E-SERVICES IN KOSOVO

Strengthening the Enabling Environment for Digital Governance of Public Service Delivery

(P170431)

October 2019

Governance Global Practice

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis note was prepared by a World Bank team led by Jonas Arp Fallov (Sr. Public Sector Specialist) and Mediha Agar (Sr. Public Sector Specialist) and consisting of Vikram Menon (Sr. Public Sector Specialist), Cem Dener (Lead Governance Specialist) and Valmira Rexhebeqaj (Local Consultant). Ivana Bojic and Mjellma Rrecaj (Team Assistants) provided administrative support to the team.

The team received guidance from Marco Mantovanelli (Country Manager for the World Bank in Kosovo), and Roby Senderowitsch (Practice Manager for Governance in the Europe and Central Asia Region).

The team also benefitted from helpful peer review comments received from Samia Melhem (Lead Digital Development Specialist) and Constantin Rusu (Public Sector Specialist).

The team is grateful for the support and collaboration from government officials, including from the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Public Administration, and the Agency for Information Society.

ii

PREFACE

This policy note was prepared as part of a World Bank funded project to support implementation of reforms in tax administration and public service delivery. In addition to this note, the project has also funded:

the preparation of a policy note on “Improving tax registration through data sharing”, which analysis issues with the quality of the tax register and recommends short and medium term measures to address these issues.

a workshop bringing together key stakeholders, including representatives of registry agencies, to discuss how to improve data sharing.

The two policy notes under the project deal with different aspects of digital governance and are related in the following ways:

The note on “e-Services in Kosovo” identifies enabling conditions for the further development of e-Services and thereby provides a general framework for the discussion. Within this framework, the note on tax registration includes recommendations which will be important to improve tax collections, and hence raising domestic revenues, but at the same time tax registration is a prominent example of digital governance and e-Services development. Firstly, because tax is a large public service area affecting most citizens and businesses with strong links to other public service areas such as business registration, and registration of citizens, property and addresses. Secondly, because the recommendations in the two notes are mutually reinforcing. For example, sustainable improvements to the quality of the tax register require sharing of data between registries, which relies on the further development of a common interoperability framework for the Government of Kosovo. At the same time, data sharing activities related to tax registration can help to push for the further development of such common solutions through piloting of solutions and raising awareness among key stakeholders.

Due to these linkages, further government initiatives in this area could benefit from combining e-Services development with activities to improve tax registration.

iii

ABBREVIATIONSAIS Agency of Information Society

API Application Programming Interface ADISA Agency for the Delivery of Integrated Services ARKEP Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications BPR Business Process ReengineeringCOTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf CRA Civil Registry Agency DESI Digital Economy and Society Index DGAT Digital Government Assessment Toolkit DGRA Digital Government Readiness Assessment DRC Disaster Recovery Centre EU European Union EMIS Education Management Information System FY Fiscal Year FMIS Financial Management Information System GDP Gross Domestic Product G2B Delivery of Services to Business G2C Delivery of Services to Citizens G2E Delivery of Services to Public Employees, G2G Delivery of Services to Government Entities GIZ German Society for International Cooperation GoK Government of Kosovo GSB Government Service Bus HR Human Resources HRM Human Resources Management HRMIS Human Resources Management Information System ICT Information and Communications Technology IFC International Finance Corporation IFO Integrated Front Office IMF International Monetary Fund ISDA Innovation Against Corruption IT Information Technologies ITAS Integrated Tax Administration System ITU International Telecommunication Union KBRA Kosovo Business Registry Agency KCA Kosovo Cadastral Agency KFMIS Kosovo Financial Management Information System KODE Kosovo Digital Economy LAPD Law on Access to Public Documents MCO Municipal Cadaster Offices MDA Ministries, Department and Agencies MoED Ministry of Economic Development MIA Ministry of Internal Affairs MESP Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning MoF Ministry of Finance

iv

MoPA Ministry of Public Administration MoTI Ministry of Trade and Industry MoU Memorandum of Understanding MCO Municipal Cadaster OfficesNAIS National Agency for Information Society NFC Near-Field Communication NIN National Identification Number NSDI National Spatial Data Infrastructure NSMS National Spectrum Monitoring System OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OPM Office of the Prime Minister PAR Public Administration Reform P4D Partnership for Development PIT Personal Income Tax PFM Public Finance Management PKI Public Key Infrastructure SCD Strategic Country Diagnostic SDC State Data Centre SEE South Eastern Europe SIGTAS Standard Integrated Government Tax Administration System SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency TA Technical Assistance TSA Treasury Single AccountTAK Tax Administration of Kosovo UIN Unique Identification Number UNDP United nations Development Programme USAID United States Agency for International Development VAT Value Added Tax WB World Bank

1.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................................................ii

PREFACE…………………………………………………………………………………..…iii

ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................................................................iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................vi

LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................................................vi

LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................................vi

LIST OF BOXES...................................................................................................................................vii

Executive Summary..............................................................................................................................viii

I. Introduction..................................................................................................................................1

Background and context.................................................................................................................1II. Framework for Assessing e-Services in Kosovo..........................................................................4

III. Current Status of Public Service Delivery in Kosovo..................................................................6

IV. The Enabling Environment for Digital Transformation in Kosovo...........................................10

Strategies and Policies.................................................................................................................10

Legal and Regulatory Framework.................................................................................................13

Institutional Framework...............................................................................................................14

Existing ICT Infrastructure...........................................................................................................20

Capacity and Resources for Digital Transformation.......................................................................22

Summary of Challenges...............................................................................................................24V. Recommendations......................................................................................................................25

Step 1: Establish the Institutional framework for agreeing and implementing digital service delivery 26

