Mr Peter Ong: The Government needs to harness the ideas of the masses and seek ways to co-create and improve our public service delivery.

A one-stop shop for electronic building submissions, a mobile app that empowers land transport users to make informed decisions, and an e-service that consolidates document requests related to public housing - these were some of the initiatives lauded at the inaugural eGov Excellence Awards (GEA) ceremony on 30 April.

Jointly organised by the Ministry of Finance and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, the GEA was attended by almost 400 participants.

Speaking at the Awards ceremony at Mapletree Business City, Head Civil Service Mr Peter Ong said he saw scope for e-Government to evolve in three aspects. “First, we need to continue to adapt and leverage on new technology to drive innovation and improve productivity in public service delivery. Second, we need to drive further integration and apply a coordinated and customer-centric approach. Third, we need to harness the transformative power of data to catalyse new, inventive solutions, and together with society, achieve higher public value.”

At this year’s Awards, the winning submissions showed that the agencies were on the right track. In the Shared Systems and Services category, for example, the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) CORENET (Construction and Real Estate Network) provided a good example of how processes could be integrated and streamlined for a more coordinated and customer-centric approach to service delivery. CORENET enabled the building industry to save more than S$30 million in printing and dispatch costs by providing a one-stop shop for building professionals to make electronic submissions to BCA and 15 other government regulatory authorities.

In the E-Services category, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) consolidated document requests for various applications into a single e-service called MyDoc@HDB . With this, customers could access their personalised consolidated list of documents online. At the same time, HDB staff were able to retrieve the digitised documents easily and quickly, boosting efficiency and productivity.

Many agencies have also been harnessing new technologies to drive innovation and enhance public service delivery. In the m-Services category, the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) MyTransport.SG Mobile empowered commuters, motorists and cyclists in Singapore to make informed decisions and better plan their journeys by providing them with a content-rich mobile service offering a wide range of information for all modes of land transportation.

In the People Engagement category, the Ministry of Defence showcased how social media channels were being used to connect and engage with its audiences. Through the cyberpioneerTV YouTube channel, it shared almost 400 videos related to the SAF and has garnered more than 11 million views and 22,000 subscribers. The cyberpioneer Facebook page, which was launched in 2010 to connect and engage with Singaporeans to strengthen their commitment to the country’s defence, has garnered over 35,000 fans.

HCS Mr Peter Ong viewing an exhibition of winning entries during the eGovernment Excellence Awards.

Websites have also been taking on a fresh new look with more dynamic and interactive content. The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) was one of the agencies that stood out in this category with the 2012 revamp of its website to feature vibrant photographs, engaging headlines, graphics and interactive content. This was aimed at explaining MEWR’s policies in an interesting and meaningful way, and engaging users on issues related to the environment.

In the Data Sharing category, LTA was among the agencies that demonstrated how the transformative power of data could be harnessed to catalyse new, inventive solutions. In November 2011, it introduced an open data sharing initiative, [email protected] , to share its rich repository of datasets on public transport, traffic and geospatial data. Since the launch, there has been strong interest from business partners, research institutions and third party developers, generating 2 million data downloads per month and leading to a proliferation of innovative transport-related applications for mobile devices such as iPhones and Android phones.

"The Government needs to harness the ideas of the masses and seek ways to co-create and improve our public service delivery,” said Mr Ong. ”While technology can provide the platform for this to happen, it is our collaborative approach and unceasing innovation that will allow us to recognise and capture opportunities and translate them into a higher quality of life for our people."

The GEA is an extension of the Web Excellence Awards, which was introduced in 2009, to recognise good government websites and encourage the continual adoption of web standards and best practices.  Due to the rapid advancement of infocomm technologies and the growing use of mobile devices, the GEA covers six categories - Websites, e-Services, m-Services, Data Sharing, People Engagement, and Shared System and Services.

*Visit the IDA booth at the eGov Global Exchange from 18-21 June at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre to catch the six Distinguished winners and learn more about their journey to better public service delivery.