1) Name of the best practice The project name and the translation in english Best practice number 86: E­Government Services ­ Malta 2) Description of the best practice Give a clear and detailed description in terms of: 2a) what is it about 2b) goal of the project, results and impact 2c)who is project owner 2d)who are project partners 2e)who are other stakeholders 2a) e­Government is the manner by which the providers of public service interact with the citizen via the Internet 2b) e­Government provides major benefits to citizens at large. It makes public services better as they become more efficient and effective and more transparent and accountable. Moreover, administrative burdens are reduced. They also empower the public to make use of the Government’s services electronically. e­Government services are available to all citizens, businesses and professionals. 2c)The project is owned by the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communciations and the Malta Information Technology Agency. 2d)Project partners are all government ministries and agencies. 2e) Other stakeholders are local councils and other bodies that in some way or another offer a government related service (TAX, HEALTH, etc.) 3) What was the main reason for starting this best practice 3a)What kind of policy or program did the idea originate from. 3b) What problem is the project meant to solve or what opportunity is the project meant to serve . 3a) The program stems out from the government’s drive in the early 90’s to deliver e­government services for the general public. The implementation of e­Government services in Malta has been very successful. In 2007, Cap Gemini in its benchmarking study for the EU Commission has ranked Malta 2nd place in on­line sophistication and full availability of e­Government services. Government’s Smart Island Strategy for 2008­2010 focuses on enhancing the quality of life through the application of ICTs that provide benefits to the public administration, the business community and citizens at large. 3b) To date about 90% of the most widely used Public Services for citizens and businesses are being offered through the Internet and mobile. These services and others which we have in the pipeline are a demonstration of our continued effort to reach our objective of all Public Services being online by 2010. The project is a way to reach out to the public at large and persons with reduced mobility, offers them all government related services from the comfort of their home, and also acts as a way of reducing unnecessary travelling and emissions. 4) Which policy does the best practice support and in what way Choose one of the six main policies of the project and describe in a detailed way how this project supports the chosen policies. This parts is almost the same as in 3, but try to describe this part more in terms of the project. You can choose more than one policy. The six main policies of the project are: 1. Enhanced level of democracy through ICT 2. Improved Citizens services 3. Enhanced health service 4. Advanced social inclusion 5. Regional broadband development 6. Investigation of economic development models on a regional level 1.Enhanced level of democracy through ICT By means of the e­Government Web portal (mygov.mt) and Government’s official portal (gov.mt) citizens may access all the e­Government services which are available online. It acts as one­stop shop to all information about public administration. The e­Government Web portal encompasses an electronic identity (e­ID); an electronic payment gateway and a sms gateway that has push and pull capabilities. The electronic identity (e­ID) offers a secure, single sign­on authentication and electronic signing. 5) Describe the implementation of the project Describe the implementation in terms of: 5a) Who implemented it (project partners, stakeholders, government) 5b) What actions were taken for implantation 5c) What was the planning and how long did it actually take to fully implement the best practice 5a) Design and Implementation is done the Malta Information Technology Agency 5b) Actions included that the service is tested and sure that it works from day one, and that the responsible ministry/body/organisation is aware of the whole service and what can be done through a particular service. 5c) 2/3 months planning stage 1 month testing stage 6) Describe the financial issues concerning the best practice 6a) What were the total costs of the project ( describe in detail as much as you can what the cost were from idea to implementation. If the project exceeded budget, describe why and how this was solved. 6b) Who financed the project 6a) € 20,000 6b) Government 7) Describe the needs that have been tackled by the projects Give a detailed description of the needs that have been tackled See nr.2 8) Describe the barriers and problems that had to be overcome Give a detailed description of the problems and barriers that have been overcome and the problems and barriers that have not been overcome Mainly technical and initial teething problems related to technical systems and testing of the service. 9) Describe the solutions for the barriers and problems described above Give a detailed description of the solutions for the barriers and problems described above Gathering of information and learning from previous mistakes. 10) Region specific characteristics Describe in detail as much as you can region specific characteristics that helped speed up or slow down the implementation 11) What could be the value of this project for the DC model Describe the advantages that a partner can have if everybody implemented your best practice described in this template Transfer of knowledge, methods and adaptability to small municipalities considering Malta can be considered similar to a European city/municipality.