Step 2: Update the strategy, policy and regulatory framework.........................................................27

Step 3: Develop inter-operability standards and protocols and appropriate infrastructure..................27

Step 4: Implement change in business processes reengineering and develop capacities....................28Annex 1: Proposed action plan for developing e-Services....................................................................30

Annex 2: Donor funded programs supporting digital government and e-Services................................33

Annex 3: Catalogue of e-Services..........................................................................................................35

Annex 4: World Bank conceptual model of connected e-Services and service delivery channels........37

LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Current state of G2B and G2C Services.....................................................................................8

LIST OF FIGURES

vi

Figure 1: Example of Time Savings through Simplification (Mapping Service Delivery and Estimated Time Savings in Albania - 2016-2020)....................................................................................................3Figure 2: Citizen feedback on the quality public services.......................................................................9Figure 3: Business Sector satisfaction from the public Services (percent)............................................10Figure 4: Key Stakeholders of Digital Government and e-Services.......................................................16Figure 5: AIS Organizational Structure..................................................................................................17Figure 6: Key steps in improving digital service delivery in Kosovo....................................................26

LIST OF BOXESBox 1: Interoperability Platform in Albania.............................................................................................2Box 2: The four levels of online service development (UN Definitions)................................................4Box 3: Legal Framework to Streamline Administrative Systems..........................................................14Box 4: The Pristina Municipality’s e-Kiosk...........................................................................................20Box 5: IT Staffing in Ministries.............................................................................................................23Box 6: Breakdown of ICT/e-GOV spending..........................................................................................23Box 7: EU support for ICT/e-Gov initiatives.........................................................................................33

vii

1.

Executive SummaryBackground and Context

1. The objective of this note is to assess the enabling conditions for e-Services in Kosovo, and the opportunities and challenges to further develop digital governance for public service delivery. The note assesses the foundations of the digital economy, including digital infrastructure, digital platforms and solutions, as well as critical non-digital foundations such as legislation and regulations, leadership and institutions. To facilitate the dialogue with the Government of Kosovo (GoK), the note also suggests possible reform actions.

2. The Government of Kosovo recognizes ICT as one of the six priority sectors for economic development and sees it as an enabler for improved public services. Kosovo is ranked 40th in the world in terms of internet penetration and literacy amongst the population. The EU accession path has provided a strong motivation to advance the transformation of Kosovo’s public sector.

3. There are some good examples of e-Services, but their impact remains limited in the absence of a more comprehensive approach to public service delivery. An initiative has been taken forward by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) to establish a One Stop Shop with the limited aim of supporting streamlined business registration. At the initiative of the Municipality of Pristina in cooperation with the Civil Registry Agency, the issuance of civil identification documents, including the payment of property tax and the ownership certificate has been automatized through e-Kiosks. Following the successful example of the municipality of Pristina, this has been replicated in some other municipalities. While key electronic registers (civil registry, business registry, tax registry and cadaster) have been established and are functional, interoperability is at an early stage of development. The level of digitalization of services varies across institutions and is highly correlated with individual agency efforts rather than an “all of government” strategy.

Current Status of Digital Governance 4. There is an urgent need to update and ratify the e-Governance Strategy and Action Plan to complement the Public Administration Reform Strategy. Most of the underlying government strategies that support public administration reform are in place. However, many of these are dated and the Government of Kosovo currently lacks a comprehensive costed strategy and action plan that would create the basis for the provision of e-Services in the public sector. After the first E-Governance strategy that ended in 2015, a new Strategy on e-Governance 2016-2020 has been drafted but is not yet in the public domain.

5. The Government of Kosovo (GoK) has made significant progress in establishing the legal and regulatory framework for implementation of digital governance initiatives as a foundation to improve e-Services. However, secondary legislation, bylaws, guidelines and manuals also need to be drafted to ensure a full-functioning e-Governance framework. The management of archives, for example, continues to be mainly paper based, mostly due to the lack of regulatory and technical framework as well as a nationwide strategy on electronic archiving. These challenges need to be addressed by the GoK as a part of the digital transformation agenda.

6. Even though the enabling strategies and laws exist, the key challenge lies with their implementation. This is partly due to lack of clarity and overlapping institutional mandates and a fragmented institutional set-up for the development and implementation of policies for public service delivery. Cooperation and consultation between line ministries remains weak and individual ministries take forward their own initiatives for citizen service delivery including building digital

viii

1.

infrastructure. This makes it immensely difficult to create integrated service delivery channels (single windows), common data bases and simplification across government based on common norms.

7. The scattered institutional functions and responsibilities for service delivery reforms requires identifying champion institutions and strong coordination frameworks. There are several agencies which have the mandate for and focus on process reengineering and administrative reforms including supporting digital government infrastructure. The Ministry of Public Administration (MoPA) has the legal authority to take forward the digital governance and e-Services agenda, and has some critical institutions including the Agency for Information Society (AIS) and the State Data Center (SDC). The MoTI (for business services) and the Office of the Prime Minister as well as other ministries and agencies are also major stakeholders.

8. Despite current capacity gaps, the AIS holds the strongest mandate for reforms in support of better digital governance. The AIS has the technical mandate and capacity to support the roll out of e-Services. But weak coordination between institutions to jointly steer ongoing reform initiatives needs to be addressed. The AIS manages a State Data Center that hosts a series of government applications but excludes several significant government services. Yet not all agencies make use of it. A few government Ministries have their own server rooms without necessarily coordinating their efforts and resources with AIS. Server and storage capacity need to be increased for transition to shared platforms and expected increases in online services.

