Assessment phase for excellence in eGovernment award begins

Business Saturday 20/October/2018 16:36 PM
By: Times News Service
Assessment phase for excellence in eGovernment award begins

Muscat: To evaluate and select the winning projects, the jury session’s activities for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment 2018 organised by the Information Technology Authority (ITA) will begin from Sunday and continue until October 25 at Kempinski Hotel, Almouj.
Over the five days and according to the set criteria, the jury committee will evaluate 64 submitted projects: 47 projects from government entities, nine projects from private organisations and eight projects from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The jury committee consists of 13 international juries, three of whom are from the Sultanate. The jury session is the final phase of the selection process of the winning projects and it works independently and impartially abiding by the award’s rules and guidelines, hence, the results of the jury committee are final and not subject to change. Additionally, the jury committee will provide detailed reports consisting of recommendations and ways to improve the participating projects to enhance eServices in the Sultanate.
In this round, the award comprises 10 categories, three of which were newly added, distributed for the government, private and SMEs sectors. The two new categories are for government entities, which are Best Open Data Initiative and Best Government Application for Smart Devices.
Whereas the third new category is specified for the private sector to the Best Private Application for Smart Devices.
Hence, the government sector entities can compete in seven different categories, namely Best Open Data Initiative, Best Government Application for Smart Devices, Best government eService – individuals, Best whole of government Project, Best eService supporting doing business, Best Practice in Community eParticipation and Best eTransformation achievement. Whereas the private sector’s large organisations can compete in two categories, namely Best Private Application for Smart Devices and Best Private eService. Besides, the Private sector ICT Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can participate in one category: Best SME eService.
The Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment started in 2010 to honour digital projects that have provided exceptional achievements and innovations in the use of information technology. The award also aims to improve the quality of eServices and simplify their procedures to ensure greater confidence and public contribution.