Online System for Public Services (MN0037)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Mongolia Action Plan 2019-2021
Action Plan Cycle: 2019
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Communication and Information Technology Agency
Support Institution(s): Central state administrative agencies, Office of Capital City Governor, Capital City Land Department, Capital City Tourism Agency, Capital City Environment Agency, Capital City Transportation Agency Private sector entities Democracy Education Center (DEMO)
Policy Areas
Sustainable Development GoalsIRM Review
IRM Report: Mongolia Transitional Results Report 2019-2021, Mongolia Design Report 2019-2021
Early Results: No IRM Data
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: No
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Description
Main objective:
Make government operations citizen centered, shift public services to online and start broader use, deliver the public services to citizens quick, accessible and equal ways.
Brief description of commitment:
Ensure transparency and openness of the government, increase productivity and efficiency of government operations, introduce advanced information technology achievements in the government operations, deliver online public to citizens, change the public service to citizencentered service and accelerate operations to shift public services to online service for broader use.
Ambition:
Opportunities for making operations of public agencies open and transparent, reducing corruption and bureaucracy and enabling to access to services without delay of timing and distance limitations created. 100 administrative services provided by the central government and 47 services of municipality agencies to be delivered online.
Milestones:
1. Conduct study on difficulties in shifting online public services, find solutions and renew the list of public services to be shifted and have it approved by the Cabinet of the Government (Communication and Information Technology Agency)
2. Connect the online public service delivery system to government digital data system and create conditions for use of the systems (Communication and Information Technology Agency)
3. Improve legal environment related to online delivery of public services, make the services online and introduce the online system step-by-step
4. Develop web portal for "Single Window Public Service" system (Capital City Information Technology Agency)
5. Develop platform for municipal services (Capital City Information Technology Agency)
6. Link to "Single Window Service" and integrated platform
7. Introduce electronic system that provides 47 services provided by municipality to citizens (Capital City Information Technology Agency)
8. Review and evaluation (Capital City Information Technology Agency)
9. Enable improvement of citizens' diqital enqagement
IRM Midterm Status Summary
3. Develop system that delivers public services online
Ensure transparency and openness of the government, increase productivity and efficiency of government operations, introduce advanced information technology achievements in thegovernment operations, deliver online public services to citizens, change the public service to citizen-centered service, and accelerate operations to shift public services to online service for broader use.
Main Objective
Make government operations citizen-centered, shift public services to online and start broader use, deliver the public services to citizens quick, accessible, and equal ways.
Milestones
- Conduct study on difficulties in shifting online public services, find solutions, and renew the list of public services to be shifted and have it approved by the Cabinet of the Government (Communications and Information Technology Agency).
- Connect the online public service delivery system to government digital data system and create conditions for use of the systems (Communications and Information Technology Agency).
- Improve legal environment related to online delivery of public services, make the services online, and introduce the online system step-by-step.
- Develop web portal for Single Window Public Service system (Capital City Information Technology Agency).
- Develop platform for municipal services (Capital City Information Technology Agency).
- Link to Single Window Service and integrated platform (Capital City Information Technology Agency).
- Introduce electronic system that provides 47 services provided by municipality to citizens (Capital City Information Technology Agency).
- Review and evaluation (Capital City Information Technology Agency).
- Enable improvement of citizens’ digital engagement.
Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Mongolia’s action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mongolia_Action-Plan_2019-2021.pdf.
IRM Design Report Assessment | |
Verifiable: | Yes |
Relevant: | Unclear |
Potential Impact: | Minor |
Commitment analysis
This commitment aims to develop an online public service delivery system to improve access to quality public services. Mongolia’s Communications and Information Technology Agency (CITA) will be in charge of the online system development in cooperation with multiple government agencies with key focus on public service delivery such as tourism, environment, transportation, and land administration. The Democracy Education Center (DEMO), a CSO, will also contribute to the implementation of this commitment along with several private sector entities.
The commitment is a follow-up to the Mongolia Sustainable Development Vision 2030 which was approved by the Parliament as Resolution No. 19 in 2016. The vision aims at shifting at least 85 percent of public service delivery to an online mechanism by 2030. In addition, Mongolia’s Three Pillars of Development Policy 2018–2020 also contains an objective to ensure transparency of public services and develop online/digital services; similar to the State Policy on Information Technology Sector 2017–2025, which mandates the digitization of public services in expanded scope, as well as the Action Plan for Combating Corruption 2017, which instructs the government to enable online public service delivery by building and strengthening an integrated system of online services.