9. Establishing a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) would be an important step in completing the institutional architecture for data management. A DRC is planned and is expected to be fully operational in 2021. There remains a need to explore cloud-based alternatives. Transition to a “hybrid cloud” can be considered by linking existing data centers and network connections to the State Data Center and GovNet, as a part of a government cloud.

10. An interoperability platform exists with the potential to support a coordinated approach to roll out digital services. This Government Gateway managed by the AIS is meant to serve as a “digital highway” for government data exchange. However, integration of public registries remains a challenge due to a lack of trust on the part of line ministries. Several ministries and agencies have developed their own point-to-point connections between information systems over the years. However, agencies need to use the Government Gateway as a common data exchange platform in the coming years, instead of continuing to invest in fragmented and disconnected interfaces.

Challenges and Opportunities

11. Despite significant achievements in the digital transformation agenda, challenges remain. Over 700 services are provided across government to businesses and citizens at central and local levels. Of these, an overwhelming number – over 90% - are not provided as online services as most institutions do not yet have the necessary infrastructure, systems, and skills. Where services are provided online, most are provided through individual agency portals making cross data transfers difficult. Keeping this in mind, the AIS is aiming to establish a new government services portal (the current portal is more an information portal) to provide such electronic services and which will serve as a secure interface with a payment gateway. At the same time the Agency is constrained by budgets, human resources, and ownership issues affecting its ambitious agenda.

12. While the AIS’ mandate covers all that is needed to take forward a comprehensive e-Governance agenda, its position within MoPA and the lack of incentives for ministries to recognize its leadership role makes it less effective. A number of stakeholders suggested that it would be useful to examine the institutional mapping of the Agency so that it can best leverage cross government support for its technical mandate and lead a coordinated agenda. It is also important to

ix

1.

identify a forum with directive power for critical stakeholders to come together in a convergence forum that can support both data exchange between agencies and direct administrative restructuring.

13. Capacity across government remains an issue to implement digital governance. The government noted the need to elaborate a capacity building strategy for both public servants and consumers of services. Digital skills of public servants need strengthening. Attracting and retaining talent with needed ICT skills to government positions is difficult due to the pay structure and non-competitive benefits. Staff turnover is high with staff movement to the private sector. While legislative provisions permit market rate allowances for ICT staff, there is anecdotal evidence that these supplements are not being applied consistently as they can exacerbate current wage bill issues. 

14. To advance reforms in this area, the Government needs to invest in the enabling environment for e–Government and online services. Ownership needs to reside at the highest levels and institutional accountabilities to deliver e – services need to mirror institutional mandates as laid out in policies. There is a need to develop shared systems to facilitate the use of e-Services in Kosovo. These systems would include both hardware and software to create and manage digital certificates such as digital seals to validate official documents and e-Signatures. Further it would support the interoperability platform and facilitate secure data exchange and authentication services. Currently, agencies exchange data based on non-binding memorandums of understanding.

15. Collaborative leadership is also required for reforms to take off. AIS could lead the implementation of an e-Gov strategy and action plan in collaboration with key stakeholders and with strong support from the OPM. Institutional accountabilities need to be clearly defined and a coordinated approach is needed to agree and prioritize administrative reforms and back-end business process re-engineering and allow for smooth transfer of data across government agencies. As a first step towards designing a new program of investment, the GoK may wish to take forward a realistic action plan to look at areas for investment and reforms.

Recommendations16. The recommendations to improve digital service delivery in Kosovo follow four main steps:

Step 1: Establish the Institutional Framework for agreeing and implementing digital service delivery

17. A first critical step in taking forward a comprehensive digital governance strategy is to establish the governance arrangements and institutional structures to ensure coordination between key stakeholders to develop and implement a digital governance action plan. Institutional frameworks are weak and online services currently available are the result of sectoral initiatives and not part of a coherent and coordinated reform strategy. An institutional arrangement that gives the AIS the authority and resources to take forward this agenda is critical. Key recommendations in step 1 include:

Develop an effective institutional digital governance model to coordinate and implement an ICT/e-Gov strategy and action plan, by: i) forming a strategic Steering/Coordination Committee composed of key stakeholders (OPM, MPA, MoF, MTI, MED, MIA, MSP, and others). This forum could serve as a consensus-building platform on the issues related to scoping and prioritization of the reform process  as well as ensuring implementation of reforms; ii) establishing a similar inter-agency forum or working groups at the technical level to further elaborate recommendations and decisions (led by AIS); and iii) linking up with ongoing and planned activities to improve the quality of tax registration through data sharing with other public registries, thereby providing opportunities to pilot the digital development in an important service area.

x

1.

Identify and empower an implementation agency that reports to these fora and coordinates the implementation of decisions and recommendations. AIS has the technical capabilities to serve in this role.

Arrange a high-level workshop in the upcoming months, with the participation of senior managers from key stakeholders to create a shared vision, develop a joint action plan, agree and launch the proposed Steering Committee, and clarify roles and responsibilities for the management and coordination of the digital transformation agenda in Kosovo. AIS could be the coordinator of donor funded activities in ICT/e-Gov domain in Kosovo.

Undertake a functional review of AIS to assess how best it can be structured to serve as the nodal agency for the development of e-Services.

Step 2: Update the strategy, policy and regulatory framework

18. While the enabling legislation and strategies to support the implementation of integrated digital service delivery are broadly in place, some key policy enablers are still required. These include:

Approving an amended Law on Digital Signature: A significant regulation, critical for service delivery, that is not yet in place is a law to regulate digital signature. The law will need to regulate electronic signatures, specify agencies involved and embed processes to provide safe pathways to transact online.

Update and approve the new strategy on e–Governance (2016 – 2020). The GoK does not currently have a comprehensive strategy to take forward activities in support of e–service delivery. This is a critical step forward and an important short-term input into the reform process.

