Updating the state

To the chagrin of tech-savvy citizens and over-bureaucratized businesspeople, Poland has made less than stellar progress on this front. There is hope for change in the government's strategy for ICT development. However, to create a modern state, the plan must not only be accompanied by the wise use of EU funds, but also by a determination among officials to bring Poland into the information age

As the world's doors open wider for Poles looking to improve their lot, people's access to state services is becoming a more important factor in Poland's drive to become more competitive in the global market. People go where their quality of life is best, and the degree of citizen-friendliness of state institutions can greatly contribute to a person's decision to settle in a particular country.

"Since EU accession we are no longer a monopolist for our citizens," Deputy Minister of the Interior, Grzegorz Bliźniuk explained at a recent meeting with information and communication technology (ICT) experts and branch representatives. "Now that everyone can choose a place to live and work, we need to compete for people to choose Poland as the right place [to live]," he said, adding that the development of the state's ICT capabilities is critical for achieving that goal.

Still, Poland still has a long way to go when it comes to implementing the latest technologies. In the World Economic Forum's 2006-2007 Networked Readiness Index, which measures a country's degree of preparation to participate in and benefit from ICT developments, Poland was ranked an uninspiring 58th out of the 122 countries listed.

Obstacle course

Some attribute the slow pace of modernization in Poland's state institutions to the country's demographics. "Poland is a large country with an even population density," said Ewa Zborowska, a senior analyst from IT market-analysis firm IDC. "Any ICT project must be implemented on a large scale. It is impossible to introduce new solutions as rapidly as in Estonia, for example, which after all has a population comparable to that of Warsaw," she pointed out.

Modernization projects are further encumbered by an overabundance of bureaucracy. "Over the years, bureaucracy has been the major bottleneck for ICT development in Poland," opined Arun Chandramohan, another IDC analyst. "If this obstacle is overcome, Poland will develop much faster," he said. Both Chandramohan and Zborowska added that the implementation of new technologies is rather slow at the level of central administration, while the process of implementing modern ICT solutions is much faster and more effective in local governments.

The low saturation of computers among Poland's population also means there's less demand for such services. According to Poland's Central Statistical Office only 45 percent of Polish households used ICT in 2006. According to the EU Report on European Electronic Communications Regulation and Markets 2006, the penetration of broadband connections in Poland was just 4.5 percent, compared with an EU average 15.7 percent.

Ambitious initiatives

Government officials have come up with several modernization initiatives. However, the largest such scheme is the State Informatization Plan 2007-2010, which is being supervised by the Ministry of Interior and Administration and whose chief coordinator is former Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn. The plan was accepted this year by Poland's Council of Ministers.

The project's three key priorities are to modernize the country and make it citizen friendly, to decrease the vast costs of administration and to change people's attitudes towards new technologies. In total, the initiative includes five supra-ministerial and 23 ministerial modernization projects. The modernization plan assumes a substantial investment by the state, however - for the period of 2007-2010, the bill comes to over zł.2.5 billion, while more than zł.3.5 billion will be spent between 2010 and 2013.

"For the first time in Poland's history, the government has drawn up a document on the development of ICT which serves as a plan reaching several years into the future," declared Deputy Minister Bliźniuk. "These resolutions are already in effect. This is not mere theorizing, but something that is already being enforced."

Urgent issues

Regarding those areas most desperately in need of attention, IDC's Zborowska lists registration of companies, database storage and publication (including cultural heritage information), and faster and more effective communication with administration (such as e-tax capabilities). Moreover, "it is important that people believe that when new technologies are implemented, they are really beneficial," she stressed.

One initiative that citizens haven't yet found beneficial is the new electronic signature capability offered by some government offices. At a cost of several hundred złoty, entrepreneurs say the high price of implementing the software necessary for creating e-signatures currently outweighs any possible benefits.

"Nobody used the electronic signature option on our portal because of the cost," said Marek Staniewski, the director of IT department for the Bydgoszcz municipal authorities. "That is why we are preparing a substantially cheaper promotional offer."

Still, Staniewski pointed out that the number of those who communicate with the city via the internet is growing. At present, the office offers up to 50 different services online and after a recent modernization of the system, this number is expected to grow. He also stressed the role of EU funds in the process. "Seventy percent of the zł.300,000 sum we invested in last year's IT project came from structural funds," he said. However, Staniewski noted that while EU funds are very helpful when it comes to purchasing such systems, authorities will still bear the significant costs of maintaining them.

'Nightmarish' bureaucracy

Although EU funds create an opportunity for the country's ICT modernization plan, they still need to be effectively absorbed within a certain period of time. When the program was presented last January, then-Minister Ludwik Dorn stressed that legislation must be improved, with the law on public tenders most urgently in need of a revamp.

"The law on public tenders is a nightmarish bureaucracy," said Zborowska. "Offers have been dismissed on very trivial and banal grounds, such as unnumbered pages. This leads to endless appeals by the companies that feel they were treated unfairly."

Michał Michalski, public relations director of IT firm Signity (formerly Computerland and Emax), added that most companies' motivation for protesting against a tender's outcome stems from a desire for equal treatment rather than ill will. He adds that he sees positive results following a gradual improvement of the law on tenders. "Tender procedures are now much simpler than they were several years ago," he says. "Companies also make fewer mistakes in their bids than they used to."

A tender subject

However, simplifying the tender process won't do much good if the contracts aren't implemented. Several IT companies suffered last year due to a drop-off in public IT tenders. Signity was one of them, and Michalski admits that last year public orders for such services were scant. However, he notes that there are promising opportunities created not only by the government's ICT modernization plan, but also by a growing demand on the part of central and local administration, as well as private individuals.

With the government plan up and running and the EU money beginning to roll in, officials emphasize that Poland now has an opportunity to modernize that it must not miss out on. "If we manage to [significantly increase the state's technological capabilities] we will make a jump in the quality of life of the country," said Deputy Minister Bliźniuk.

"This is our five minutes, we will not get such a chance in the future. That is why we need to put in more effort," he said. Zborowska agrees. "What we need to demonstrate now is a great deal of good will and common sense," she said.