In implementing this commitment, CITA will conduct a baseline study to determine which areas of public services could be delivered online and identify the potential challenges of doing so. Building on findings from this study, CITA would then begin the process of developing the online system while simultaneously strengthening the legal framework to support its roll-out. Once the system is online, CITA would work on replicating the system for public services at the municipal level. Specifically, this commitment targets the provision of up to 47 service areas through the online system.
At the time the commitment was designed, many public services could already be accessed online, even including opportunities for citizen monitoring of service delivery. For example, the ‘Check My Service’ platform—developed by DEMO in 2012—empowered citizens to monitor the compliance of public service agencies through its Community Score Card mechanism. By June 2016, this platform had performed citizen audits of 84 public service areas, such as education, healthcare, social services, public transportation, utilities, land administration, and waste disposal. [24]
However, a recent annual report published by the Independent Research Institute of Mongolia that looks at a wide range of service areas showed that citizens in urban areas—where an online platform could reach a bigger audience—were dissatisfied with the quality of public services across all sectors, with the exception of mining, employment, and social insurance. [25] Furthermore, the report found that citizens in urban areas highlighted the lack of availability and insufficient capacity as major issues in accessing public services. [26]
This commitment, which seeks to consolidate and provide citizens with eGovernment services, is of unclear relevance to OGP values. The commitment does not propose to release, or improve access to, government-held information pertaining to these services. For an eGovernment commitment to enhance openness, the proposed system should involve government agencies proactively publishing data on public service delivery on the online platform. This data, if easily accessible, may then be used by citizens to identify gaps, scrutinize implementation, and formulate feedback for improvements in service delivery.
If fully implemented as written, this commitment stands to have minor potential impact on improving citizen access to public services. While the consolidation of services on a single platform will be an incremental improvement in citizens’ access to government services, it does not represent a major improvement from the status quo, as a number of services are already accessible online. There are also no provisions in the commitment’s design to guarantee increased access to government-held information, wider opportunities for citizen participation, and/or enhanced accountability of public service delivery.
Highlighting the importance of focusing on improving access to data and information around public service delivery, a recent DEMO assessment found that despite the enforcement of Mongolia’s Law on Information Transparency and Right to Information in 2011, [27] many citizens were still unaware of their right to public information, especially relating to the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery. This is in line with findings in the 2019 OGP Global Report [28] which noted an opportunity for Mongolia to develop commitments in the areas of open data, especially related to basic services, particularly water and sanitation, education, and healthcare.
In the framing of future commitments in this area, the government could thus consider proactive disclosure of government data through strong eGovernment platforms, such as the one proposed in this commitment. In addition, the government could also conduct public consultations to assess the success and failures of existing online public service delivery platforms and come up with solutions to these problems. By doing so, the government could then take measures to improve citizen satisfaction with online public service delivery individually depending on what is relevant in particular areas. While there is merit in integrating public services in a single online platform, it does not directly address the problems with the level of quality and capacity of public services that are available at large.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
3.Develop system that delivers public services online
Complete:
Following a study and adoption of Government Resolution No. 149/2019, the E-Mongolia platform was launched in 2019, along with an app. It offers citizens, non-citizens, and business entities centralized electronic access to 445 government services at both the national and municipal levels. In some cases, appointments at government offices are required to receive these services. The platform lacks a direct commenting mechanism, [7] but citizens can message the E-Mongolia Facebook account for feedback and redress. [8] The platform was linked to the Khur state information exchange system. Government Resolution No. 90 of 2020 supported integrating public e-services into E-Mongolia. By October 2021, 4,649,666 services were provided nationwide through E-Mongolia, [9] and more than 500,000 users had installed the app. [10] The Democracy Education Center noted that inequities in access were likely prevalent for people with disabilities, without internet access, or technologically illiterate, but considers this commitment to have improved citizens’ overall access to public services. [11] This commitment was not considered relevant to OGP values by the IRM Design Report.