Develop a joint action plan to implement the e–governance strategy and identify a sequenced set of reform activities.

Approve and implement a new law on e–archiving for digitization of registries and other historical document archives for better document management.

Step 3: Develop inter-operability standards and protocols and appropriate infrastructure

19. The expansion of e-Service delivery to citizens, businesses and government requires much greater investment in the interoperability of existing systems and provisioning of sound infrastructure.. Linking base registers and other government systems through a common interoperability platform is crucial for the efficient and effective exchange of data, and a foundational requirement to support the delivery of e-Services. Foundational ICT infrastructure also needs to be developed. Key recommendations include:

Agree on a strategy for taking forward the common interoperability platform, how many entities will be connected and the sequencing process. This will include a strategy for transition to hybrid government cloud platform by connecting distributed data centers with the State Data Center (SDC) to form a hybrid government cloud and an extension of the Government Gateway on existing GovNet infrastructure.

Establish a Disaster Recovery Center. This remains a priority action to improve the reliability and availability of shared platforms (included in the AIS investment plans for 2019-2021).

Implement use of e-ID in online services with embedded digital signature Continue to rollout Citizen Service Centers (One-Stop Shops).

Step 4: Implement change in business processes reengineering and develop capacities

20. A progressive modernization of the delivery of government services and on-line provisioning is required for the efficiency, quality, effectiveness, transparency and accessibility

xi

1.

of government services, including reducing the time incurred by citizens and businesses in accessing government services. However, this would require simplifying procedures and eliminating redundancies. A key initial step informed by agreements at the level of a Steering/Coordination Committee is to develop and implement formats for business process reengineering of selected services in order to create simplified digital processes. At the same time a digital transformation would also require the development of advanced digital skills and effective communication about reforms. Key recommendations include:

Identification from the existing services inventory of pilot services for business process reengineering and developing “as is” business process maps for each service. These maps will identify the current state of play for each service. Piloting of business processes related to tax and business registration could be considered given the significance of these areas for citizens and businesses and the on-going and planned initiatives to improve tax registration under TAKs medium term reform action plan.

Identify legislative and process changes needed for simplifying services. Develop methodologies for business process reengineering and take forward sample pilots of

“to be” business process maps for selected services with maximum citizen impact which will serve as the basis for large scale business process reengineering and future digitization.

Digitize critical services to be made available/accessed online and/or through government portals to be accessed by business and citizens.

Align internal structures of service-provider organizations with new service delivery models. Build human resource capacity through developing and implementing a staffing plan (up to 2

– 3 percent of total public employees need to have ICT/ e -gov specialization) skills, awareness and communication strategy for both government and citizens.

Develop and implement a process of citizen engagement to support citizens (help desks) and to measure citizen satisfaction with reengineered and digitized services. 

21. Annex 1 provides a summary of priorities, and sequencing of activities needed to take forward the agenda of digital governance.

xii

2.

I. Introduction

Background and context1. Kosovo is implementing an ambitious state building agenda driven partly by the aspiration for membership to the European Union (EU). In recent years, the Government of Kosovo (GoK) has prioritized public administration reforms to transform its public sector into a more modern, efficient, and citizen-centric administration, and supported the use of Information Technologies (IT) in public service delivery. In collaboration with the EU, the GoK adopted the Public Administration Reform Strategy (2015-2020) which provides the main strategic orientations of the Government with respect to public service and Human Resource Management (HRM). This strategy is developed within the context of the EU enlargement process and the reforms undertaken in all Western Balkan countries as a result of the European Integration Agenda. Alongside the rule of law and e-governance, public administration reform including service delivery is one of the main pillars of the EU Enlargement Agenda1.

2. International and regional experience shows the benefits of simplifying processes, increasing efficiency, and lowering costs of public service delivery. Governments of countries around the world at different levels of development are moving to connected digital solutions showing tangible results in areas such as reductions in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) costs, increased productivity, and improved accountability, transparency, and quality of services. Box 1 provides a summary of the benefits of such reforms for Albania, both from governance and economic perspectives. Additionally, over the last decade countries such as Singapore, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Denmark have substantially reduced the time and cost of accessing services, resulting in improved Doing Business rankings, along with increased private investment and job creation2. Where procedures are more complex and unclear, the likelihood of corruption is higher. Petty corruption in what is referred to as “need based” services – administrative services where the public sector holds a monopoly – is often higher as the risks to citizens of not paying a bribe are greater3. Simplifying such services and reducing citizen interface with service providers by introducing digitization can break this cycle of corruption and poor accountability

1 http://mei-ks.net/repository/docs/20180206143311_strategjia_e_zgjerimit_e_be-se_2018_eng.pdf2

3

3. 1

2.

Box 1: Interoperability Platform in Albania

As part of the ongoing “Innovation Against Corruption: Building a Citizen Centric Service Delivery Model in Albania” (ISDA) reform, the Government aims to adopt a citizen centric approach to service delivery to combat corruption, foster a customer-care culture, enhance access to services, as well as increase efficiency in the Albanian public administration. It is a multilayered reform that focuses on key central government administrative public services to reduce the time and burden for citizens and businesses and improve service delivery quality, transparency and efficiency by using innovative solutions and ICT.

The project is being implemented by the Agency for the Delivery of Integrated Services (ADISA) in collaboration with the National Agency for Information Society (NAIS). ADISA is developing an Integrated Front Office (IFO) system using e-Albania and GovNet infrastructure to provide access to all Citizen Service Centers and other online users for e-Services.

