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T@SF
Caribbean Technical and Advisory Support Facility (TASF) on eGovernment
UNDESA/ CARICAD
MISSION REPORT
Technical and Advisory Support Facility (TASF)
Development of E-Government & ICT in the Public Sector:
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica
July 4th - 5th, 2006
Background
The TASF conducted two (2) E-Government Policy Workshops in Dominica: February 3rd and
March 16th, 2006 respectively. These in-country workshops not only provided the opportunity to
build capacity at the senior management and technical levels, with respect to the advancement of the
E-Government agenda, but also provided the TASF the opportunity to have invaluable discussions
and exchange of ideas and information with senior public sector officials and IT personnel (see
Appendix 2) on the work of the Facility and e-government in the Caribbean. These included; Mr.
Felix Gregoire, Secretary to the Cabinet and Mrs. Juliet Lewis, Chief Personnel Officer (the Chief
Personnel Officer, is next in line to the Cabinet Secretary in the hierarchy of the Public Service in
Dominica and Chairs the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Secretaries in the absence of the
Cabinet Secretary). A request was made by the Chief Personnel Officer for assistance from the
TASF with respect to the advancement of the E-Government agenda in Dominica.
Activities Held during Mission: July 4th to 5th
The Knowledge and Information Manager (KIM) conducted meetings with the Chief Personnel
Officer, the Head of the Public Sector Reform Unit, Mrs. Ruth Allport and the Senior Systems
Analyst, Ms. Arlette Vidal. The outputs of the group activity conducted with the Public Sector IT
personnel in March1 were reviewed and agreed upon (Tables 1 and 2 below).
Meetings were also held with the Legal Advisor in the Reform Unit and a State Attorney in the
Ministry of Legal Affairs on the draft legislation on the following: E-transactions; Computer Misuse
and Freedom of Information. It was agreed that follow-up efforts would be made to formally
include these areas on the ‘legislative agenda’ of the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Cabinet of
Ministers for the current financial year and the broad-based public consultation and education would
be spearheaded by the Reform Unit.
1
See Appendix 1
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Table 1: Output of Participatory Methodology and Group Exercises
Common Vision Blocks and Constraints Strategic Direction to Overcome
Blocks & Constraints
1 Establishment of • Political Support • Technical Assistance
Central IT Unit & • Resistance to Inter-ministerial • Formal Training
Rationalization of Collaboration • Creation of Incentives for retention of
Central and Front- • Limited resources (Funding/ qualified personnel
line IT Functions/ Finance & technical capacity • Identification of lobbyist/champion
Services
• Varied levels of development • Sensitization/Team Building Activities
between Ministries • Establish Inter-ministerial
Implementation & Monitoring
Committee (Transition Team)
2 Placement of Unit • Political Will/Support • Identification of office space, Reassign
within • Lack of acceptance by HODs existing space; Create additional space
Establishment or • Limited resources, esp. technical (use of space in Financial Center or
OPM staff other locations)
• New posts to be created • Hiring of consultant
• Limited Physical Space & • Cabinet Decision
Equipment and Supplies • Convert existing posts to IT posts
• Additional managerial where possible
responsibilities for technical • Prepare Project Proposal for Donor
officers Funding
• Review Job Descriptions and Salary
levels
• Training in Management
3 Development of • Political Support • Hiring of Consultant
Web Portal and • Technical Capacity • Development of Attractive Packages &
Integration of • Incentives for retention of Salary
Public Sector Qualified Personnel • Establish appropriate legislation &
Online Services
• Resistance to Standardization by policies to ensure compliance by all
Agencies with s/w applications Agencies
already developed • Establish legislation/policies on security
• Security Issues: ensuring only issues related to e-govt.
persons who should see • Ensure appropriate security measures
information actually are the ones including limited physical access to
who see that information restricted areas and software security
• Secure from outside attacks • Establish Guidelines on Physical
• Physical safety protection/security of computer
• Bandwidth: IT Provider equipment
• Negotiation with service providers;
external assistance may be required
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Common Vision Blocks and Constraints Strategic Direction to Overcome
Blocks & Constraints
4 Review and • Dissemination of Information • Review Approaches taken in other
Upgrade of • Funding/Financing countries
backend databases • Lack of Manpower • Issue Guidelines on database
• Standardization of Databases development
Absence of National Unique
Identifier and Postal Codes
5 Legislation and • Capacity of Legal Dept • Recruit technical assistance for legal
Regulations • Political Will Dept.
