The economic and social affairs cabinet approved the proposal to expand the eGovernment project

The economic and social affairs cabinet headed by Minister of Finance Binyamin Netanyahu approved (16/04/05), by a phone ballot, the Minister’s proposal to consolidate and expand the eGovernment program.
 
Pursuant to the decision, the Accountant General will act to add two new projects to the system:
 
A. The “safe” project - the creation of online e-mail boxes on the Internet, allowing the following items to be sent by e-mail:  official authorizations, information, documents, digitally-signed invoices and receipts from the government to the public and from the public to the government.  At present, sending such items to the government and citizens frequently entails physically going to the different offices and sending documents by regular mail.  In future, the intention is that all persons and businesses will have a secure mail box that can be accessed using a password and to which mail from government entities will be sent.
Under the plan, at a later stage, the safe system will enable registered mail to be sent to the public electronically.         
 
B. Central IVR (voice response system) for providing eGovernment services by phone based on the currently existing systems.  The system will allow people who do not have computers and are not connected to the Internet to use services currently available online, including payments to government offices.
 
The implementation of the project will improve and streamline the government services available to individuals and businesses, while cutting government bureaucracy and saving both time and financial resources.
 
It was further decided to act to increase the use of eGovernment services by publishing such services within the government and among the general public.  Starting May 1st 2005, all official publications by the government, government ministries and support units will include the URL (Internet address) of the eGovernment portal (www.gov.il).  This address will be published on websites, official envelopes and documents, payment slips, official publications, press releases and radio and TV campaigns.
 
Minister of Finance Netanyahu stated that one of the objectives that he set as part of the market reforms is the cutting of bureaucratic red tape: “This decision constitutes an additional step on the way to realizing the eGovernment vision to consolidate all the horizontal services that are currently provided or that are being developed, including: Government payment service, Government tender site, forms site and more.”
 
During the meeting, Netanyahu added that a central plan is required to help the ministries implement the eGovernment system for improving service to the public:  “There are already a large number of ministries that offer online services to the public, but not all ministries offer such services.  Moreover, due to a lack of coordination between the ministries, there are malfunctions and redundancies that can be avoided. The lack of uniformity and experience affects the government's image and lowers the public's motivation to contact the government through the various online services.  A single central plan is therefore necessary to help the ministries and enable the realization of the eGovernment network within a short period of time and at a low cost”.
 
A market study initiated by Accountant General Dr. Yaron Zelekha showed that a large part of the public remains unaware of the online services that are available.  Zelekha emphasized that the public is unaware of the fact that most payments to the government as well as the ordering of publications and submitting forms can be done over the Internet using the eGovernment applications, thereby avoiding the need to actually go to these government offices.  “Proper publication and advertising will inform the public of the existence of the online services and will serve to increase their use.  This will save time and money both for the public and the government”.
 
Against this backdrop, a campaign will soon be launched to advertise all the eGovernment services at the Government Portal - address:  www.gov.il, in an effort to provide users with easy access to information and services, to increase the use of these services and to fully realize the investments made in this area.
 
It was also decided that the directors general of government ministries will prepare to implement the eGovernment program in line with government decisions and the instructions of the Accountant General, as issued from time to time.
 
The plan will form part of the three-year budget set for the eGovernment project.