The creation of the so-called e-government in Bulgaria and the introduction of computer technology in the administration over the past decade have failed to achieve targets, but have become a safe and elegant way of spending millions through costly and questionable contracts. As illogical as it sounds today, nobody can say exactly how much money went to establish the systems of e-government, e-health, e-justice, e-municipalities, etc. Rough calculations estimate the whole sum at BGN500 million but in fact the money could be much more.
Cables, platforms, servers, gateways, portals and registers have been ordered over the years without leaving clear records so no one can now see the actual effect of them all. In practice, what Bulgarian taxpayers’ money has bought so far are now only a few incomplete and mutually incompatible networks, redundant fibre routes and obsolete software, and all this comes as an explanation why citizens do not get useful electronic services by the state.
Computerization of the state administration began in 1997, when Ivan Kostov’s government decided to establish a National Network of Public Administration to become the backbone of electronic communication between agencies, citizens and businesses. Otherwise, the main motive was quite banal – to save tens of thousands of euros each year paid by institutions each year to various suppliers (primarily BTC) for telephones, faxes and Internet. But things did not happen as they had been planned. Typically for Bulgaria, along with the national network they began to construct many other communication platforms – one for the Ministry of Interior, the Defence Ministry, tax authorities, Customs Agency… Apart from that, state-owned companies such as NEC and Bulgargaz also started laying their own optical routes. Almost every state structure poured millions into creating its own network, that only reached to a certain level of development that because of lack of funding to finish it. The worst is that the used technologies and software for the different nets are different and incompatible. An example is the linkage between the systems of NRA and the Customs Agency, which after nearly three years of struggle is still not functioning at 100 percent.
To complete embarrassment for the rulers, the tripartite coalition decided to build a new national network, which is actually doubling the one started at the time of Mr. Kostov’s Cabinet, but in a more modern version. As can be assumed, this Unified Communications Network was again not integrated with the National Network of the Public Administration, which rendered everything spent up to that point almost meaningless. At a later stage this failure allowed for the payment of additional amounts to developers for connecting the two systems.
That is why Bulgaria now has two national networks that go their own separate ways to the same institutions. And because the systems are not yet finalized, agencies need to use the services of private operators. In other words, even after spending hundreds of millions, the effect of e-government tends to equal zero. This is evident from the latest report on the administration’s finances, showing that only the executive power uses nearly 150 thousand telephone lines, paying for them more than BGN28 million per year. The same is valid for the Internet, although such services can be completely free for officials if they pass through any of the above-mentioned public networks. Moreover, the lack of a single operating platform blocks the absorption of tens of millions from the EU funds.
Is there a way out of this complicated situation? If you believe the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, not only there is a solution, but the country’s e-government must appear in its full glory in several months. This of course will not happen, at least because of the technological time needed, but the mere declaring e-services as a priority of the current government is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. Of course, if behind all this there is no eying of the next portion of state money. The sum to be spent under the Administrative Capacity Operational Programme is not small at all: according to the National eGovernment Strategy by 2015 on the purpose will be spent over BGN204 million.
Several public procurement procedures are expected to take place in the near future The BANKER soon describes in detail how lobbies and political links in various departments will be probably the key to a success in these tenders, so there will be no big surprise if again we see ineffective waste of money. Otherwise, the main idea envisages the creation by March 2013 of all the necessary infrastructure for electronic identification of citizens and businesses in all administrative units, an update of the e-government portal, as well as connecting key state registers, so that officials receive the necessary information without requiring lots of other documents from companies and individuals. What is also planned is to analyze the legislation and propose such changes to it, which will be in position to regulate all electronic services .