governing all • Education/Sensitization on Policy
aspects of matters
E-Government
and E-Commerce
6 Public Awareness • Financial Resources • Training of Personnel for Sensitization
& Capacity • Resistance to Change of the general public
Building • Development of long-term training plan
• Apply change management techniques
to Agencies
7 Wide Area • Limited Financial Resources • Technical Assistance for negotiating
Network/Island • Lack of Negotiating Capacity team
Wide Frame Relay,
Fiber Optics or
Web-based
In-country focus group sessions were also conducted on the IT functions which need to be executed
at the line agency level and those which need to be centralized.
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Table 2: Analysis of Public Sector IT Functions
Central Functions:
1. Maintenance of Hardware (Establishment of Help Desk for Support)
2. Purchasing/Procurement of IT Hardware, Software and Services
3. Training
4. Web Services: Internet Access, Integration and upgrade of Online Services and Web Sites, in
the Public Sector, including: Domain Name Management: manage the Top level/Country
indicator (.lc) and function indicator (.gov); implementation of policies and harmonized
practices on Hosting and management of government web sites; link back-end systems to
government websites to enable the creation of dynamic, interactive online services, with
access to real time data and processing capabilities.
5. Development of Policies:
a. National ICT Strategy
b. Monitoring of Usage Policies
6. Software Licensing (Enterprise Options)
7. Supplier Management/Vendor Relations and Negotiations: in partnership with the Ministry
of Finance, managing the top-level relationship with strategic suppliers to Government and
conducting supplier analysis.
8. Systems Analysis and Design, BPA, (If cannot be done at Agency level).
9. Research
Decentralized/Front Line Services
1. Specific Software Applications: Administration, D/Base & Support
2. First Line of Support (H/W)
3. Content Management – Online and data and Information management offline
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APPENDIX 1: List of IT Personnel
NAME DESIGNATION MINISTRY/
DEPARTMENT
Mr. Timothy Lavernier Computer Technician Ministry of Education, Human
Resource Development, Sports
and Youth Affairs
Mr. Charles Raymond Library Technician (Actg.) Ministry of Education, Human
Resource Development, Sports
and Youth Affairs
Ms. Celemencia Victor Senior Systems Analyst Establishment, Personnel and
Training Department
Ms. Debra Cuffy Systems Analyst and Computer Center/ Ministry of
Officer-in-Charge Finance and Planning
Ms. Michelle Courneen Assistant Project Ministry of Health and Social
Coordinator Security
Mr. Bret Harry Computer Specialist Ministry of Health and Social
Security
Mr. Dorian Harris Junior Clerk (temp.) Establishment, Personnel and
Training Department
Mr. Timothy Thomas Computer Technician Ministry of Health and Social
Security
Mr. Kelvin Woodman Systems Analyst Inland Revenue/ Ministry of
Finance and Planning
Mr. Dwayne Dick Statistician Ministry of Education, Human
Resource Development, Sports
and Youth Affairs
Mrs. Annette George- Systems Analyst (temp.) Inland Revenue/ Ministry of
Boney Finance and Planning
Mr. Abraham Durand Coordinator, Technical/ Ministry of Education, Human
Vocational Education Resource Development, Sports
and Youth Affairs
Cpl. Vernon O’Brien Constable Police Department/ Prime
Minister’s Office
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Mr. Kelvin Woodman Systems Analyst Inland Revenue/ Ministry of
Finance and Planning
Mr. Kelvin Woodman Systems Analyst Inland Revenue/ Ministry of
Finance and Planning
Mr. Everson Collaire Building Maintenance Ministry of Public Works and
Officer Public Utilities
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Appendix 2: Overview of Public Sector IT Initiatives and Issues
Library Services
The National Library is now exploring the use of Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) to
support easier access to materials in libraries, but due to the high cost associated with most of these
solutions, most libraries are exploring alternative solutions independently.