With the support of the World Bank financed “Citizen Centric Service Delivery” Project and other development partners including the EU and UNDP, the Albanian Government has made significant progress in expanding the coverage and level of 169 selected e-Services. Since 2016, ADISA has established four Citizen Service Centers in the districts, and a call center to support online services. Using a similar Government Gateway (based on Microsoft BizTalk), the NAIS has connected 49 registries and systems to the Government Gateway interoperability platform. This platform now houses over 590 transactional (level 3 & 4) e-Services, 112 of which have legal validity via institutional digital seals and digital signatures. As of April 2019, over 800,000 registered users of the e-Albania portal can pay their taxes, register a business, apply for and print health cards, renew their driver’s licenses, and more. Digital Seal legislation was adopted in September 2017, and around 3.7 million electronically sealed documents have been generated within 18 months. From 2013-2018, over 50 million individual transactions were completed by citizens and businesses using the e-Albania Portal, resulting in substantial savings from various services (e.g. US$ 1million saved from the certificates of civil status; 2.3 million papers eliminated from the process to apply for construction permits; 70 years waiting time in queues saved).

Source: National Agency for Information Society, Presentation, April 2019

3. The GoK recognizes ICT as one of the six priority sectors for Kosovo’s economic development and sees it as an enabler for improved public services. The enabling environment exists for opening new channels of communication, transparency, accountability and public services to citizens through the existing countrywide ICT infrastructure, government portal, interoperability framework and web services. An Open Data Charter was approved in 2016 and a national portal for open data established. The World Bank has been targeting reductions in the administrative burden of business inspections in Kosovo through the Competitiveness and Export Readiness project. However, there is significant room to apply similar simplification to administrative services for citizens and businesses, and to prepare for digitization in the future. In Albania, for example, under the Citizen Centric Service Delivery project, the government is working to simplify administrative services through reduction in document requirements, approvals, and digitization. Figure 1 shows the estimated time savings in hours to obtain specific services due to simplification.

3. 2

2.

Figure 1: Example of Time Savings through Simplification (Mapping Service Delivery and Estimated Time Savings in Albania - 2016-2020)

As-Is To-Be As-Is To-Be As-Is To-BeTaxi license Family pension Mining permit

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Source: Albanian Ministry of Innovation and Public Administration, 2017.

4. Kosovo is ranked 40th among the countries in the world in terms of internet penetration and literacy.4 Smart phone ownership is also high. According to the 2016 annual report from Kosovo’s Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications (ARKEP), the total number of smart phone broadband users (3G and 4G) increased from 711,648 to 1,102,769 from end 2015 to end 2016. In the middle of 2017, 87% of households had an internet connection, and 65% of mobile users were using their devices for accessing the internet. This is up from 56% of households in 2013.

5. The 2018 European Commission Country Report for Kosovo recognizes the GoK’s interest to promote a user-oriented administration which focuses on providing efficient services to all users - citizens and businesses5 It notes however that the Government’s lack of a clear vision, leadership and coordination hampers reform efforts. The report states that Kosovo has made good progress in advancing the legal and strategic framework for effective public administration but still lags with implementation of reforms.

6. The objective of this note is to assess the state of play of e-Services in Kosovo, and the opportunities and challenges to further develop digital governance for public service delivery . The note assesses the foundations of the digital economy, including digital infrastructure, digital platforms and solutions, as well as critical non-digital foundations such as legislation and regulations, leadership and institutions. To facilitate the dialogue with GoK, the note also suggests possible reform actions.

7. The policy note is based on an assessment of the enabling environment for further developing the digital governance of public service delivery. This assessment was carried out through interviews with high-level decision-makers and technical experts in key government agencies and ministries, as well as with donor partners, and local stakeholders. These interviews were supplemented with a desk review of strategic documents, regulations and other data to assess

4 Open Data Readiness Assessment, September 2018, Ministry of Public Administration, Government of Kosovo. See also: https://www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm5

3. 3

2.

Kosovo’s current potential for digital government development and the technologies in use to provide digital services to the population. The foundations of the digital economy, including digital infrastructure, its platforms and solutions, as well as critical nondigital ones such as legislation and regulations, leadership and institutions, environment for delivering and innovations, necessary skills and partnerships were also reviewed.

8. The remainder of the note is structured as follows:

Section II outlines the conceptual framework for assessing the enabling environment for digital governance and e-Services;

Section III describes the current status of e-Services and digital governance in Kosovo; Section IV assesses the enabling framework for e-Services and digital governance, including

strategies, regulation, IT infrastructure and capacities, and summarizes the challenges; and Section V outlines recommendations and next steps.

II. Framework for Assessing e-Services in Kosovo

9. The definitions and understanding of e-government and online services are evolving. There is no universally accepted definition of digital government and classification of online services (e-Services). For the purposes of this policy note, the following definitions from the UN’s E-government Development Index are used:

Digital Governance includes the improvement of regulations, policy-making capabilities, institutional capacity, and use of advanced digital technologies, in collaboration with all stakeholders, to define a sustainable governance / operational model for e-Government and support the transition to a “digital culture”. The essence of digital governance is to interact with the beneficiary and ensure effective delivery of services to citizens (G2C), businesses (G2B), public employees (G2E), and government entities (G2G).

Online services (e-Services): In Kosovo, it is similar to the definitions of Online Services in the UN’s e-Government Development Index, which measures the use of ICT by governments in delivering public services at the national level. The four levels of online service development are explained in Box 2 below.

Box 2: The four levels of online service development (UN Definitions)

Level 1: Emerging information services

Providing information on public policy, governance, laws, regulations, relevant documentation and types of government services provided. They have links to ministries, departments and other branches of government. Citizens are able to obtain updated information in the national government and ministries and can follow links to archived information.

Level 2: Enhanced information services

Delivering enhanced one-way or simple two-way e-communication between government and citizen, such as downloadable forms for government services and applications. The sites have audio and video capabilities and are multi-lingual. Some limited e-Services enable citizens to submit requests for non-electronic forms or personal information.

