The 63rd Annual Report of the Auditor General has exposed the negligence in the procurement and use of information technology and equipment in government bodies. The report suggests that the trend of spending a lot of money to purchase equipment such as software, laptops, and tablets but not using and reusing them properly has added to the burden on the state treasury. The report mentions that even though local levels have spent crores in the name of purchasing, maintaining, and renewing software, some bodies have not used those systems. According to the

report, 148 local levels had spent more than Rs 115.3 million on software this year. Out of these, 15 local levels did not use software worth Rs 7.7 million. There is a legal provision that government bodies must get approval from the Information Technology Department when developing software to conduct work electronically. It is mentioned in point number 95 of the report that non-compliance with this leads to an increase in the accumulation of substandard systems. The same problem is seen in the use of

equipment. The report points out that there is a tendency to purchase new devices like laptops and tablets in government offices as soon as the user changes. Instead of reusing old devices, the tendency to store them and purchase new ones has led to misuse of public property. The Accountant General has suggested that the useful life of the assets should be determined and arrangements should be made to provide them to a single user within that period to stop this trend.

‘The main reason why local levels do not use software even after purchasing it is the lack of skilled manpower and infrastructure,’ says Prakash Dawadi, the then Information Technology Officer of the Department of Information Technology. ‘The software may not have been used because the standards set by the department were not met and there was no internet or other technology connectivity between offices.’ In some places, Dawadi estimates that the purchased software could not be used due to technical problems such as small server size, low memory or storage capacity, and lack of regular electricity supply.

According to some experts from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Nepal government has spent about three to four trillion rupees in the information technology sector in the last 10 years. And, despite spending billions of rupees annually on annual maintenance contracts and support, the expected results have not been achieved. The country is now turning into a pile of 'digital garbage' and if it is not managed properly, accidents may occur, they warn.

Sunaina Pandey Ghimire, president of the Computer Association Nepal (CAN Federation), says that after government agencies spend a large amount of money on software procurement, it should be mandatory to use it. 'After investing so much money from taxpayers' money, the benefits should be reaped, it is simply wrong to keep it unused,' she said, 'When purchasing software, 'Made in Nepal' products should be given first priority as much as possible.' When using Nepali software, the country's money stays in the country, maintenance is easy, we arrive when called, but when using foreign software, maintenance is complicated and the system is down for several days.'

The report also shows that the security and privacy of information technology is weak. For example, various problems have been pointed out while testing the security and weaknesses of the electronic procurement system operated with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank. The use of the system has also been suspended until the system is improved. The Accountant General has questioned the lack of regular maintenance and upgrading of the information system used in the social security allowance program. The report says that although there is a provision for local levels to collect revenue through the Local Consolidated Fund Management System (SUTRA), most of them have not fully implemented it.