EGovernment Systems in MAlaysia

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, DrUniversiti Putra [email protected]

eGovernment Development and Malaysian eGovernment Systems

This chapter presents the current research in e-government development and online

reverse auctions system, the problem and goals of the study and the significance of the

research. An overview of Malaysia’s e-government initiatives and Multimedia Super

Corridor (MSC) applications, particularly ePerolehan is provided in the chapter together

with an overview of reverse auctions system and eBidding benefits. A description of the

status of eBidding usage and the transactional value are also included.

1.2 Global e-Government Use

e-Government facilitates governments to provide services to business, government

agencies and citizens by leveraging on information communication technology (ICT)

and the Internet. e-Government is referred to as public service delivery to the public,

citizens and private sector via the internet (Ahmad and Othman, 2007). e-Government

is defined as the use of Internet as venue for more efficient administration and

governance (OECD, 2003). Moon (2005) argues governments employ the system as a

strategy to response to public expectations for enhanced and better public service

delivery. The government is facing increasing expectations by the public for fast and

efficient services similar to the quality offered by the private sector. The citizens who

had experienced of the ease and flexibility of using online banking services want similar

experience in government delivery systems. As a response to public expectations, the

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government has embarked on the development of e-government to improve service

delivery (MAMPU, 2010).

The implementation of e-government is expected to bring many advantages and

benefits to the government and the public. The government’s aspirations to implement

e-government are to improve the internal operations by transforming the processes,

reduce paperwork, increase the number of services to the public and reduce the

response time (Maniam, 2008). As e-government improves, the interaction quality and

work processes within and inter-agencies, the results are in terms of speedier policy

development, better coordination and enforcement (Kaliannan et al., 2007). In addition,

e-Government provides opportunities for citizens and business communities to access

government services and enhance the transactions between business and governments

(UN, 2005).

The e-Government supports good governance, strengthens existing relationships and

builds new partnerships within civil society. e-Government facilitates the introduction of

new enhanced services to the public and increases citizen participation in the policy

making (Gupta and Jana, 2003). Siddiquee (2008) argues that by increasing

consultations and collaborations among various parties and agencies, the citizens can

enjoy better quality services and increased business efficiency.

The global governments’ effectiveness in delivering online services is tracked in a few

studies, for example, e-Government initiatives in 22 nations were examined in the

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Accenture Study in 2011. The study finds that leading world governments are modifying

the traditional models of service delivery to a higher level to strengthen their

relationships with citizens (Accenture, 2011). e-Government relationships with the

stakeholders can be briefly categorized as Government-to-Citizens (G2C), Government-

to-Businesses (G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G) (Jeong, 2007).

In a Government-to-Citizens (G2C) relationship, user-friendly one-stop services centers

are employed to facilitate citizens’ interactions with the government. In a Government-

to-Businesses (G2B) relationship, government and the private sector communication

are improved to facilitate business transactions between parties. In a Government-to-

Government (G2G) category, collaborations between governmental agencies are

enhanced to increase data sharing and electronic transactions. MAMPU (2010)

contends that in G2G, these relationships cover more integrated agencies in terms of

collaboration between officials, departments, ministries and foreign countries.

1.3. e-Government Development

e-Government evolves through a series of stages, from basic information,

communication feedback to conducting transactions and finally the interactive web

presence (Siau and Long, 2009). e-Government development stages can be depicted in

stages of development model as shown as Figure 1. The United Nations’ Five-Stage

Model (UN, 2005) summarizes the developmental stages any government may

experience as the e-government evolves. The first three stages cover automation and

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digitization while the following stages cover government transformation, in terms of the

internal operations and citizen’s participation in policy-formulation and decision-making.

Figure 1. UN’s 5-Stage Model of e-Government Development

Source : (UN, 2005)

Various government researchers have developed numerous stage models for e-

government developments, for example, Layne and Lee, (2001) Four-Stage Model and

Moon (2002) Five-Stage Model, Layne and Lee’s (2001) Four-Stage Model and Moon’s

(2002) Five-Stage Model. These models are based on a combination of technical,

organization and managerial factors. IBM Four-Stage Model comprises automate,

enhance, integrate and on demand stage (IBM Business Consulting Services, 2003).

