This emerged during a recently held roundtable discussion on government procurement that was organized by the ICT4D (ICT for Development in the Philippines) and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).
The meeting of chief information officers (CIOs) and representatives from different government agencies and the private sector was held in an attempt to identify the major procurement issues that cause delay in the implementation of ICT projects.
The National Computer Center (NCC) reported that from year 2003 to 2006, a total of 36 projects were assisted by the e-Government Fund amounting to P4.57 billion.
The e-Government Fund was created to finance mission critical and high-impact government ICT projects that would improve the delivery of government services to the people.
But so far, only five have been completed -- these are the e-Gov funded component of the Integrated Computerization Project of the BIR; the Online Transaction System for Frontline Services (OTSFS) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); the Philippines’ e-Nutrition Project of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI); the Philippine eLibrary Project of the National Library of the Philippines (NLP); and PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) Interactive Climate and Weather Information Network (PICWIN) Project.
"The common reasons for project delays given by the implementing agencies of e-Government funded projects vary from failed biddings, to delay in the release of funds, project modifications, change in project management, and problems with the service providers," revealed Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) commissioner and NCC director-general Angelo Timoteo M. Diaz de Rivera.
Various e-Gov funded projects are still ongoing, the agency said. "Some of them suffer delay because of problems encountered by project implementers throughout the procurement process.
Duke Eustaquio, head for business development of DBP Data Center Inc, remarked that implementing an IT system is not easy.
"Engaging the services of a Project Management Office (PMO) should therefore be one of the first activities in planning the implementation of an IT Systems project."
Eustaquio said that some government agencies lack project management skills and urged that the project management team should come from another government agency to ensure that government interests are protected since using project management teams from the private sector would only add an layer that the government needs to check, monitor, and audit.
During the discussion, common issues such as difficulty in drawing-up technical specifications without using brand names, lack of expertise in drafting a proposal, and Terms of Reference (TOR) were brought up.
Ma. Esperanza Espino, CIO of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), proposed that Internet service connection should be treated as a utility and that multi-year contracting should be allowed, as well as renewal of software license without having to go through another public bidding process.
On the other hand, Cynthia Mamon, president of the Information Technology Association of the Philippines (ITAP), said her group is currently developing a curriculum or a training module on new technologies that would make procurement officers knowledgeable and competent in choosing the right technologies for their respective agencies.
The ICT4D is a joint project of the DoST and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. Its main task is to put together thesis on the use of ICT for development and to extract policy recommendations and experiences taken from these case studies.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Melvin G. Calimag
Quelle/Source: The Manila Bulletin, 21.09.2007
