IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

More than 3,000 government staff arrived at work Thursday morning to find a curious and troubling email in their inboxes.

The message was a summons to appear in traffic court in Cayman Brac for the “hearing of your case.”

To most of the recipients, the message made no sense. Some of them had not been to the Brac for years, most had no ongoing traffic case they were aware of.

A renewed push by government to move more of its business online will require an internal shift in the civil service, as well as with the private sector and the public.

That was one of the major messages on the first day of a training academy for government with an organization from Estonia, which has one of the most technologically advanced governments in the world.

Cayman’s government has made several attempts at e-government reforms, with the goal of making public services more accessible and convenient.

The Cayman Islands Cabinet has proposed a start date of January 2019 for strict privacy protection rules that will affect every private and public sector entity involved in processing someone’s personal information.

Before that date, a “working group” consisting of both private sector leaders and government employees will review the law to help draw up plans to implement the paradigm shift in local privacy protection.

The Department of Commerce and Investment has launched an online system for so-called designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) – a term used to describe companies outside of financial services that fall under anti-money laundering regulations.

The department is the regulatory supervisor for real estate agents, real estate brokers, property developers, precious metals dealers and dealers in precious stones.

As the Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing (DVDL) seeks to widen the use of technology to improve customer services, drivers will soon begin receiving text messages from the department to remind them that their vehicle licences are coming due for renewal. DVDL also has a new widget on its website’s home page allowing customers to check if their new electronic licence plate is available for collection by typing in their plate number.

DVDL director David Dixon said that the text message service was being implemented due to customer demand. “We’re excited to roll out this service, because it’s one that customers have been asking for,” he said. “Everyone has busy lives and sometimes these things slip our minds. This is a way for us to help make life a little easier for our customers.”

The government has launched a new online application process for police clearance certificates which joins a slowly emerging suite of public services being provided online. Although officials have been talking about expanding e-government for almost a decade, it is still moving very slowly and only a small number of fees or payments to government departments can be made via the internet. But in this case, the redesigned portal and police clearance application process allows people to pay the fee as well as deal with the paperwork online.

Officials said in a government release last week that the new service and other e-government services that are emerging are a collaboration between the e-Government Unit in the Cabinet Office, the Computer Services Department, and in this case the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS), with strategic direction from the e-Government Steering Committee. The sites can be accessed at eservices.gov.ky.

But he says the budget is tight. Legislators approved $250,000 for the year to cover the transition. “It actually has the assumptions of the things, the things we’re going to give priority to and how we are going to go about developing the e-gov’t framework and infrastructure and how we’re going to do this with very little funding,” said the Bodden Town MLA.

A new gov.ky service portal should be launched by year-end, with enhanced customer services and improved public sector efficiencies being two primary objectives. The new e-Gov Steering Committee (EGSC) first met this monthto begin this work.

Led by co-Chairpersons Deputy Governor Franz Manderson and Councillor Alva Suckoo MLA, the group commenced work on Thursday, 16 April 2015. The overall goals are to improve the experience of customers, especially by reducing time and costs in the delivery of services. It also seeks to enhance public perception of the civil service, as well as competitiveness with other jurisdictions.

Today’s front page contains a welcome development from government – Cayman Islands residents can now apply online for police clearance certificates, potentially cutting in half the number of in-person visits needed to obtain these documents required by immigration officials, as well as some employers and businesses.

As all of the roughly 24,000 work permit holders in Cayman are well aware, the conventional process for obtaining a certificate (which is, basically, a person’s local “criminal record,” including arrests and convictions) involves making a trip down to the RCIPS Criminal Records Office on Walkers Road, waiting in line, producing the relevant identification document, paying $25 – then returning to the office at a later date, waiting in line again, producing the ID again, before finally picking up the certificate.

Attending this week's seminars are representatives of public agencies such as Computer Services, the Department of Education Services, and the Information Commissioner's Office. Some private sector representatives are also participating.

The Cayman Islands government has issued a request for proposals for technology and services required to implement national ID cards for all residents, which authorities expect to begin issuing later this year.

According to a press release on Monday, the e-government team in the Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure is finalising its preparations to develop and roll out the National Identity programme.

The Cayman Islands government’s information technology (IT) security continues to be poor and has even “deteriorated” since 2012 the former Auditor General (AG) Alastair Swarbrick said.

In a recently issued report to the Legislative Assembly, he summarised his ongoing concerns with government IT security. This report follows one that he issued back in 2012 to government managers on the same issue.

People who register for government’s new e-services identification (ESID) number will be able to renew their vehicle and drivers’ licences online. People can collect their own personal ESIDs from the department, which will enable them to renew and pay for both licences on the DVDL’s website and have the documents sent to them by post or collect them from the DVDL offices.

As the Cayman Islands prepares for the coronavirus and takes associated measures of social distancing, Commerce Minister Joey Hew is urging the public to use government’s e-services online platform, www.eservices.gov.ky, to conduct business with departments and agencies.

“We are closely monitoring the developments around the spread of the coronavirus and the main priority of the government and my ministry is the well-being and safety of our people,” Hew said in a press release.

The auditor general has lifted the lid on a warning made to government some three years ago that it was facing serious risks to its security due to a catalogue problems. One of a number of reports the auditor managed to complete and pass on to legislators ahead of his departure, Alastair Swarbrick’s latest report on the risks to governments IT reveals that problems identified in 2012 have not been addressed and the situation is even worse. Government is not doing enough to protect its systems and information from the risks and threats of cyber-attack, he said.

Following up on the 2012 audit this year on the poor state of IT security, Swarbrick said, “Progress has been too slow in addressing the concerns raised some three years ago and the opportunity for significant damage to government operations and its reputation should mean that significantly more action is needed.”

Government will present two new online services at a showcase event on Thursday, Oct. 25.

Joseph Hew, minister for Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure will launch the Trade and Business License application portal, which will allow business owners to apply for a new licence or renew their current licence online, and the Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licencing’s new unregistered renewal service, which does not require users to create an account or provide their e-signature (or ESID) number.

Proving one’s identity may soon become much easier for Caymanians. Government is currently working on consolidating disparate data sets across all departments. The exercise will enable the introduction of a secure digital identity as early as next year, with a potential populationwide rollout of electronic identity cards in about three years, according to government officials.

Speaking at the Cayman Islands Digital Economy Conference on Thursday, Premier Alden McLaughlin said electronic identification may be the answer to the complexities of proving that someone is Caymanian for employment, voting rights or certain social benefits.

The move is also expected to save government significant sums by cutting down on the number of vans and officers needed to guard prisoners when they leave the security of the prison.

Computer Services’ expansion of the electronic document management system will offer government agencies the ability to revamp processes and procedures, improve workflows, and minimise costs for storing and manipulating paper documents, the governor said. Fom paying fines on-line at the court to submitting information to the Cayman Islands Gazette website, government will be using the internet for more services.

The ID cards and requisite population register will enable government entities to check basic information - from immigration status to vehicle ownership - at source, rather than residents having to provide information that the government already holds.

National identification cards could be rolled out within the next 12 months, with a population database coming online before the end of the year.