National Security
Currently, Dominica has a national social security card, but there are various other forms of
identification being used simultaneously. The introduction of a single identity card would introduce
some uniformity, as each identity card has its own control number, and security feature, therefore, a
common identifier for each citizen would minimize fraud and duplication.
The facilitator then posed the question to the representative from the Commonwealth of Dominica
Police Force (CDPF), who coincidentally was the officer within the government previously in charge
of the National Computer Center; on what were the opportunities for the use of information and
communication technology (ICT) in combating crime. The delegate informed the rest of the group
that there are various initiatives being planned to have the island’s police stations connected and
using SmartStream technology to communicate information and share intelligence. It was mentioned
that this effort was being pursued with Cable and Wireless Dominica (CW), however, it was noted
that SAT Television might be a better option, as it enjoys a wider fibre-optic network than CW. He
emphasized the need for the CDPF to establish this kind of networking across the island, as a step
towards the greater collaboration and interactivity between the CDPF and other international crime
management organizations such as Interpol and other networked police bodies. There are also plans
to establish border control systems, but these plans are still at the embryonic stage.
Revenue Collection
Currently, there are proposals by the government to develop and launch various initiatives using IT
to enforce and facilitate revenue collection. The delegate from the Inland Revenue Division
lamented that the use of ICTs within the department has been limited to managing functions such as
filing returns and administrative processes.
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Statistical Data
There is no coordinated approach to the use of IT to properly support statistics management,
currently, commercial solutions such as Microsoft Access is being used instead of SPSS (Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences), which offers in addition to statistical analysis, data management
(case selection, file reshaping, creating derived data) and data documentation in the basic version of
the solution. When the facilitator enquired of the representative from the statistical unit, whether
any recent survey was done on the IT sector, he replied in the negative. It was recognized by the
delegate that this was an area that should rightly be receiving more attention in the upcoming
surveys being planned.
Education
Currently, mainly through the libraries, there are various initiatives aimed at introducing IT skills to
citizens, however, there are challenges with the provision of adequate skilled/ knowledgeable
facilitators to deliver the training required. There is also a sever lack of the necessary hardware and
software required to facilitate this training, i.e.; computers, peripherals, NetWare and tutorials. The
Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Sports and Youth Affairs is focusing on
delivering some form of IT training via its website.
Government Portal
The Chief Personnel Officer indicated to the grouping that there were currently plans in train to
develop a Commonwealth of Dominica Web Portal, with the relevant links to government ministries
and departments. However, she reiterated the position expressed earlier by the delegate from the
CDPF, that there was a need for harmonization and control over issues surrounding ICT
developments and issues within the government. Special mention was made of the assignment of
emails addresses domains by persons/ departments of the Government, where there is duplication
and confusion regarding the standard to be adapted when assigning such addresses. The Computer
Center of the Ministry of Finance and Planning needs to be able to develop and establish policies
and govern ICT related activities. It was felt that the establishment of a Central Authority, with
much more clout than the current Computer Center along with the necessary supporting legislation
was the best route for this harmonization and control to become a reality; however, there is need for
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technical assistance in this area. It was agreed that this technical assistance was to be provided by
the TASF through a formal request by the Government of Dominica.
Frame Relay
While it was one particular participant’s perspective that the use of Frame Relays is a poor approach
to WAN support infrastructure vis-à-vis Point-to-Point Protocol approach, the facilitator cautioned
that consideration must be given to the differences between the infrastructure of say Japan and
other developed states, and what obtains here in the Caribbean. Dr. Bertin pointed out that the
region is in the developmental stages of telecommunications liberalization. A similar point was raised
by the same delegate on the matter of Open-Source solutions. The facilitator made the caveat that
while it is cost-effective and indeed a ‘good’ approach to use open-source software there has to be
some recognition of standards when this is being employed.
It was generally felt by most of the delegates at this caucus that use of ICTs is the way to go improve
service delivery and promote in a positive manner, public sector modernization.
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