Bulgaria targets e-government roll-out for July 2013
Electronic government, an area that Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov earlier declared as a priority for his Cabinet this year, will begin rolling out in spring next year, Transport and Information Technologies Minister Ivailo Moskovski said on August 29 at the signing ceremony of several e-gov contracts.
Moskovski signed contracts worth 12 million leva with seven companies. The project will be financed using funds from the European Union’s operational programme for administrative capacity. All contracts have to be completed by July 2013, but some have delivery dates as early as March next year.
Among the contracts signed was one for creating an electronic identification system, which will be developed by bank card processing company Borika Bankservice for 1.56 million leva.
Users will be issued identity cards with a micro-chip, which in the long run will grant access to more than 180 e-government services and also come to replace regular ID cards after 2015, when Bulgaria’s current contract with Siemens runs out.
Electronic ID cards will not cost consumers more than the ID cards, Borika Bankservice chief executive Lyubomir Tsekov said, as quoted by Bulgarian media. The issuing of a new ID costs 18 leva, more if a rush fee is applied.
Another contract envisions the creation of an e-referendum system for one million leva, to be developed by Materna Bulgaria. In the long run, the system could be used for electronic voting, although the Government has not given a clear timeline as to when it plans to implement the service.
(Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilian/sxc.hu)