Level 3: Transactional services

Engaging in two-way communication with citizens, including requesting and receiving inputs on government policies, programs, regulations, etc. Some form of electronic authentication of the citizen’s identity is required to successfully complete the exchange. Government websites process non-financial transactions, e.g. filing tax returns online or applying for certificates, licenses, and permits. They also handle financial

3. 4

2.

transactions, i.e. where money is transferred on a secure network.

Level 4: Connected services

Changing the way governments communicate with citizens. They are proactive in requesting information and opinions from citizens using Web 2.0 and other interactive tools. e-Services and e-solutions cut across the departments and ministries in a seamless manner, and information, data and knowledge are transferred from government agencies through integrated applications. Governments have moved from a government-centric to a citizen-centric approach, where e-Services are targeted to citizens through life cycle events. Governments create an environment that empowers citizens to be more involved with government activities and to have a voice in decision making.

Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovvkb/en-us/About/Overview/-E-Government-Index/online-Services

10. The transition from fragmented and/or outdated government systems to modern ‘integrated digital solutions’ offers great opportunities for improving productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and trust in government, in order to fight extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity and inclusion in most countries. One of the key challenges is to integrate digital governance strategies into public sector modernization efforts for creating a data-driven (digital) culture in the public sector to achieve these aims. Also, the coordination of ongoing parallel reform activities is crucial to maximize the benefits of large-scale ICT investments and encourage the use of shared platforms for cost-effective delivery and sustainability of government systems and e-Services.

11. There are several tools or frameworks launched within the last decade by various countries and international organizations to assess the readiness for digital government and e-Services:

The EU Joinup website presents the e-Government factsheets of all members and candidates with regular annual updates to provide useful information on strategy, legal framework, actors, infrastructure, and services for citizens and businesses. These factsheets are being prepared according to a specific format to be able to compare all countries and present the developments consistently.

The EU has another framework called the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) that is being used to monitor the progress in several critical dimensions: (i) Connectivity - Broadband market; (ii) Human Capital - Digital Inclusion and Skills; (iii) Use of Internet Services; (iv) Integration of Digital Technology; (v) Digital Public Services; (vi) The EU ICT Sector and its R&D Performance; (vii) Research and Innovation: and (viii) ICT projects in Horizon 2020 Digital).

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) developed another e-Government Readiness Assessment Toolkit in 2010, and this was used as a basis in many other derivatives.

Finally, the World Bank developed the Digital Government Assessment Toolkit (DGAT) in 2018, which has since been used as a part of Digital Government Readiness assessments (DGRA) in several countries including Myanmar, Senegal, Lebanon, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

12. Due to limited time and resources available, these standardized assessment tools were not used. Instead, this policy note is based on a rapid assessment approach mainly focusing on existing strategy documents, legal frameworks, institutions, actors, ICT/e-Gov infrastructure, capacity and resources, available online services for citizens and businesses, and future directions. While using a standardized framework would have enabled comparisons with other countries, it was felt that a standardized scoring/rating was not necessary to identify key issues and challenges and facilitate a

3. 5

2.

dialogue with the GoK on how to address the issues. In addition, a quick comparison with the World Bank’s DGAT shows that most of the key assessment dimensions of the tool are covered including attributes related to dimensions of leadership and governance, user focus, business process changes, skills, data focus and infrastructure.

13. Considering these, this policy note is based on a conceptual model of integrated digital solutions and online service delivery channels presented in Annex 4. It is focused on existing public finance management (PFM) processes and information systems (e.g. Treasury/Financial Management Information System (FMIS), Tax/Customs, Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)/Payroll, e-Procurement, Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) operations, IT Audits, information and data management), and the ICT and service delivery platforms to highlight achievements, identify gaps, and suggest possible improvements in digital governance of online service delivery.

III. Current Status of Public Service Delivery in Kosovo

14. The GoK is striving to become more competitive and to deliver public services with greater accountability, transparency and responsiveness to citizen and business needs. Kosovo would in some respects be entering level three on the United Nations scale of online service development in that government websites allow citizens to apply for certificates and file taxes and provide some e- services. A limited number of transactional services are available online and through one stop shops. Key electronic registers (civil registry, business registry, tax register and cadaster) have been established and are functional. But interoperability is at an early stage of development. The level of digitalization of services varies across institutions and is highly correlated with individual agency efforts rather an “all of government” strategy.

15. There are some good examples of e-Services, but their impact remains limited in the absence of a more comprehensive approach to service delivery. An initiative has been taken forward by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) to establish a One Stop Shop with the limited aim of supporting more streamlined business registration. At the initiative of the Municipality of Pristina in cooperation with Civil Registry Agency (CRA), the issuance of civil identification documents including the payment of property tax and the ownership certificate has been automated through e-Kiosks. Citizens can access copies of various certificates: birth, residence, citizenship and marriage; pay property tax and obtain ownership certificates. Following the successful example of the municipality of Pristina, this has been replicated in some other municipalities.

16. The Agency for Information Society (AIS) is also leading a parallel process for establishing a Citizen Service Center/One Stop Shop for e-Services provided both at the central level as well as in the Municipality of Prizren. The plan is to expand this further by establishing 6 additional centers in other major municipalities across Kosovo. With the support of the EU funded project, the AIS has finalized an inventory of public services. Currently, there are around 700 services provided by local and central authorities. Overall, there are over 70 public institutions (local and central) providing services.