Belanger and Hiller (2006) Five-Stage Model considers political participation by citizens

in the highest stage by offering services such as online voting, online registration, or

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i

ii

iii

iv

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posting comments on line. Lee (2010) study compares twelve different e-government

stage models and classify e-government stage models based on two themes: operation

and technology theme on one side and citizen services on the other. According to the

author, five distinct correlated metaphors, presenting, assimilating, reforming, morphing

and e-governance will dictate the relationship between each themes. These models

embrace the concepts of interaction, transaction, participation and involvement of the

citizen with integration, transformation and process management.

Table 1. Comparisons of Stage Models in e-Government Development

Model StagesUN (2005) 5-Stage Model i. emerging web presence,

ii. enhanced web presence, iii. interactive web presence, iv. transactional web presence; v. seamless integrated web presence

Layne and Lee’s 4-Stage Model (2001)

i. catalog; ii. transaction; iii. vertical integration; iv. horizontal integration

Moon’s 5-Stage Model (2002)

i. simple information dissemination; ii. two-way communication; iii. service and technical transaction; iv. vertical and horizontal integration ; v. political participation

IBM Study (2003) i. automate ; ii. integrate ; iii. enhance ; iv. on demand

Belanger and Hiller (2006) i. web presence; ii. interaction; iii. transaction; iv. transformation ;

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Model Stages v. political participation

(Lee, 2010) i.presenting;ii. assimilating;iii. reforming;iv.morphing ;v. e-governance

As seen in Table 1, there are “leaps” between each of the stages. The development

stages of e-government follow several phases from “access” level that allows citizens

and business access to government information; “interaction” level, which allows

interactions with government through email or download forms; “transaction” level that

allows users to conduct transactions online; and “integration level”, which integrates all

services in different e-government organizations and governance. Based on the models

developed by the researchers, e-government development occurs in stages from

access level to transaction and integration level and finally e-governance. Government-

to-Business (G2B) systems are grouped in the “integration” stages of development due

to the capabilities and services offered to the business community and citizens.

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1.4 Malaysia’s e-Government Initiatives

The Government of Malaysia envisions a modern government enabled by technology

through its Vision 2020. The Government launches an ambitious e-government project

to increase the quality and public service delivery by leveraging on the capabilities

offered by Internet and multimedia technologies (Hazman et al., 2006). The e-

Government aspires to improve the ease of use, access and interaction quality with the

public and private sector by improving the process within the government. These factors

will result in speedier policy development, coordination and enforcement. Ramlah et al.,

(2007) contend the government’s overall aim is to build an enabling environment to

achieve a knowledge-based economy. As such, e-government programs are introduced

to offer better services and harness the potential benefits of interactions with new IS

innovations with an increasingly well-informed population.

Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Flagship Applications were launched with e-

government as one of the key applications to spearhead the ICT industry. e-

Government application was developed with the aims to re-invent the government and

improve citizens and business interactions with the government. The overall vision is to

create an efficient administration and excellent service delivery in an enabling

environment. The aim is an enhanced collaboration between government, businesses

and citizens for the benefit of the country. The e-government aims are to re-invent

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government and leverage the industrial capabilities of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)

by addressing the following areas (Siddiquee, 2008):

1) Improving accessibility between the stakeholders and government, that is to

enable the public, business and foreign governments have better access to

government services;

2) Enhancing public services quality;

3) Improving the processes or system work flows that are important in the

betterment of the government service deliveries;

4) Creating greater transparency and governance; and

5) Empowering government officials at the implementation level towards faster

decision-making by reducing bureaucracy in daily transactions with the public.

The Government of Malaysia has also lined up several flagship e-government projects

aimed at transformation from manual and paper-based process, standalone agencies to

a seamless and integrated government. The initiatives launched under the e-

Government Flagships since 1997 are explained as in Table 2.

