The Slovak Government has recently approved the ‘National Concept for Informatisation of Public Administration’ (NCIPA).

Presented as the “second key document for the development of eGovernment in Slovakia”, this concept is a follow-up to the country’s ‘Strategy for Public Administration Informatisation’. According to the Slovak Ministry of Finance, the NCIPA “takes the vision of development and strategic eGovernment objectives to deeper levels of system architecture and infrastructure.”

The NCIPA defines an integrated architecture for the Information Systems operated by the Public Administration (referred to as ‘ISPA’). The new concept specifies common bases, principles and priorities for the building of information systems operated by the State Administration and local authorities in compliance with their defined competencies. The aim is to ensure the interconnection and mutual cooperation of all Slovak Public Administrations’ systems.

Among other basic architecture components, the NCIPA notably specifies identifiers, registers, code-books, access components, common ÚPVS (Central Public Administration Portal) modules, etc. The aim is to ensure that any particular data is modified only once, at one point, with the modified data being automatically forwarded to all registers. Citizens will thus not be asked to provide the same data several times.

At the same time, the concept provides for the observance of the following principles: services for citizens, transparency, protection of privacy, effectiveness, accessibility, security, interoperability, usage of “Open Standards”, technology and software neutrality, simple interpretation, process approach and multi-level cooperation.

The document aims at implementing procedures based on best practices from the countries with the highest level of digitalisation in Public Administration. In addition, it is to be noted that the proposed integrated architecture is based on the latest trend in the area of system integration, the so-called ‘Service-Oriented Architecture’ (SOA).

“Provided that, in line with the NCIPA, a legislative framework supporting the application of information and communication technologies in Public Administration is established, appropriate infrastructure is built, and an effective digitalisation of administrative sectors is performed, benefits expected from the informatisation of Public Administration will be delivered to all stakeholders – citizens, businesses, Public Aministration, etc.” concluded the Slovak Ministry of Finance.

Further information:

• Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic – Full press release