Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The team of experts who are working on the amendments to the e-government Act are to be ready with the first version of the draft texts by 20 September. Representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications (MTITC), branch and employers organizations, the Bulgarian Academy of Science, universities and NGOs have already started working on the amendments.   The first two discussions on the project have taken place as the team will meet at least three times a week.

The amendments will be presented before the professionals in the field of information technologies and communications. At the end of September the preliminary draft will be presented for public discussions. This is the main priority of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications within the terms of office of the caretaker cabinet. The other major task is to speed up the development of electronic services for the citizens and the business.

The functions of the State System Administrator have already been discussed. That is the body that will maintain the established systems, assist in the training of users and consult the administration when preparing the ToR for hardware and software purchase. “The establishment of a system administrator will solve one of the biggest problems for e-government at the moment – keeping the existing services and connections between systems “live”, commented the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Nikolina Angelkova. The new structure will put an end to the bit-by-bit work and will prevent the absorption of millions of levs for one and the same activity.

Another team of experts has also started working on drafting the methodology and indicators for assessment of the activities on deployment of e-governance. The system will monitor the progress on e-government and will be open to the public. “The lack of clear criteria was the reason for the ineffective absorption of funds throughout the years and the unclear practical benefits of the projects”, Minister Angelkova commented.

MTITC is working actively for the coordination of several electronic services and an automated exchange of data between EA Automobile Administration’s system and the Ministry of Interior. They are to be presented and start functioning by the end of October. The e-services are related to the exchange of data on the driving licenses and the technical inspection. The design of a service for automated electronic checks with the National Revenue Agency for lack of liabilities on behalf of carriers is towards its final stages.

The upgrade of the system for online booking and purchase of train tickets is ongoing. Currently the service is being provided for six lines and by the end of October it is to be available for three more.

The work on the projects for e-services related to civil registration, municipal property, local taxes and social activity in the Municipality of Sofia and in Veliko Tarnovo will continue.