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Comparative Technology Transfer and Society 3.3 (2005) 211-229


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A Mature Agenda for E-Government Development

Guido Bertucci

Jerzy Szeremeta

Public administration is transforming itself internally and externally through the use of modern information and communication technology (ICT). These ICT applications can be termed e-government, which in turn can be viewed as the process of creating public value with the use of modern ICT (United Nations, 2003). Evidence indicates a rapid growth of e-government applications throughout the world, particularly among the industrialized countries of the North. A recent report (United Nations, 2004b, p. 54) indicates that

[There has been] steady progress in the provision of key (Stage II-Enhanced presence) features during the past year. About one third of the countries have started to provide comprehensive integrated national portals, which provide a one-stop-shop window for easy access to all public services. . . . Rapid progress in the initial stages of e-government development has led to other features being added in 2004. Around 85 to 92 percent of all countries online now provide some of the databases and or laws, policies and other documents.

However, progress in the use of ICT is not evenly distributed. Interactive sites are most commonly found in developed countries. Only about [End Page 211] one third of all countries provided public services online: almost the same as the preceding year (United Nations, 2004b. p. 62).

[However,] the bottom 40 showed little progress. In 2003 the lowest 43 countries had 10 percent or lower utilization of the full potential of e-government. This remained more or less the same in 2004 with 41 countries still utilizing 10 percent or less. The online profile of these countries indicates that their e-government initiatives are limited to providing basically static national websites with some links to other ministerial sites and a few downloadable features. Most of these were not frequently updated. Where provided, the range of interactive services remained limited to some downloading, and phone, fax and email contact information. None of these 40 countries provided any transactional services and most had a very rudimentary networked presence at best.

Thus, ICT presents an enigma for public administration and development specialists. On the one hand, many countries have moved from rudimentary to more sophisticated forms of e-government deployment. Politicians, ICT vendors, local and global business interests, and international financial institutions and donor agencies are all strong ICT supporters; insofar as e-government is considered a tool for raising public administrative efficiency and effectiveness, being on the side of e-government can be presented in the political arena as being on the side of modernity, thriftiness, and achieving results.

On the other hand, from the perspectives of both technology transfer and development, the uneven diffusion and adoption of administrative ICT innovations is cause for concern, particularly for those interested in improving government capacity. From a technology transfer perspective, the specific mechanisms that historically have led to innovation diffusion and adoption do not appear to have been universally present in the case of ICT innovations. First, the intuitively logical sequence of questions "Why? What? How?" has been reversed in this case. Its supporters started—and still feel most comfortable with—the question, "How?" This is because historically, ICT has not been "demanded" by potential adopters, including public administrators. It has arrived as an a priori solution, rather than as a logical response to a felt need. Second, its adoption is uneven and marked by frequent failure, particularly in developing countries and especially in Africa. For example (United Nations, 2003), Garner Research estimates the failure rate of e-government projects at about 60%; and the Standish Group estimates that only 28% of all ICT projects in 2000 in the United States, in both government and industry, were successful with regard to budget, functionality, and timeliness. Twenty-three percent were cancelled and the [End Page 212] remainder succeeded only partially, failing on at least one of the three counts. Third, this implies that outsourcing—the traditional means for improving the ability of the public sector to...

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