The National ICT eGovernance Committee holds its first meeting

13/11/2011
Bahrain National ICT eGovernance Committee, established by Resolution of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology, held its first meeting chaired by Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, Chief Executive officer of the eGovernment Authority.
The committee, is made up of professionals and specialists representing a number of government entities, who will be responsible of setting high eGovernance standards for the employment and utilization of ICT projects in the government entities, review strategies, monitor financial cost of ICT projects and report to the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT) in this respect for necessary action.

The Bahrain National ICT eGovernance Committee is commissioned to monitor and follow up action plans for ICT programs and projects in the government entities, decide on contingent and emergent programs and projects, set policies and standards relating to the ICT projects while taking into consideration the government entities’ goals from entering in such projects, ensure quality implementation in line with the approved policies and standards. It will also look into comprehensive strategies and plans on the entire level of the Kingdom, develop and control ICT projects within the mandate approved by the SCICT. Furthermore, the Committee will follow up any other responsibilities pertaining to its mandate as assigned by the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT)

In this regards, Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, the Chairman of the Committee and the Chief Executive officer of the eGovernment Authority hailed the Resolution of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT) under the chairmanship of HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister to establish the Committee for ICT eGovernance in public entities. He added: “the formation of Bahrain National ICT eGovernance Committee denotes the future insight of the SCICT and represents an advanced step to be taken by the Kingdom in this field since eGovernance committees have been established only in a few developed countries such as the USA, United Kingdom and South Korea.

He added: “Research in this field proofs that a governance committee in the country can save 20% to 30% of the ICT budget by preventing duplication in implementing ICT projects in government entities. Moreover, the Committee will facilitate the procedures for ICT providers in the private sector by ensuring that all government ministries and entities conform to unified ICT standards which will facilitate tendering processes and dealing with the government entities.

Mr. Al Qaed pointed out that Bahrain National ICT eGovernance Committee will conduct workshops with various government entities in Bahrain to elucidate the mechanisms of work and communication with the Committee, in addition to working jointly with government entities to raise the eMaturity to globally recognized standards.

According to the SCICT’s Resolution, the Committee shall convene at least once every 3 months or as often as deemed necessary based on a summon by the Chair or his deputy in the event of the Chairperson’s absence, and such summons shall include the agenda of the meeting. The quorum for a meeting shall be a majority of present members including the Chair, or the Vice Chairman when he is chairing the session. The resolutions of the Committee shall be passed by a majority vote of present members; in case of a tie, the side of the chairman or the Vice Chairman shall have a decisive vote.

The Committee may invite to the deliberations anyone it sees of expertise, executives form government entities concerned with ICT projects, or contractors implementing projects to facilitate consultation, but shall not have the right to vote in any decisions taken by the Committee.

The Committee shall submit biannual reports to the SCICT summarizing achieved tasks and the challenges and recommending solutions to eliminate such constraints and any other issues related to the nature of the responsibilities and mandate of the Bahrain National ICT eGovernance Committee.

Members of the Bahrain National ICT eGovernance Committee are: - Shaikh Salman bin Mohammad Al Khalifa, Director of the General Directorate of Information Technology, Central Informatics Organization (CIO), Mr. Hameed Yousif Rahma, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Trade, Ministry of Industry and Commerce Mr. Ismail Abdulnabi Al Marhoon, Assistant Undersecretary for Resources and Information, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Zahir Mohammad Al Awadhi, Assistant Undersecretary for Planning and Information, Ministry of Education, Ms. Heyam Al Awadhi, Executive Director - Administration, Finance & IT, The Economic Development Board (EDB), Dr. Zakareya Ahmed Al-Khaja, Director of Policies and BPR, eGovernment Authority, Dr. Arif Abdul Rahman Abdulkarim, the Information Advisor of the Deputy Prime Minister Office and Dr. Ali Al Soufi, University of Bahrain, and the Secretary of the Committee is Aref Murad from the eGovernment Authority.