By the end of 2018, e-Government components may start working for all administrations

The Chairperson of the S.E.G.A. called on the municipalities to update the information in the Administrative Register about the administrative services they provide

Components that enable a standardized approach to e-Government are already available and functioning. The commitment is by the end of 2018 that these components shall work for all administrations. These include inter-registry exchange environment (RegiX), e-authentication (e-identification) modules, e-authorization, e-payments environment, e-validation and e-delivery. This was announced by the Chairman of the State e-Government Agency (S.E.G.A.) Rossen Jeliazkov before the participants in the XII Annual Meeting of Local Authorities, which is held in “Albena” sea resort.

The Agency’s team and representatives of local authorities discussed the commitments of S.E.G.A. in implementing government measures to reduce the administrative burden and joint tasks of S.E.G.A. and the municipalities in 2018 in the area of e-Government. The Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Dontchev also participated in the session.

Digital transformation is forthcoming regardless of our will. That’s why is better to manage it and prepare the citizens for this reality. By 2022 European citizens will be able to interact fully digitally with the administrations of their countries “We should not, however, reassure that we have enough time. In Bulgaria we are eager to accelerate this process also using the available funding opportunities with European funds”, Rossen Jeliazkov pointed out before more than 900 representatives of local authorities.

However, there is still a lack of digital skills for both consumers and employees who should provide e-services, the Chairperson of S.E.G.A. emphasised. According to his words, it is first necessary to assess whether the currently available in the Administrative Register about 2500 administrative services and regimes are actual services and they have to be significantly reduced. The second main task is that certification services, which are “services” from one administration to another, should become internal administrative services and the processes related thereto shall occur automatically and without employee’s intervention. Thirdly, these services should be designed as “episodes of life” and “business events”, Rossen Jeliazkov stressed.

Currently, 22 municipal administrations have joined as real participants in the electronic document exchange environment, over 80 have declared readiness to join, the Chairperson of S.E.G.A. announced. Electronic document exchange is not a real e-Government, but it is an opportunity for administrations to interact paperless, saving them a number of costs associated with stationery supplies, couriers, etc. and will drastically reduce the time for providing administrative services. Local authorities have to adopt internal rules for electronic document exchange as the e-Government agency as soon as possible will propose sample texts to facilitate municipalities in this process.

The Chairperson of the S.E.G.A. presented the opportunities and stages of development of each of the e-Government components, emphasizing the advantages of the standardized model for providing electronic administrative services in the interest of citizens and business. Rossen Jeliazkov called on municipalities to update the information in the Administrative Register about the administrative services they provide and maintain up-to-date available data. This will allow by mid-2018 updating the information in the Single Portal for electronic administrative services in order to start working as a standardized e-Services platform.

By the end of October this year e-delivery and e-payment modules will be validated and within six months the procedural requirements are expected to be implemented and all functionalities of the cloud platform for municipal e-services ensured also at the Single Portal for electronic administrative services, the Chairperson of S.E.G.A. announced to the representatives of local authorities.

“You have all the options for standardized solutions based on the State e-Government Agency infrastructure. S.E.G.A. is not established to provide administrative services but to implement policies and create solutions for all administrations. This is an Agency for you. And the e-Government modules and solutions together with the budget and project control implemented by S.E.G.A. in the area of e-Government ensure policy sustainability, Rossen Jeliazkov said further to the municipal officials.