17. The Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK), Kosovo Business Registration Agency (KBRA) and Property Tax Department provide good examples, continually improving service provisioning to both citizens and businesses. A number of services provided by TAK were already digitized with the launch of the e-Declaration Platform, including the issuance of tax certificates, tax refunds, sending purchases and sales books to the TAK, tax declarations, tax filing and the payment of pension contributions. The access to e-Services has resulted in a good rate of increase in satisfaction of taxpayers with TAK services.1 The KBRA is also taking steps to fully digitize the business

1 Taxpayers Satisfaction Survey, 20173. 6

2.

registration process. It is possible to download and fill registration applications online, but paper copies of application-related documents have to be delivered to the office upon receiving the registration certificate. As of 2017, the Public Procurement Commission has made all procurement procedures - from announcement to contract award - available on-line. Similarly, the Property Tax Department of MoF, has introduced “e-Fatura” as an e-Service for paying property tax online. The Kosovo Cadaster Agency (KCA) offers unified services and geographic information from various sources through their online geoportal platform.

18. Table 1 below provides a status of digitization efforts in service delivery to businesses, citizens, public employees and government entities.

3. 7

2.

Table 1: Current state of G2B and G2C Services

Service Institution Website DigitizationG2B Services

1 Business Registration Kosovo Business Registry Agency (KBRA)

https://rbk.rks-gov.net/

All application steps can be done online, but paper copies of application-related documents have to be delivered to the office upon receiving the registration certificate

2 Tax Declaration:a. Tax Certificateb. Tax Declarationc. Tax refundsd. Purchases and sales books e. Tax filing and the payment of pension

Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK)

http://www.atk-ks.org/services/

An online e-declaration portal under TAK website can be accessed using a fiscal number. Once registered, taxpayers can perform a number of services online: obtaining Tax Certificate, declare taxes, apply for tax refunds, submit online purchase and sales books, tax filling and payment of pension contribution. Payment of taxes and pension contributions can be done through e-banking, using UNiREF code.

3 Public Procurement Public Procurement Review Commission (PPRC)

https://e-prokurimi.rks-gov.net/Home/ClanakItemNew.aspx?id=327/

All economic operators who want to participate in public procurement bids register on the online e-procurement platform and access all notifications for contracts, prepare and submit bid online and submit requests for clarification

4 Cadaster Kosovo Cadaster Agency (KCA)

http://geoportal.rks-gov.net/search

A web portal presents geographic information from different sources in a unified form. Once registered under the online geoportal, the user can read and download geographical data/maps and information

5 Property Tax Property Tax Department MoF

https://fatura.tatimineprone-rks.org/

The owner of a property can access the online payment portal through a personal identification number. A property bill can be accessed and paid online, through e-banking using UNiREF CODE

G2C Services6 Personal Documentation:

a.Birth Certificateb.Children Birth

Certificatec.Birth Extractd.Children Extract of

Birthe.Residence Certificatef. Citizenship Certificateg.Marriage Certificateh.Property Tax Paymenti. Ownership Certificate

Municipality of Pristina

This is a digital self-service system for certificates, extracts or civil state services. In the municipality of Pristina all personal documentation can be obtained through E-Kiosk. Documents can be obtained only by scanning the Personal ID.

Source: Elaborated by the World Bank team based on the information received during the missions

19. There is a substantial uptake of these electronic services by citizens, a view confirmed with opinion poll results presented in the 2018 Balkan Barometer. The 2018 Balkan Barometer among other things, measures citizen’s satisfaction with public institutions and services, reveals that over the last year more than 60% of the population in Kosovo used some public services and around 20% rated the quality of those services as either very poor or poor. This rate is relatively low

3. 8

2.

compared to other countries in the region, suggesting a relatively high degree of satisfaction among citizens with public services.

Figure 2: Citizen feedback on the quality of Public Services(time to get information from the public sector rated as very poor or poor)

SEE Albania Bosnia and Herzogovina

Kosovo North Macedonia

Montenegro Serbia0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2016 2018

Source: Balkan Barometer, 2018

20. While citizen satisfaction with administrative services is relatively high, Kosovo’s rating on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index is poor. With a 2018 rating of 37 out of 100, Kosovo is on par with its Balkan neighbors, but far behind the average for Western Europe and the EU and closer to the lowest ranking region in the world – Sub Saharan Africa with a ranking of 32. Anecdotal evidence suggests that service delivery is particularly affected by petty corruption and graft, but where services are being provided on-line or through one stop shops there is significantly greater transparency and accountability. The existence of deficiencies and bottlenecks in the public sector is confirmed by the fact that more than a third of those (37%), who participated in a bribery act in Kosovo claimed they did so to speed up a procedure, and that some 14 per cent did so to make the finalization of a procedure possible.

21. Unlike citizens, businesses have a relatively low level of satisfaction with public services. According to the Balkan Barometer, Kosovo is ranked second lowest among the SEE countries with respect to business satisfaction. The firms that are satisfied with the public services is around 30 percent. The satisfaction from the quality and timeliness of the information is also around 42 and 28 percent, respectively.

3. 9

2.

Figure 3: Business Sector satisfaction with Public Services (percent)

SEE Albania BIH Kosovo North Macedonia

Montenegro Serbia0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Satisfaction from the Public ServicesInformation provided are pertinent and complete Information are granted in a timely manner

Source: Balkan Barometer, 2018

IV. The Enabling Environment for Digital Transformation in Kosovo

22. The enabling environment for e-Services in Kosovo is assessed based on the following five key components:

Strategies and policies; Laws and regulations; Institutional framework and coordination; ICT/e-Gov infrastructure; and Capacity and resources.

