On Monday, a report by the State's spending watchdog on the Irish Government's "e-Government" project revealed that only half of the projects were fully operational six months after the deadline had been reached.

The report of Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) John Purcell also disclosed that 23 of the 141 flagship projects to provide State services online were abandoned and that a further 44 were only partly implemented by mid-2006.

In 2006, it was disclosed that in 2003, the then Minister for Health Micheal Martin had announced plans for a website that the Irish unit of US consultants Accenture were tasked with designing. After the expenditure of €2 million, the project was junked.

John Purcell, Comptroller and Auditor General

The C&AG report said that the overall estimated cost of €420 million was some 20% above budget, while, on average, the projects had taken 25% longer to complete than originally envisaged.

Also on Monday, the new CEO of IDA Ireland, Barry O'Leary, issued a statement on inward investment in 2007 referring to the "continued evolutionary growth in our knowledge economy" and the success of what was termed the "Economic Ecosystem."

John Purcell is not a salesman like Barry O'Leary and spending billions on the goal of becoming a world-class knowledge economy, while ignoring the confluence of factors in the struggle to reach the OECD average in broadband penetration, will undoubtedly raise more questions, when public funding choices will become more tasking.

Purcell said the Government had set itself a target of having all public services online by the end of 2005 but he insisted this was clearly unrealistic. There had been considerable impetus behind the project in its initial stages, but that progress slowed in later years, he added.

However, the C&AG does acknowledge that there have been several signal successes , most notably the Revenue Commissioners Revenue Online Service (ROS). About 300,000 customers paid their taxes online in 2005. Other services such as motor tax online and an animal health computer system have also been successful.

It is believed that Accenture has 80 staff full-time currently working on the ROS system.

The report also notes that many projects"proceeded more slowly than planned. A substantial number did not proceed or were abandoned after starting."

Planned projects that were dropped included online applications for housing grants; passports; haulage licences; a health services portal and driving licences.

Purcell highlights the case of Public Services Broker, planned as a facility for public service providers to share data. It would also act as a "one-stop shop" for the public - through the website http://www.reachservices.ie/ - to access all services provided by Government, State agencies and local authorities.

The original estimate for this project was €14 million but its final cost was €37 million, almost three times higher than planned.

Purcell says it delivers a limited range of services, has not become a self-service mechanism for the public, and has high running costs of between about €15 million per year.

"The feasibility of the project was not examined early on, planning was weak and implementation has been far slower and more costly than was anticipated," Purcell concludes.

The report is critical of the two departments which played a key role in the development of e-Government, those of Taoiseach and of Finance, for not setting measurable targets.

In response, the Government said that it was reasonable to set targets that were ambitious "even to the extent of leaning towards the aspirational".

eGovernment Report Summary

The term eGovernment refers to the provision of public services using information and communications technology (ICT), particularly the internet.  On-line service delivery enables members of the public to do business with providers of public services at any time.  It also presents service providers themselves with opportunities to increase efficiency by streamlining their business processes.  Two Government action plans, launched in 1999 and 2002, set out a series of actions and initiatives designed to exploit the potential benefits of eGovernment.

This examination was undertaken to establish the extent to which government departments and agencies are providing information and services on-line and are using internet-based technology to improve their efficiency.  Ireland's performance compared to other countries was examined.  The development of the on-line Public Services Broker by Reach (a unit of the Department of Social and Family Affairs) was also examined.

Main Findings

Outturn on eGovernment Projects

In 2002, the Government set a target of having all public services capable of on-line delivery made available by 2005.  This was clearly unrealistic.  While the provision of information on the internet was largely achieved, there was mixed progress in delivering eGovernment projects with a transactional content.  Some on-line services, such as the Revenue On-line Service and Motor Tax on-line service, have been successful, attracting and serving large numbers of customers annually but the progress of many projects was slower than planned and a substantial number did not proceed, or were abandoned after starting.  Planned projects that were abandoned include on-line applications for housing grants, passports, haulage licences, and driving licences.  In several cases, the reason cited for non-implementation was that onerous identity authentication processes were required but were not yet adequately developed.

In general, there has been more success in delivering planned on-line services for businesses than for individual users.  While many departments and agencies claimed to have achieved efficiencies arising from the implementation of eGovernment projects, only a few provided hard evidence of substantial savings.

Ireland's performance in providing online transaction services has been assessed as being around the average for EU member states, but some states are delivering significantly higher levels of service online.

Government departments and agencies reported that the estimated cost to completion of eGovernment projects undertaken or commenced in the period 2000 to 2005 was €420 million.  The report outlines progress on each of the projects planned or undertaken to date together with the associated estimated cost (see pages 74-89).

Developing the Public Services Broker

The Public Services Broker was planned as a single website which would facilitate data sharing between public service providers and link together all the public services associated with significant events for members of the public, such as the death of a relative or setting up a business.  The aim was to make it easier for members of the public to find and use services.  No budget or timetable was set for the Broker project when it got initial Government approval in May 2000.

The Broker concept was innovative and ambitious.  Its feasibility, however, was not examined early on and planning was weak.  A review of the project in 2002 led to a scaling back of the proposal.  In May 2003, a less ambitious project was approved with estimated development costs of €14 million.  This project was due for completion in August 2004 but was not completed until December 2005 at a cost of €37 million.  Annual running costs for the Broker are in the region of €14 - €15 million.

It is likely that Reach could have delivered the Broker system in a more timely and cost-effective manner had the governance, staffing and risks been managed more rigorously.

While the Broker facilitates the secure exchange of documents and data between public bodies and provides a facility to authenticate the identity of on-line users, it has not delivered the self-service mechanism as originally envisaged - only a small number of services to the public are currently available through the Broker.

If the Broker is to deliver value for the money invested, more departments and agencies will need to use it.  Reach and the Broker are currently being reviewed.  A clear strategic vision and plan for the future is urgently needed for both.

Managing the Development of eGovernment

The momentum towards developing eGovernment that existed in the early years of the decade appears to have faded somewhat more recently.  This is evident in the absence of a formal eGovernment strategy since the beginning of 2006.  However, the Department of the Taoiseach is currently working with other departments and agencies on the development of a new strategy.

Broad strategic objectives were identified for eGovernment, but measurable targets were not set in relation to those objectives.  The chances of achieving the strategic objectives would have been improved through more active central oversight of the overall strategy and greater engagement with relevant departments to identify and resolve barriers to progress.

In some areas of the public service - for instance Revenue, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and the Department of Agriculture and Food, as well as in smaller agencies such as the Property Registration Authority and Ordnance Survey Ireland � the opportunities offered by the new technology for business transformation and for meeting consumer demand were well recognised and largely addressed.  In some other public service providers, it was not clear that the opportunities were as well recognised.

Additional funding under the Information Society initiative tended to be channelled into those departments and agencies that already had a strong background in ICT.  Any future initiative of this kind should consider strengthening, supporting and incentivising those organisations that have lagged behind in the development of eGovernment.

eGovernment projects that cross organisational boundaries present opportunities for more efficient and effective delivery of government services but existing budgetary arrangements may have militated against progress in this area.  Unitary management with clear responsibility and accountability for delivery may help to overcome the inherent difficulties in achieving successful cross cutting outcomes.