BULGARIAN E-GOVERNMENT: STATUS AND PROSPECTIVES
1. POLICIES
- Bulgarian decision on joining the EU - December 1995
- Lisbon Economic Development Strategy of EU - March 2000
- eEurope 2005: An information society for all - June 2002
- E-Government Strategy - December 2002
2. STRATEGY
- Providing high-quality, favorable and accessible administrative services to citizens and business in electronic format;
- Broadening the technological opportunities of citizens and business to participate in state government;
- Establishing organizational, communicative and informative environment for the effective functioning of state dministration in compliance with EU principles and best practices .
3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK
- Personal Data Protection Act - 200 1
- Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act - 200 1
- Classified Information Protection Act - 2002
- Intellectual Property Protection Act - 1993/ supplemented in 2002
- E-commerce Act - 2005
Sub-legal normative acts
- E-Government Strategy - 28/12/ 2002
- Strategy Action Plan 12 / 03 / 2004
- Government Decree 153 from 05 /06/ 200 4
o Defining executive bodies in compliance with article 41, paragraph 1 of the Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act
- Government Decision 761 from 24/09/ 2004
o Integrated National Data about Territory, Population and Resources a basis of eGovernment in Bulgaria
- Government Decree from 28/ 10 / 2004
o Creating Coordinating Council on the Problems of Information Society
4. STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
- Building technological (communication and information) infrastructure ;
- Establishing integrated organizational, communicative and informative environment ;
- Providing modern services to business and citizens 20 indicative services
5. INFRASTUCTURE : NNSA (National Network of the State Administration ) communication and information environment for interaction activities of central government, regional administrations and local governments
Up to the present moment the state institutions in the area of Sofia City are linked in an integrated electronic system and a connection has been established between the areas of Sofia, Pazardjik and Plovdiv.
The rest of the areas will be linked till the end of 2005.
Construction phases
- Exchange of data
- Integrating the exchange of voice and data
- Linking municipalities, customs and borders
- High-speed optic network of the state administration ;
- Mobile high-speed wireless services (after 3G system implementation );
- High-speed access to satellites ;
- Conversion of fixed and mobile networks to next population of protocol internet (IPv6).
6. OPERATIVE COMPATIBILITY
The information systems support the operation of business processes to exchange data and to integrate information and knowledge multiple uses of already registered data and the exchange of data by unified system, based on international standards.
A set of administrative papers is ready to provide system integration and operative compatibility :
1. Operative Compatibility National Framework of eGovernment ;
2. Methodology for establishing and maintaining :
Standards Register ;
Information Data Register ;
eServices Register
3. Methodology of system certification in compliance with the National framework ;
4. Sample of the Standards Register, containing 108 standards provisions .
7. COORDINATION SECTION ON NATIONAL LEVEL
Coordination Center for Information Technologies
http://www.ccit.government.bg/main.aspx
8. USEFUL PROJECTS
e-Gateway for services, provided by the Bulgarian government
Information and Communication Technologies Development Agency
General Tax Directorate
https://www.taxadmin.minfin.bg/dds/
Ministry of Transport and Communications
National Employment Agency
Bulgarian Institutions Information Gateway
State Government Information Gateway
European Integration Gateway
eGateway of District and Municipal Administration of Stara Zagora
National Library
http:// www. nationallibrary . bg
Regional Governor of Varna
Regional Governor of Gabrovo
Ragional Governor of Yambol
Municipality of Stara Zagora
Municipality of Dobrich
9. RECENT PROJECTS
Development of ePay Public Service System Project;Integrated Administrative Service Provision at Local Level Project FLGR/USAID, 2005Establishing i-TeleCenters Project Ministry of Transport and Communication/UNDP. 200 i-TeleCenters will be established in regionsWork group for creating framework on the exchange of electronic document and electronic signature ;Work group for creating information security policy;iTV-Services , phoneServices , mServices ,10. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
According to a survey, carried out by the Applied Research and Communication Fund and the UNDP in 2004 :
47 % of the Bulgarian municipalities have official websites ;
The municipal web site are mostly informational, still not enough dynamic ;
a lot of work has to be done in regard to operation and coordination between municipal administration and customers .
The above conclusions are followed by implementation of:
Integrated policy for naming websites and e-mail addresses ;
Recommendations on web navigation and interface of local governments ;
Recommendations on informing community about the official website and eServices provided by the municipality ;
Research on eServices and eGovernment concerning small municipalities .
11. FUTURE INITIATIVES
1. Implementing services within the Strategy;
2. Implementing the infrastructure of the state administration;
3. Institutional organization;
4. Establishment of integrated environment:
Project management methodology;
Rules and standards of exchange of information between institutions;
Design and requirements of the information systems within the state administration.
12. SOURCES OF FUNDING
Budget state/municipal
Donors subgrant programs
Most of the Regional Governors administrations are setting units of experts to assist local government initiatives in project design and implemntation
Private-public partnerships - PPPs
Perspectives