E-government: Organisation and modernisation

Many administrative departments expect considerable benefits from eGovernement solutions with respect to the typical working day: They simplify and accelerate processes, they enable shorter paths of communication and allow a more up-to-date and flexible monitoring of developments. Not only do administrative actions become more efficient but they also become more transparent. The administration’s public responsiveness and frankness can grow:
correctly run processes can be more easily guaranteed. A strengthened and consistent usage of eGovernment solutions leads to positive side-effects for one’s own business location. Businesses and investors value quick decisions and rapid advice on requirements and processes. With its fast innovation cycles and many start-ups, ITtechnology is a growing branch which is attractive for business development. EGovernment offers, in particular, local companies and Public-Private Partnerships exactly this kind of interesting prospect.

The widespread optimism is justified and on the software-provider side it is also a foundation for business. However, technology is not an end in itself. It must prove itself in daily business and find equal acceptance among very different users. Modern data processing alone is not enough: The contents of the data must also be evaluated. Technology alone cannot make decisions or establish priorities.

Moving over to eGovernment solutions presupposes considerable investments in infrastructure and further training and results in reorganisation and follow-up costs. Technical security and compatibility as well as democratic principles must all be guaranteed: Simple conditions for access must exist and, if necessary should be universally accessible and even for free. Further difficulties, which in the mid and long term cannot be completely overlooked, are to be found in the archiving and maintenance of data as well as the danger of possible dependence on one single software producer.

Moving over to eGovernment applications can also force a reorganisation of one’s own processes: Successful eGovernment involves more than using modern technology: eGovernment is, in certain respects, a management task and also a leadership challenge in public administration. Its application is, at the same time, a test case for the modern opening-up of administrations for private ‘end-users’, and maybe even for basic alterations in the way the government acts.

This seminar wants to examine these questions using concrete, practical experiences. We want to inform about modern technology, but rather than letting technical details slip into the focal point, we want focus on the question of the correct exposure to eGovernment: How can these eGovernment solutions be designed and carried out? In this case sceptics suspect there will be an imbalance between quantity and quality. The chosen example of the public award procedure is a central and particularly sensitive area of public business. New EU guidelines present considerable challenges to all regions in Europe: from the beginning of 2010 bids of more than 5.2Million Euro can only be tendered electronically.

Host: State of Hesse, Hertie Foundation
Dates: 6-9 October 2008
Location: Kloster Eberbach, Eltville im Rheingau
Participants: Experts, scientists and specialist civil servants from the EAR region
Languages: German, English (with simultaneous or consecutive translation)
Monday 6 October 2008 Arrival from 2pm