E-Government

Overview:

The Dominican Republic has not fully embraced the concept of E-Government, although there are plans in the future to make better use of the capabilities.

Highlights:

From an e-government standpoint, the Dominican Republic scored a 22.0 in the most recent rankings (8). This is in the lower tier of the rankings. Korea scored the highest, with a rating of 60.3. Many other Carribean countries scored higher, although not significantly higher. For example, Haiti scored a 28.0, and they share the same land as the Dominican Republic. Jamaica , the Bahamas and St. Kitts also scored higher. In regards to reviewing specific features, The Dominican Republic scored 100% on Publications and for Online Services, however, scored 0 for Databases, Privacy Policy, Security Policy, and W3C Disability Accessibility. Jamaica showed scores in all categories except for Online Services and W3C Disability Accessibility, while Haiti scored a 100% on Publications and 0% elsewhere. From this review, it is obvious that the e-government in the Dominican Republic has ways to go in many areas.

Thorough online research did not reveal any specific online services offered by the government in the Dominican Republic . Publications were easy to find, however. Honestly, I am not sure how the Dominican Republic scored 100% on Online Services.

A 2006 recent article on dominicantoday.com states (9):

"SANTO DOMINGO.- Through an agreement signed today 2 key Dominican Government departments in the technological area will interlink their services to the citizens, which in the words of one of the director “will bring the citizens closer to their government.”

The accord between the Dominican Telecom Institute (Indotel) and the Presidency's Office for Technology of Information and Communication (Optic) will provide the citizens with easy access to information on the services provided through the *GOB Call Center (*462), a system designed to allow citizens to obtain governmental assistance regarding documents, procedures and with the red tape confronted in many institutions.

Optic director Domingo Tavarez said prior to the signing of the agreement that effort “will bring the citizens closer to their government,” and that the*GOB system has received millions of calls from users seeking assistance.

He said that the system receives an average of 11,000 calls daily, with operators who give “excellent, professional and courteous service,” in 31 different areas.

“This agreement will bring the citizens closer to their government and the GOB, since it began operating in August 21 2006, has received over 4 million calls from citizens seeking some type of service,” he said.

He added that only 36 Government agencies remain to enter into the system, with the Interior and Police and Foreign ministries, Civil Defense, Education, among others to be integrated next.

For his part, Indotel president Jose Rafael Vargas affirmed that the Optic-Indotel accord is “a firm step for the country,” toward giving its citizens they require. “This is a firm step for the country as it tries to provide services of importance with a call center.”

Through the agreement with the Optic, users can obtain info on telephone, cable and Internet service requirements, “turbo” billing services, file complaints of wiretapping, TV and radio interference, as well as the other services provided by Indotel

It also establishes referrals to the authorities when a citizen complains of crank and errant calls; investigation of libelous e-mails; password theft and hacking.

In another topic, Vargas revealed that through a joint effort with the Police, a 50% reduction in the re-activation of stolen cellphones has been obtained.

He also revealed that a new type of fraud has been detected, which consists in fraudulently reporting stole cell phones to obtain tax exemptions and other types of compensation, and which has resulted in the closing of more than 40 stores in the city Santiago alone. "

Although this article refers to e-government, there is no reference to specific online services. E-voting is not a current process in the Dominican Republic either, however, the Dominican Republic (10), along with similar countries such as Costa Rica and Argentina , are considering initiatives to do so. Additionally, the Dominican Republic is working with South Korea to develop a better e-government. In June 2006, the Dominican Republic and South Korea signed an agreement to build an e-government system in the Dominican Republic together (11).

On April 27, 2007, another article addressed the progress of E-Government in the Dominican Republic. President Fernandez supported the shift into the E-Government, and stated this was "because the development tendecies at international level and at the vanguard, indicate that direction for us." However, the article does not state a timeline or a vision of when the E-Government will be implemented. This is a positive trend, though, that the Dominican Republic is continuing to embrace the idea of E-Government. (17)