The construction of the so-called e-government in Bulgaria and the implementation of computer technology in the administration over the past decade may not have achieved its targets but surely has become a convenient way for the distribution of millions of levs. As illogical as it sounds, today nobody can say exactly how much money has been spent on the creation of e-government, e-health, e-justice , e-municipalities … Recently President Rosen Plevneliev pointed out a colossal sum of 450 million levs, but it is likely that the overall bill is much higher.
Cables, platforms, servers, gateways, registers and many more are ordered and paid without having left a clear indication for the effect of money. Virtually, in Bulgaria there are are several unfinished and mutually incompatible networks, redundant fiber routes and ratty software, so it is no wonder that consumers are not getting very much from the electronic services of the state. At the same time against only 30 million, for a period of six years Estonia introduced in each ID card a chip with a cryptographic key that acts as a passport, driving license, bank card, health book and many others. Such a card can even be used online to buy tickets for public transport. The reason for the success of the Estonian model is that from the very beginning, the authorities tried to create a single platform so that it subsequently seamlessly may be joined by any new e-services. Estonians are now one of the digital nations in the world and have access to more than 1,000 services over the internet.
Computerization of the Bulgarian state apparatus began in 1997 when the government of Ivan Kostov decided to create a National Network of Public Administration (NAMDA) which was to become the backbone of electronic communication between agencies, citizens and businesses. By 2001, the system had swallowed about 50 million levs. In 2002 in Sofia alone the network already had 120 km of fiber optic cable and covered 96 buildings as the NAMDA’s biggest advantage is that it provides a unified communications environment to which they could join all the municipalities, provincial governments, customs, and so on. In 2003 it had already developed connections to most regional centers, 831 institutions have joined – over 60 per cent of government buildings and 71 per cent of those outside the capital. To complete the project they needed more resources that were never found.
Two years later, a report by the Centre for the Study of Democracy, noted that the network has 600 access points and a total length of 700 km. The Government services were over 2000, but those available online were under ten. The main problem was the lack of an overall policy for development, and an example was given the route Sofia – Plovdiv, in which several optical lines with different owners compete.
This led to December 2006 when the then ruling tripartite coalition decided to create a new unified communications network (UCM) , which is doubling NAMDA, but in a more modern version. This was almost meaningless wasting of money, but at a later stage allowed for the payment of additional amounts to linking the two systems.
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