IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The project will be implemented by a local IT system integrator, Ishajaya Technology, who signed the agreement with the E-Government National Centre (EGNC) yesterday as part of the government's plan to establish and improve the government agencies' method of working together to produce cohesive government e-Survices.

The project also serves to encourage the development of ICT capabilities in line with the e-Government Strategic Plan 2009 to 2014 and the government e-mail usage policy.

According to Sharifah Hajah Fatmah bte Shaikh Haji Ahmad, the Director of Civil Services Institute (IPA), there are plans to organise similar programmes in future.

"The IPA has provisioned for more trainings to be done, allocating a target of 2,000 officers and staff to participate for the 2011-2012 period," she said, adding that the Civil Services Institute remains committed in ensuring that all programmes are in line with the Brunei civil service's needs and desire to "lessen the skill gap" so as to boost productivity and performance of individuals.

Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru) infrastructure has capabilities to support the Smart Nation vision, but more cohesive cooperation among stakeholders is needed to realise this initiative, a top official of the telecom major said.

“The Smart Nation concept can take Brunei into the next ICT era and improve the quality of life. Innovation is our way of life and our people are constantly making things better and bigger. Bruneians are no longer followers, but leaders in their own way. Culture and technology co-exist in harmonic symbiosis which is the vision of our Smart Nation,” Lim Ming Soon, Chief Marketing Officer of TelBru, said at the one-day TelBru ICT Forum held at t The Rizqun International Hotel yesterday.

The Sultanate’s steady im­provement is reflected in the findings of the latest Global In­formation Technology Report, prepared on behalf of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Re­leased in early April, the study ranked Brunei Darussalam 54th out of 142 countries on its Networked Readiness Index, which grades economies on their usage, acceptance and efficiency of ICT.

Under the two-year contract, ITPSS will provide IT security services to all government ministries and departments, including managed security services, incident response, vulnerability assessment and security audit, security awareness programmes, training and secure operations support as well as providing helpdesk and IT security support to the EGNC.

This observation was made by Awg Abdul Mutalib bin POKSSDP Haji Mohd Yusof, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, during a contract signing ceremony for the "Supply, Delivery, Installation, Development, Testing & Commissioning Of The EGBS Inter-Connectivity For All Ministries And Their Departments Under Brunei Darussalam's E-Government Initiatives".

The Management Services Department (MSD), in collaboration with e-Government National Centre (eGNC) under the Prime Minister’s Office, yesterday concluded its three-day roadshow on ‘Implementation of Public Approach’ by government agencies. Held from June 27-30, the event aimed to share the guidelines on public approach procedures by government agencies.

The event started with recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah, followed by a welcoming address by MSD Acting Director Aminuddin bin Haji Buntar.

By September, all welfare applications can be made digitally, speeding up payment process

Government agencies will soon be able to share information through a centralised database, the minister at the Prime Minister’s Office disclosed during the Legislative Council meeting on Tuesday.

According YB Dato Seri Setia Hj Awang Abdul Mokti Hj Mohd Daud, the E-Government National Centre (EGNC) is currently building a system dubbed the National Centralised Database (NCDB) that will allow agencies to share data on a range of matters, including welfare assistance programmes.

Government officials, Vascco Taman, Mak Hon Sheng, and Ya-Anenawati Hj Md Yusuf, of the BLS Secretariat, briefed The Brunei Times on the current status of the project, and are hopeful that the project can be in service this year.

This was revealed in a press conference last Thursday which was attended by Acting Director of MoE Hj Abdul Rahim Dens together with the members of Global SoF Consortium, including Principal Consultant Samir Patel and Senior Consultant Murray Brown.

"The role of Global SoF is to facilitate and be the catalyst for the process of both developing the e-Hijrah initiative and developing the blueprint with key stakeholders," Patel said.

The decision to replace mobile frequency bands comes as the Sultanate prepares to hand out 4G long-term evolution (LTE) licences. However, despite the wave of activity taking place across the telecoms sector, there are concerns that the joint roaming agreement could fail to produce results for the country, unless tariffs are revised downwards to levels nearer those of its regional peers.

There will be a different pattern of ownership and a different pattern of funding for projects, said Dato Seri Paduka Eussoff Agaki Hj Ismail during yesterday's Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) Stakeholders Forum.

A local company, ITIS Wescot Technology Sendirian Berhad, has been commissioned to undertake a study on the HRMS requirement.

The guest of honour was Datin Paduka Dayang Hjh Apsah bte Hj Abdul Majid, Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education.

The MoE Enterprise Service Portal or MoE Portal is the online web portal that can be used to access all of the ministry's information, applications and services.

The visit began at the NDMC building. The renovation project involves the Ministry of Home Affairs' initiative to upgrade the old Fire and Rescue Headquarters to better coordinate disaster management in the country by employing state-of-the-art technology with the capability to accommodate multi-agency workstation environment.

The UN's most recent Global E-Readiness Report, which is themed 'From e-Government to e-Inclusion', showed that Brunei's e-government readiness ranking dropped 10 places from 63rd in 2004, to 73rd in 2005.

By 2005, Brunei will be a Paperless Society pursuing 116 projects with 100 per cent expectations under its e-Government programmes, according to Awang Haji Umar Ali bin Haji Abdullah, Head of the Computer Services at the Ministry of Finance.

The e-Government will redefine how government relates to citizens and businesses as well as how it relates internally to its own agencies and its own employees.

The E-Government National Centre (EGNC), a department under the Brunei Darussalam Prime Minister’s Office, has teamed up with Microsoft to design and implement training programmes that will increase the IT skills of government employees through an Academy.

The initiative is a part of the government’s Human Capacity Development programme, under which the ICT capability and capacity of the civil service will be improved. The end objective is for the country to increase its ranking in the the United Nations list of e-government enabled countries.