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Table 2. Modules the e-Government

No. Projects Characteristics

1. Generic Office Environment (GOE)

Provides a platform for collaboration for enhanced communication, interactions and sharing of data for the agencies.

2. ePerolehan (eP) Connects the registered suppliers and the public sector via the internet where agencies could source for goods and services offered by the suppliers.

3. Project Monitoring System (PMS)

Offers the capability for projects monitoring and implementation with built-in knowledge depository and management functions.

4. Human Resource ManagementInformation System (HRMIS)

Facilitates government employee day to day human resource development functions in an online platform.

5. Electronic Services(e-Services)

Provides direct transactions and communications capabilities between the citizen, the public sector and the service providers on an online platform.

6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)

Connects the labor market data to the public sector, private sector and the public.

7. E-Syariah Reforms administrative services of the 102 Syariah courts to increase the capabilities of the Islamic Affairs Department’s in terms of monitoring and coordination of its branches.

Source: (Maniam et al., 2006)

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Off all the above-mentioned projects, the focus of this study will be on ePerolehan,

followed by eBidding which is a reverse auction system module under ePerolehan.

1.5 Overview of ePerolehan

The Government aspires to re-invent the way in which it operates to be more

responsive to the needs of the business community and to increase transparency and

efficiency in procurement process. As a major purchaser of goods and services from

the private sector, the government needs an efficient procurement service. For example

in 2010 alone, total government spending was RM206.2 billion

(http://www.treasury.gov.my/bajet2011/data/le/le11.html, 2012).

ePerolehan is defined as the official electronic procurement system and provides a

secure end-to-end Internet transaction process from the buyer to the sellers (MAMPU,

2009). ePerolehan aims to re-engineer and automate the traditional way of manual

procurement system by transforming the system into an online marketplace for

suppliers and government agencies. ePerolehan promises increased value for

government spending, as well as transparency and accountability in the procurement

and sourcing processes (Kaliannan et al., 2007). ePerolehan is an innovation by re-

inventing government procurement processes to ensure better collaboration between

public and government for higher quality and more efficient public services. Ahmad and

Othman (2007) argue ePerolehan is an inter-organizational system (IOS) that has been

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http://www.treasury.gov.my/bajet2011/data/le/le11.html


successfully deployed in the government as a venue to improve the services to the

public.

ePerolehan was launched in several phases in 1999, and thus far the application has

successfully allowed the government and suppliers to electronically conduct

procurement activities. The system allows the suppliers to offer their services, advertise,

transact and receive the payments from the departments through the web. ePerolehan

supports the entire procurement chain from submission of tender and contracts to

approval and payment including alert notifications to potential bidders. The objectives of

ePerolehan are as follows (Maniam, 2008):

1) To offer best returns for Government procurement;

2) To facilitate the suppliers to receive faster payment;

3) To enhance accountability and transparency in public sector procurement; and

4) To improve cooperation between the private sector and the public sector.

Table 3 outlines the description of the modules under ePerolehan. The following

sections will focus on electronic reverse auctions and eBidding, which is one of the

modules under ePerolehan.

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Table 3. Types of Module Services Under ePerolehan

No. Module Services

1. Supplier registration Register new contractors or consultants, renewal, online updates of latest supplier information

2. Central contract Facilitates in the requisition services from acceptance and delivery of order to confirmation of invoice of purchased items by the agencies.

3. Direct purchase(procurement value up to RM50,000.00)

Performs requisition processing that starts when procuring officials choose goods or services or products and the cycle is complete when the supplier receives the purchase order.

4. Quotation system(procurement value up to RM200,000.00)

Provides quotation process for procurement from RM100, 000 to RM200,000. Invites are forwarded to suppliers for their replies to the requests.

5. Tender (more than RM200,000.00)

Performs tendering process for procurement from RM200, 000 or higher.

6. eBidding (from RM50,000 and above)

Provides services to qualified suppliers to bid online, in a specified pre-determined period. eBidding allows the bidders to see their status and other bidders offers online.

Source: (Kassim et al., 2010)

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EGovernment Systems in MAlaysia

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