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Message: <blockquote data-quote="malakadss" data-source="post: 25093042" data-attributes="member: 179884">President directs transfer of all Govt. ICT-related projects, including financial provisions to ICTA<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Move part of positioning ICTA to drive Govt.’s National Digital Initiative </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">President’s Office notes costly compartmentalised ICT programs have failed to provide efficient, people-friendly services</li> </ul>    By Chandani KirindeAll Government organisations have been directed to transfer ICT-related  projects and programs, including financial provision, to the Information  and Technology Agency (ICTA), as part of the initiative taken by  President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to centralise systems. The President has directed that all ICT/digital solutions having an  impact on citizen service delivery be implemented under the overall  management and supervision of the ICTA. This is to ensure that the  public have access to the services in a cost-effective and  people-friendly manner, that the programs fully comply with National  Digital Policy and strategies of the Government, and that there is also  optimal use of national level ICT infrastructure such as Lanka  Government Cloud, Lankan Government Network, Payment Gateway etc.In a circular tilted “Positioning the Information and Technology Agency  (ICTA) to drive the National Digital Initiative of the Government,”  Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundera this week informed all  Secretaries to Ministries and State Ministries, Chief Secretaries,  Secretaries to Governors, Heads of Departments and Statutory  Organisations to inform all organisations and Project Directors under  their purview and instruct them to “transfer such projects and programs,  including financial provisions, to the ICTA in a suitable manner in  consultation with the Treasury regarding transfer of funding procedure.”This move is also aimed at ensuring compliance with the technical and  data architecture standards formulated by the ICTA, and with digital  laws such as Electronic Transactions Act and the date protection  legislation, while eliminating of duplication of IT-related work by  several agencies, and minimising the cost of repeated data collection  and data entry efforts.The new move will also enforce digital identity-sharing to avoid inconvenience to citizens who transact online. In the circular, the President’s Secretary noted that it has been found  that many Government agencies are implementing IT-based solutions in  isolation and in a compartmentalised culture of service delivery, and  this has resulted in the lack of a cohesive, coordinated approach to  build a whole-of-Government framework, where data could be shared across  systems for providing citizen-centric services effectively and  efficiently.It added that despite such initiatives, outcomes have not been  efficient, cost-effective, or public-centric, and instead, due to demand  for extra employees, buildings, and logistic facilities, service  delivery costs have risen and led to wasteful public expenditure  programs in the National Budget.“This compartmentalised strategy has also tapped foreign funding from  different sources, engaged consultants and project management teams, and  created wasteful expenditure on non-compatible systems and equipment,”  it said.</blockquote>

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