Policy Context and Legal Framework

As from January 2007, Antwoord voor Bedrijven has been continuously developed as the single business portal in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the website has been designated as the Point of Single Contact within the scope of the Services Directive, Article 8 of this directive requires Member States to ensure service providers the completion of procedures and formalities necessary to establish or exercise a service activity at a distance and by electronic means through Points of Single Contact. In practice, Points of Single Contact are – from the perspective of the service provider – single institutional interlocutors which allows him to collect all relevant information and to complete all necessary steps relating to his service activities without the need to contact several competent authorities or bodies. The Netherlands has chosen a decentralised approach where transactions will be processed within the competent authorities but communicated through the Single Point of Contact, Antwoordvoorbedrijven.nl.

In May 2008, the Cabinet introduced a new joint action programme for better service provision and eGovernment (NUP). In order to achieve a greater common focus on the utilisation of eGovernment and bring about a faster improvement in the service provision to citizens and businesses, six flagship projects were identified. One of these projects was the implementation of the Point of Single Contact, Antwoordvoorbedrijven.nl. In addition, a realisation table of compulsory core elements of the eGovernment infrastructure was described, which included several elements needed to connect all competent authorities to Antwoord voor bedrijven.

Implementation and Management Approach

The service was implemented in 2007 by the Dutch Ministry of economic affairs. Antwoord voor bedrijven is already the only governmental first-line overall portal for businesses. By 28-12-2009 Antwoord voor bedrijven will function also as the Dutch Point of Single Contact as required by the Services Directive.

The Point of Single Contact is operational, i.e. the Dutch version of the website is available and the contact centre is accessible as well. As of June 10 2009, as many as 316 competent authorities have connected to Antwoord voor bedrijven.

The performance of the website is improved continuously. There is a new release of the website at least twice a year. Every new functionality is tested with the target group, like usability tests with every new release of the website. The website is updated with relevant content daily. Completing transactions through the website will be available later in 2009. As the Dutch governmental structure is autonomous and since Antwoord voor bedrijven has to be a transaction as well as an information website, the competent authorities need to connect to the portal.

Dutch and European usability tests show that one-stop-shopping is considered to be a huge benefit of PSCs. Antwoord voor bedrijven constitutes a logical, complete and user-friendly dissemination point of business information, available 24/7, at reduced cost.

 What do competent authorities have to do to connect?

• Link up their website with www.antwoordvoorbedrijven.nl. This is facilitated by the existing Dutch standard for content syndication called Samenwerkende Catalogi.

• Make sure that Service Providers can carry out all transactions, including reports, applications for permits and payments through the Point of Contact. They will use a pdf or Word-document or an e-form for this. The Service Provider will send the completed form through the Point of Contact to the competent authority. They will check the identity and authenticity of the Service Provider.

• In order to link the organisation to the message box, the competent authority will join www.antwoordvoorbedrijven.nl/participanten. They will receive a log-in name and password. This makes it possible for the entrepreneur to reach all competent authorities in the Netherlands trough the PSC.

An account management team offers support to the competent authorities that implement the service. This team holds information meetings and organises regional gatherings, where parties who have already connected to the AvB portal serve as examples.

Technology solution

The website www.antwoordvoorbedrijven.nl is based on open source, open standards and open content. Also the CMS is based on open source technology. These solutions are part of Dutch policy to develop all governmental software in open source.

The Website consists of:

1.    Open Source CMS and datamodel which can be used to describe legal information for service providers. In the Dutch situation, the information described as governmental products (in a product template) and categorized in sectors, by subjects and free search. It uses an open source search engine.

2.    XML standard to support content syndication. A standard for metadata to implement at governmental organisations. With that metadata and a tool in the CMS, the PSC can connect product information on websites of other governmental organizations to the website of the PSC.

3. Secure open source message tool in a secure environment as part of the PSC in which the service provider and governmental organisations have their own message box. Through this message box, a service provider can send a question or an e-form to a governmental organisation. The organisation can reply and thus the message box of the service provider contains an overview of all communications with governmental organisations.

The message box is a secure, personal environment. Both the service providers and the competent authorities are provided with login data and the message box.

