Moscow’s city government formally adopted last week a $11 billion informatization program, following one month of public discussions.
Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin underlined the “systemic” approach of the program. He pledged to provide Muscovites with electronic access to “practically all public services, from medical appointments to applications for pensions and subsidies.” In addition, “the regular publication of activity reports from municipal services will allow citizens to monitor the quality of those services,” Sobyanin said.
But a report from the Moscow City Audit Office contains a critical tone about the program, the amount of which corresponds to a quarter of the city’s annual budget.
The existing information systems and their possible future role have not been assessed sufficiently, according to the report, which includes a list of 12 problematic points.
The informatization program’s efficiency is also threatened by inconsistencies in the information and data provided by different city departments, according to the city auditors.
The report points out that the expected results are insufficiently quantified, while the KPIs recommended by the Federal government for such programs have not been taken into account.
Not only does the program ignore NGOs, which may provide critical information in the fields of healthcare and education, it also ignores potential coordination with other programs of the Moscow government.
“The Audit Office’s remarks have been taken into account to the maximum extent,” an official from the Moscow City IT Department told CNews.ru, an online publication covering IT issues.
The report states otherwise: “Important violations and defects remain” in spite of the final changes made to the project.
The city auditors also severely criticized the implementation of the previous informatization program (2008-2010). They fear the same mistakes could be repeated.
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