Kingdom of Bahrain - Manama: The ICT Governance Committee Meeting held its 62nd meeting chaired by Mr. Mohamed Ali Al Qaed, Chief Executive of the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA). During the meeting, which was held virtually, the committee discussed number of projects and purchase requests submitted by the government entities with estimated cost of BD 6 million.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Al-Qaed welcomed the attendees and thanked the members of the committee for their efforts. He reviewed a number of topics on the agenda, including the project of developing official websites and webpages for Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority. This project focuses on improving Bahrain's online presence to attract more attention as a tourist destination. The project also covers developing a mobile application to reach a wider audience, which contributes to enhancing user experience.
The committee also discussed the data warehouse project of the National Bureau for Revenue, which relies on modern technologies and big data to perform deep analysis on revenue data, which will in turn support decision-making and provide proactive corrective actions and analytical insights.
They also discussed the Revamp of Expatriate Management System (EMS) project, which focuses on improving system integration with other government systems, as well as automating and improving many business processes, in addition to improving the user interface and experience. The Expatriate Management System is one of the critical systems at the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), which provides essential services for employers, such as applying for new work permits, permit renewals, change of expatriate profession, and other LMRA transactions related to employers.
During the meeting, the committee also discussed a project of equipping Bahrain Polytechnic computer laboratories with a range of high-performance modern computers that comply with the latest standards. This is to meet the requirements of specialized studies in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data and electronic game development. The establishment of these labs is a key part of Bahrain Polytechnic's preparations for the upcoming academic year.
They also discussed Ministry of Works’ Road Information Modeling project (BIM), which is part of ministry's plans and continuous efforts to increase work efficiency and to improve roads’ planning, design, construction, and maintenance.
The committee concluded its meeting by discussing a set of projects and purchase requests related to supporting and developing information technology systems and services in a number of government entities to ensure the continuity of work. It also reviewed what has been implemented from previous meetings' decisions and monitored progress in them.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Mohammed Ali Al-Qaed, Chief Executive of iGA, and in attendance of Dr. Zakareya Ahmed Al Khaja, Committee Vice Chairman and Deputy CE for eTransformation at iGA, Nawal Al-Khater, Undersecretary for Policies, Strategies, and Performance at Ministry of Education, Dr. Khalid Ahmed Al Almutawah, Deputy CE for Operations and Governance at iGA, Mr. Abdullah Ahmed Dhaif, Director of the Financial Systems Development at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, Dr. Hessa Jassim Al Junaid, University of Bahrain Dean of the College of Information Technology. The meeting was also attended by Dr. Ali Al-Soufi, IT Consultant as well as the support team of the ICT Governance Committee.