electronic governance steps in the right direction?

Electronic Governance

Bozhidar Bozhanov

Steps in the Right Direction?

About me• E-government adviser to the deputy prime

minister Rumyana Bachvarova• Software engineer• @bozhobg• http://techblog.bozho.net• http://blog.bozho.net

What is e-governance?• The government not bothering you with its

stuff• ...and making it easy to request stuff• ...and optimizing its workflows• ...and making itself transparent and

predictable

Example: certificates• Citizens are delivering paper. • I know my marital status and my address• Certificates must die

• And be replaced by real-time queries

Source: Disney

What are we doing?• Electronic governance• Electronic identification• Open data• E-voting*

Status quo (2 yrs ago)• Administrations = silos• Almost no integration, few web services

• Sometimes - overnight replication• Poor quality software • No unified way to identify citizens• Digitized paper processes• Little understanding of “data”• No coordination

EGov - step 1

Laws and programming• Structured• (semi-)formalized language• if, for-each• diffs• Turns out: programmers are good at law-

making :)

Electronic governance act• New state agency for electronic

governance• Horizontal control and coordination• Public register for all projects

• Integrate everything• Open source everything• Open data everywhere

(also, gov.bg)

Mandatory integration• Data obtained from primary registers• How?

• Web services• No ESB• Checking legal grounds for access• Audit log, notify citizen for access

Open source• Every piece of code written as part of a

government-procured project must be open source• From day one• On GitHub (+ state-owned repo)• OSI/FSF licenses only

• => higher quality, reuse, security, lower cost• Practical challenges

Experts program• A-la freelance experts to be hired by the

state agency• IT conscription :)• not too high a salary; lots of bureaucracy• ...but a chance for impact• flexible

• 18F-like• Also: “State system operator”

Ordinance• Web services• Audit trail (unmodifiable)• Privacy (no one can simply “read”)• Usability (mobile, optimized processes)• Security• Technical specification template

EGov roadmap• A.k.a. What are we building till 2018/2020• Rebuilding/upgrading all major registers• A “Register-as-a-service”• E-ID• Government cloud• E-services• E-voting

Electronic identification• Introduced a new law

• and its ordinance• what is “electronic identity”?• Key enabler

• Mandatory for all systems• De-facto Single Sign On for gov services• Used to request all services

• QES still continues to exist• Privacy-preserving

Multiple eID options• Smart card (national ID card* / separate) • HSM• Split key (HSM+mobile)• Hardware-backed keystore (mobile)

• Lower LoA (Level of assurance)

Open data• Opendata.government.bg

• 1300+ datasets (Few of which of very high quality)• Commercial register, procurement register• Built tools: XLS-to-CSV, auto-uploader• Rising in: OKFN, EU28

• Step 1: Make it legally required• Step 2: Every system must publish open data• Data literacy

Electronic voting• The law is already in place

• Requires: open source, verifiability, eID authentication, technically-guaranteed secrecy, audits

• E-voting pilot projects to be prioritized by Council of ministers next week

• Project proposal is underway• => 2018 pilots, May 2019 - binding election

What’s left• ...everything• 30 project proposals to be submitted by

21.12.2016• 2017 - the “implementation year”

• oversight, control

Our approach• Agile• Multi-tasking• Identifying motivated actors• DIY• “Failure is only temporary”

What’s in it for us?• Obviously not:

• the money• the technical complexity

• The challenge• The impact – not only local• The diversity of tasks• The opportunities for out-of-the-box thinking

Conclusion• High level overview AND implementation

details matter• Making sure it works long term

• Legal groundwork• Setting up standards, processes and templates• Making everything open• Civil society

• Hopefully - steps in the right direction

Get updates / contribute• facebook.com/egovbg• discuss.government.bg• github.com/government.bg • Message me :)

Questions?