, postal services, public services opportunities, and a host of other services.

A key to public access to US documents has been the Government Information Locator Service, or GILS.[57]   Moen and McClure have provided a comprehensive survey of GILS.[58]  GILS forms the basis of many US library holdings of electronic government publications.[59]  GILS has been criticised because of confusion of its aims and objectives and the presence of too many interested parties.  Standards for records were confused, and a move to the Web was started very late. There can be no question of the key central role of GILS in e-government, but this should not hide the fact that it has attracted criticism, both within the USA and elsewhere (see the chapter on metadata).

The US Government has a project to develop the information society.  This is a result of the important Brussels G7 meeting some years ago, when a number of governments committed to experiments in e-government. The US Government’s initiative is called the G-7 Government Online project. It has three main themes:

·        The increased use of electronic messaging for communications within and between governments and their clients;

·        The provision of online government services to the public;

·        The development of electronic transaction processing services.[60]

The USA introduced a proposed E-Government Act in 2001. Its purpose is to enhance the management and promotion of Electronic Government services.[61]    Its intention is also to create a federal government-wide chief information officer to be located in the Office of Management and Budget.  The Bill would formalise the existing Federal Chief Information officers Council and would set up an Interagency Information Technology Fund.  The Bill also proposes support for the development of a centralised portal and directory of federal government Web sites, further investigation into a possible Online National Library, creation of a Federal IT Training Centre, and assessment of community IT centres.[62] However, on the 25th July 2001, it was reported that "President Bush’s plans for an E-Government fund to finance cross-agency initiatives has run into trouble on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers in a House appropriations subcommittee slashed the first-year funding last week from $20 million to $5 million. The Bush administration wants to earmark $100 million across three years for the E-Government fund.  This initiative would play an important role in fulfilling the President’s commitment to a federal government that is more efficient, productive and responsive to its citizens."[63]

The US Government’s aim is to provide public full access to all government services and documents by 2003 and to provide the public with an option to submit forms electronically, such as tax forms via commercial providers like 'Securetax' or 'TurboTax Online'

A number of issues regarding e-government are being debated in depth in the USA.  The first that has arisen in the USA is the question of whether the public sector or the private sector should be delivering government information to the citizen, and whether a wealth of free US government information electronically is damaging the private sector.[64]  The second is the tension between disclosure of information and universal access of that information, versus privacy, consumer protection and information security.[65]   The third is the future role of the Federal Deposit Library System, which receives printed US government publications and makes them available for public use in the future environment.[66]  On the basis that what the US is concerned with today, the UK should be concerned with soon, it is reasonable to assume that similar debates will take place in the UK soon.

Conclusions

It comes as no surprise to learn that so many governments are trumpeting their e-government initiatives and that so many have the aim to be the most connected government in the world in the near future.  Too often, however, the targets are vague (“90% of government services online”) without defining how is the 90% is to be calculated.  Few governments seem to have addressed in any thoughtful manner the problems citizens have with use of technology.  The technological determinism approach, along the lines of “this is bound to happen, are we prepared?”  rather than “ what sort of society do we really want?” is a depressingly common feature amongst all the approaches we have examined. The risks of enhancing the digital divide are also rarely explicitly addressed. The committees over-seeing e-government initiatives rarely involve significant user representation or take into account the “softer” issues.

A key feature of e-government strategies should be to “re-connect” a disillusioned public with the agencies of government. In a time of declining voter participation and increasing apathy about politics, it is perhaps surprising that more efforts have not been channelled into greater interaction between citizen and government, civil servants and individual politicians.

The emergence of government portals is without doubt the most significant development observed in our research. One of the great benefits of portals is that they provide the facility for personalisation by the user, for example permitting the user to organise the information to suit his or her particular needs and priorities.  We strongly commend this approach to the UK Government.  We also note the New Zealand Government's efforts to ensure that its Web sites are useful for citizens who have difficulty spelling, and strongly commend this idea, together with the Canadian Government's use of minority languages, to the UK Government.

Surprisingly, few government Web sites appear to be security or privacy conscious. Only five percent have some form of security notice on their site, and only 7 percent have a privacy policy. The UK Government will need to ensure that it provides suitable policy statements on its sites.

We have found that governments’ Internet presence can range from a few autonomous ministry or agency Web sites to a fully integrated presence through a single access portal.   A government's achievement in developing its Web sites can be broken down into five stages.  This enables one to measure the country’s progress.

·        Emerging Web presence - A country may have a single or a few official national government Web sites that offer static information to the user and serve as public affairs tools.

·        Enhanced Web presence - The number of government Web pages increases as information becomes more dynamic, with the users having more options for accessing information.

·        Interactive Web presence - A more formal exchange between user and a government service provider takes place, e.g., forms can be downloaded, applications can be submitted online.

·        Transactional Web presence- Users easily access services prioritised by their needs, conduct formal transactions online, like paying taxes: registration fees.

·        Fully integrated Web presence - The complete integration of all government services through a one-stop-shop portal.

Based on this, we were impressed by the efforts made by Australia and New Zealand, and note in particular the Australian e-procurement strategy as a role model for the future.  The USA and Canada also provide good role models to emulate.