Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

Good Practices and InnovATIONS in Public Governance
Western Asia
Bahrain
2010 Category 1 — 1st Place Winner
National e-Government Portal – Bahrain.bh
E-Government Authority, Bahrain
Description
This initiative is an e-government strategy to improve the delivery of public services
to citizens by increasing the transparency of government operations, the responsiveness
of government processes and the accountability of government officials.
Summary
The strategic vision of the e-government programme is to deliver customer value
through collaborative government. Building on the high e-literacy rate in Bahrain, the
strategy emphasizes providing government services conveniently to customers (citizens,
residents, businesses and visitors) through four electronic service delivery channels:
the National e-Government Portal (www.bahrain.bh), the Mobile Portal (for
mobile-phone users), the National Contact Centre and a network of Common Service
Centres and e-kiosks. The e-Government Portal is the key linkage between the other
three delivery channels and the integration point for all government services. The
Kingdom is implementing approximately 150 e-services spread across 30 ministries.
The Kingdom designed the National Portal with multiple goals in mind: to incorporate
service-oriented architecture principles, optimize sourcing strategies, build robust
infrastructure, adopt industry standards, address citizens’ security concerns and
empower citizens through e-participation. The overarching objective was to ensure
customer convenience—to make it possible for anyone, anytime, anywhere to access
integrated government services. The success of the initiative can primarily be attributed
to three factors: a clear political mandate and buy-in from the country’s top
leadership, a strategy of listening to and addressing citizens’ needs, and a well-defined,
focused programme and framework for project governance.
The Problem
The major issues related to public service delivery are bureaucratic hurdles, inefficient
processes, outdated policies and the inability of existing government mechanisms
to handle the ever-increasing demand for services. At the same time, Bahrain
has one of the best information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures
in the Middle East. The Kingdom has a government-wide data network connecting
ministries, one of the highest rates of personal-computer penetration in the Arab
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