Impact

Antwoord voor bedrijven can be reached by phone or chat from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm during workingdays. E-mail is available 24 hours a day.

A study of EIM concluded that Antwoord voor bedrijven performing as the point of single contact will deliver a reduction of administrative burden of €65.000.000,- per year on state level. This study was carried out with the "Standaard Kosten Model" (standard cost model), a standard to measure administrative burden. The SCM has been developed to provide a simplified, consistent method for estimating the administrative costs imposed on business by central government.

In Q1 of 2009, Antwoord voor bedrijven  improved navigation, searchability. Sector specific information and general subjects have become the main navigation elements. In the future, it will act as the Point of Single Contact as required by the Services Directive. For this purpose, the content will be further extended and the content on the Dutch website is already partially available in English as well (note: this does not apply to the content on the websites of all the competent authorities that can be found through Antwoord voor bedrijven).

Antwoord voor bedrijven being the Dutch Point of Single Contact means that it has to be possible for service providers to complete all the procedures and formalities which are relevant to provide services in the Netherlands. Antwoord voor bedrijven is developing a personalised, safe and secure environment (message box), which facilitates communication between the Dutch competent authorities and service providers. Meanwhile, more advanced solutions are developed, like facilitating transactions via portlets and single sign on.

Added value:
Antwoord voor bedrijven constitutes a logical, complete and user-friendly dissemination point of business information, available 24/7, at reduced cost. AvB has been developed in open source, in close collaboration with the target group – entrepreneurs. They have assisted in testing new functionalities, so that optimal usability was warranted during the consecutive steps. Ongoing (international) usability studies offer new scope for improvement. Thus, the development of the PSC is a perpetual process aimed at providing the best and most complete possible service for businesses.

Results achieved so far:
The PSC enhances the accessibility of information and the feasibility of online transactions relevant for businesses beyond regular office hours.

User satisfaction:
On the homepage of Antwoord voor bedrijven, the visitor can choose between sector specific information and general subjects. A recent international usability study shows that foreign visitors find the English-language homepage well-organised and welcoming.

Track record of sharing

Antwoord voor bedrijven is part of the network of organisations developing the Points of Single Contact. Antwoord voor bedrijven  organised a networking event on November 20^th 2008 in cooperation with DK, DE, UK and FR (‘Jamboree’) . The aim of this meeting was sharing knowledge and experiences. A second jamboree was recently held in Brussels. Here, we presented the results of a recent usability test and it relevance for other member states, including feedback from actual users, general guidelines, feedback on specific PSCs and the open source toolbox made available by the Netherlands.

Other countries can make use of the experience gathered in building the Dutch PSC. The Dutch government has commissioned the availability of an open source toolbox for other EU members who need to complete or improve their PSCs. The toolbox is to consist of three main building blocks based on an open source technical solution developed by the Netherlands. These building blocks are single modules that can be integrated in the Points of Single Contact in compliance with the technical requirements defined at national level. This modular concept allows a step by step development of Points of Single Contact, without requiring their original design to be changed.

The toolbox consists of:

1. Open Source Content Management System (CMS) and data model

2. XML standard to support content syndication

3. A secure message tool in a secure environment

Along with relevant user documentation

The open approach of the toolbox makes it possible to integrate other useful building blocks facilitating the further automation of PSCs and transactions. The toolbox will be realised if there is sufficient interest from other EU members.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - It has proved very effective to test every new functionality with the target group (the entrepreneurs), like usability tests by every new release of the website. The introductory texts on AvB, such as on the landing-pages, are written in language and logic that is comprehensible to entrepreneurs. The average Dutch entrepreneur is by far most interested in specific content on his own branch activities. A European usability test showed that foreign entrepreneurs like the (English-language) home/page to be somple but practical.

Lesson 2 - The Dutch way of content syndication ensures that the information is always up-to date. This means that the information is maintained by the source (e.g. a municipality or ministry) and is compliant with eGovernment standards.

Lesson 3 – Thanks to content syndication it is possible to bring the government information to where the entrepreneur comes (i.e. the website of his branch organisation).
A solution has been chosen that all organisations can implement in the short term by keeping the technical implications as minimal as can be and by perpetually conferring with these organisations. This was made necessary by the fact that the technical maturity of the organisations varies widely.