Quality in government information technology systems

In the 61st report released by the Accounts General on Sunday, the Mobile Device Management System (MDMS), which was said to be completed within 6 months, has been stalled for 6 years, and the risk of confidential information being leaked through the software of the Nepal Police, which is being used without authentication, has been pointed out.

It is mentioned in the report that since the tax audit report and other details and documents are not entered in the Internal Revenue Department's integrated tax system (Taxpayers Portal), taxpayers have to go to the office for audit. For the purpose of completing the audit work based on information technology, the auditor general has suggested that the tax audit report of taxpayers who have been fully tax audited, the main evidence and documents requested in the process should be recorded in the integrated tax system, but it has not been improved yet.  ;

Similarly, reminding that there was an agreement to provide printing training to the employees of the passport department for printing electronic passports and to hand over infrastructure suppliers including passport printing machines to the department, the General Account pointed out that this has not happened. "Department has a provision to print passports by itself, but it has not been implemented," said the report. According to the agreement, 1 crore 59 lakh 51 thousand rupees of US$ 1 lakh 21 thousand have been paid.' The Accountant General has also questioned what was done. "For office performance, service delivery, reporting, 4 software development and 15 information system operations, 112 million 66 thousand rupees were spent with various suppliers, but the software and systems were not certified," the report said. It seems that the arrangement of user logs, digital signature-friendly features, and not according to the accepted standards based on the governmental enterprise architecture, the performance is not effective, and confidential information may be leaked.'

Similarly, the Nepal Telecommunication Authority's Mobile Device Management System (MDMS), which was announced to be completed within 6 months, has not been purchased and connected even after 6 years. The MDMS contract was awarded to a JV of Malaysia's Numera Sdn Bhd, India's OSI Consulting Pvt Ltd and Singapore's Namaste Global.

'For the contract of 70 lakh 66 thousand 888 US dollars, 16 lakh 68 thousand 65 US dollars have been paid so far,' the report says, 'If the work is not completed within the specified period, but the deadline of 2080 Chait 4 has been repeatedly set, the The hardware purchase and connection work as per the contract has not been completed. On October 21, 2080, the authority had announced that the telecommunication service had been blocked (network lock) on some mobile phones that were not registered in the MDMS system.

The Auditor General has shown many such defects in the information technology systems used by various government agencies for internal performance and service delivery. In the report, while evaluating the financial transactions of the financial year 2079/80, it is mentioned that improvements should be made in the areas of information technology management and governance.

While the government is announcing the next 10 years as the Information Technology Decade in the next year's policies and programs, the Accounts General said that the information technology systems in most of the public bodies are not effective, the criteria for purchasing the system should be determined, and the information technology system needs to be further strengthened.

In the 'Nepal National Single Door System', which was established with the aim of providing online services to stakeholders and consumers involved in foreign trade, it has been pointed out that information privacy, cyber security, interoperability and data exchange methods are not clear. Due to this system, business The report said that there is no significant improvement in the convenience index, the manpower development plan and risk analysis work is yet to be done, the governance structure for system operation, monitoring and evaluation is inactive, and the system needs to be completely dependent on the system developer to solve simple to complex problems in the system. 6. The document and application to transfer the right to real estate can be submitted online through the land service center and the document and application can be printed from the system, from the 'land information system'. According to the General Accounting Office, the services that are supposed to be provided through information technology such as national identity cards are not effective. To make legal arrangements regarding access, privacy and security in information technology systems, to operate information systems in an integrated or interconnected manner, to study the use and benefits of new concepts in information technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, etc., to spend on information technology and related to it The General Account has suggested to organize the records of the equipment.

Mahalekha has suggested implementing projects like 5G by encouraging the latest technology. Mentioning that various countries of the world have started mobile services based on 5G, the General Account has mentioned that effectiveness should be brought in the implementation of this technology in Nepal as well. "Even though Nepal Telecommunication Company Limited has spent 18.4 million 38 thousand rupees to test the usability of 5G technology this year, it has not been able to make progress in 5G implementation," the report says. The company should bring efficiency in the implementation of the technology by taking into account the challenges and the impact on revenue.

In addition to making the operation of electronic transactions systematic and reliable, the General Accounting Office has suggested that appropriate legal arrangements be made to regulate and manage electronic transactions including online business and e-payment. It has been asked to review the procurement of information technology systems for the same type of work and provide access to related agencies by maintaining inter-agency coordination. "Government bodies should improve the operation of separate data centers and take services from the government integrated data center," the report further states, "Registration and renewal of the system should be arranged, including 'Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test.'" story -break