Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

Good Practices and InnovATIONS in Public Governance
liver customer value through collaborative government. As part of this programme,
the Kingdom is implementing some 150 e-services spread across 30 ministries.
The key service delivery channel is the National e-Government Portal, a “one-stop
shopping” gateway to all types of services—informational, transactional and online
payment. The National Portal was launched on 23 May 2007 and is being managed
by the e-Government Authority (eGA). The National Portal is available in Arabic and
English languages.
The following are the key objectives of the National e-Government Portal:
• Offer convenience to citizens: Save citizens time and money by sparing them
the need to travel to government offices to procure services.
• Provide integrated, best-in-class services: Provide cross-ministry, integrated
services to ensure minimal lags and bureaucracy delays.
• Benefit the state: Achieve administrative cost efficiencies and optimal use of
resources through better resource allocation.
• Offer a choice of delivery channels: Provide citizens with alternative ways to
access government services (national portal, mobile-phone portal).
• Ensure access by anyone, anytime, anywhere: Provide citizens with 24/7 access
to government services without geographic restrictions.
On 3 November 2008, the portal address was changed from www.e.gov.bh to www.
bahrain.bh, based on the results of a customer survey that revealed the difficulty of
memorizing the original address. The National Portal is 100 percent compatible with
Internet Explorer (version 6.0 and above), and mostly compatible with Firefox,
Netscape, Opera and other major web browsers.
The National Portal has an attractive design with a clear navigational menu. The various
customer segments—individuals, businesses, government and visitors—have separate
colour-coded tabs, and clicking on each tab brings up content relevant to those users.
The portal’s growing popularity is evident from viewership statistics for the first year
of operation: 8,845,127 page views; 1,241,577 visitors from more than 180 countries;
approximately 3400 visits per day; 38 percent growth in new visitors. And
customers’ confidence and trust in the security of the National Portal for financial
transactions is evident from the volume of online payments made in the first year:
more than $33 million worth.
The National Portal is an effective platform for engaging customers in government
decision-making. The portal provides multiple tools to consult with customers, such
as a blog, online polls, and a feedback form. A comprehensive policy on e-consultation
is available in the portal’s “Your Opinion Matters” section.
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