IDP2014 (V). e-Government (II)

Notes from the 10th Internet, Law and Politics Congress: A decade of transformations, organized by the Open University of Catalonia, School of Law and Political Science, and held in Barcelona, Spain, on 3-4 July 2014. More notes on this event: idp2014.

Chairs: Marc Vilalta Reixach, Lecturer, School of Law and Political Science (UOC).

The implementation of ICTs in public administration at Girona (Spain)
Núria Galera (independent lawyer), Mariona López Ortiz (independent lawyer).

Most city councils in the province of Girona have websites. Though a little bit outdated in formal matters, many of them feature an electronic office through which administrative procedures can be performed.

Usually, the bigger the city, the bigger the investment in e-government.

Other initiatives besides e-administration:

  • e-Rutes [e-routes], on supporting tourism through mobile apps.
  • SIMSAP, for the management of the public health system, especially strengthening the management of inner communications and procedures.
  • Girona, territori cardioprotegit [Girona, a cardioprotected Girona], a service that geolocalizes automated external defibrillators (AED).

10 years of recognised electronic signature. Did it have any significant impact in e-administration?
Ignacio Alamillo Domingo, researcher at GRISC, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Nuria Cuenca León, laywer at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

The legislating bodies recognize the electronic signature as valid as the handwritten one, opening the potential of being able to sign without physical presence. Notwithstanding, it does not seem that the electronic signature is juridically as valid as the handwritten one. This is both happening in e-administration procedures and in the field of electronic invoicing.

Spain initially was very ambitious in its plans on digital signature, but they were later loosened and the situation now is that digital signature is decreasing use and heads toward extinction.

Maybe other kinds of signature, more open or more broadly accepted or more fit to the needs of the procedure would be a good bet for future policies and regulation.

Effects of the implementation of a public procurement by electronic means and its incidence in the Spanish landscape: beyond a change of format
Jordi Romeu Granados, Doctorando en Gobierno y Administración Pública UCM – IUIOG, Carmen Pineda Nebot, Consultora de Administraciones Públicas, Gregorio Juárez Rodríguez Doctorando en Gobierno y Administración Pública UCM – IUIOG

e-Procurement have different effects.

Technical and administrative effects:

  • Publicity and transparency.
  • Accessibility and interoperability.
  • Objectivity and limitations to arbitrary decisions.
  • Efficacy and efficiency.
  • Security and traceability of information.

Political and social effects:

  • Open government.
  • Limits to corruption.
  • Social control.
  • Collective intelligence.

Economic effects:

  • concurrence and competitiveness.
  • Economic savings.

Pioneer experiences in Spain: electronic public procurement model of the Basque Government (2002); electronic procurement system of the University of Almería; electronic public procurement of the City of Gijón (2013).

There are many benefits of e-procurement, and, presumably, no major inconveniences. It does require a change of culture with strong leadership.

Transparency in electronic public administration in the digital era
Belén Andrés Segovia. Doctoranda en Derecho Administrativo en la Universidad de Valencia

Citizens demand more of their governments than some services, or that these services are provided efficiently and with efficacy, but also that these services are provided ethically, objectively, and with transparency.

Thus, transparency can contribute to foster e-government, as they feed back each other positively.

But the Spanish Law 19/2013 of Transparency does not seem to be providing tools for that. It seems that the law is turning the walls of the Government into glass through which the citizen can look through, but all the information is stored on wooden or metal boxes, which you cannot inspect.

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10th Internet, Law and Politics Conference (2014)

If you need to cite this article in a formal way (i.e. for bibliographical purposes) I dare suggest:

Peña-López, I. (2014) “IDP2014 (V). e-Government (II)” In ICTlogy, #130, July 2014. Barcelona: ICTlogy.
Retrieved month dd, yyyy from https://ictlogy.net/review/?p=4188

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