Strategies and Policies 23. There are six strategic documents created over the last decade, supporting the e-Government reform agenda in Kosovo. In general, these documents provide medium term directions and guidance for policy makers and administrators on strategic infrastructure needs, interoperability frameworks and institutional mechanisms for delivering e–Services and have largely been developed in line with EU frameworks. Most of these strategies are now dated, but remain relevant, given that none of them have been fully implemented. Implementation of these strategies has been weak and there is no institutional mechanism for monitoring and reporting against them. A summary of the key strategies and policies is provided below:

Electronic Governance Strategy (2009-2015): The strategy focused on the need to develop a central state platform (e-Kosovo) which would enable faster governmental services. The platform was meant to cover e-Procurement, e-Schools and e-Health, among others. Given the poor IT infrastructure in the public sector, scattered and fragmented platforms, the inadequate legal framework, and insufficient number of skilled ICT staff in government institutions, this could never have been fully implemented during the envisaged time period.1

A new Strategy on e-Governance 2016-2020 has been drafted but is not yet in the public domain. Currently the Government of Kosovo lacks a comprehensive strategy that would

1 Draft Report on the Feasibility Study of e- Governance in terms of digitalization of public services3. 10

2.

create the basis for the provision of electronic services in the public sector. There is an urgent need to update and ratify the e-Governance Strategy and Action Plan to complement the Public Administration Reform Strategy.

Action Plan for Implementation of Electronic Government Strategy (2009-2015). The Plan specified actions and timelines for their implementation deriving from the Strategy. The Action Plan provided guidance for taking forward the agenda but failed to provide detailed explanations of the steps to be undertaken. Even though the Action Plan focused on the need to estimate costs and targeted responsible institutions for implementing specific measures, these costs were never identified.2 No formal implementation progress report was prepared. A significant number of planned activities were not implemented.

Interoperability Framework of the Republic of Kosovo. The Framework derives from the Strategy on Electronic Governance 2009-2015 and the European Interoperability Framework, since interoperability is a prerequisite for an efficient public administration. The following objectives are covered:

Cooperation between public institutions for the establishment of efficient public services;

Exchanging information between public institutions to fulfill legal requirements or levels of political forums; and

Sharing and reusing information within the public administration to increase administrative efficiency and reduce administrative burdens for citizens and businesses.

The framework is oriented toward a) providing public services to citizens and businesses at the closest geographic point and b) reducing costs for the public administration, citizens, businesses, and organizations through efficient and effective delivery of services. In addition to establishing interoperability systems, the objective of the framework is to establish new citizen-oriented state information systems in order to facilitate better service delivery. The framework provides guidance for the interoperability between different systems within government agencies and ministries, thus enabling easier integration in the future. The document provides important recommendations on aspects of data exchange, security, and public administration reform.

Electronic Communication Sector Policy – Digital Agenda for Kosovo (2013–2020). The document was drafted by the Ministry of Economic Development (MoED), and identifies key priorities, objectives and tasks of ICT development in order to maximize the social and economic advantages of internet usage. The strategy focuses on developing and promoting ICT infrastructure, as well on enhancing the skills of Kosovo inhabitants on ICTs. More specifically, the strategic objective of the Policy is to improve the quality of life for the Kosovo residents as well as the business environment for companies through the use of the opportunities created by ICT and to increase the percentage of internet users in Kosovo to at least 85 % by the year 2020. The main objectives of the Policy paper are:

a. development of the ICT infrastructure;b. development of the electronic content and services and promotion of use thereof; andc. enhancement of the Kosovo residents’ ability to use the ICT.

Kosovo IT Strategy (2016): The strategy was drafted by MoED in close cooperation with the private sector, the ICT Association and other relevant stakeholders such as academia and donors. The strategy promotes digital transformation to support Kosovo in becoming a

2 https://map.rks-gov.net/desk/inc/media/9201CFEB-C2DF-4907-87B1-9D26733F3E4D.pdf8.

3. 11

2.

knowledge-based economy. To achieve the overall goal of transforming the IT industry into the main driver of economic growth, employment and innovation in Kosovo, the strategy defines a broad range of strategic measures organized in nine (9) pillars:

1. IT Promotion Policy2. Company Excellence & Quality 3. Export Promotion4. Domestic Market Development 5. IT Education 6. IT Clusters & Collaboration 7. Entrepreneurship 8. Innovation &Applied R&D9. Investment Promotion.

24. Reducing administrative burdens remains a priority for the government that is highly related with the e-government agenda. The Better Regulation Strategy (2017-2021) was prepared by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). The strategy argues that poorly designed laws lead to rules that are needlessly burdensome with excessive demands on citizens, companies and administrations or are not properly executed. Such rules restrict economic development and impact on service delivery. The strategy therefore aims to develop effective public communication and consultation processes to enable evidence-based decision making. This draft strategy will complement the specific strategy documents that ministries like MoPA and MoTI are developing. In addition, the new law on services (2017), which is partly in compliance with Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market, also provides the legal basis to simplify procedures and processes for more efficient delivery of G to B services.

25. According to the Better Regulation Strategy, the Government of Kosovo remains committed to principles of sound implementation of policies and legislation. These are, in particular: (1) the ‘only once principle’ that ensures that citizens, companies, civil society organizations and all others that interact with the administration only need to provide information once and that this information is then accessible and reused by other actors within the administration; (2) ‘risk-based approach for inspections’ where the inspection regime and inspection practices are rationalized in accordance with the expected risks, the actual capacities of inspection authorities and focused on addressing the most relevant forms of rule-breaking; and (3) ‘one-stop-shops’ that allow companies and citizens to conduct all necessary administrative procedures through a single government portal.

26. The Legal Office and the Coordination Secretariat within the OPM are leading a review process to examine opportunities for simplification of existing laws and regulations and improved service delivery. With the help of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Legal Office within the OPM has taken forward a similar exercise on reducing Licenses and Permits.

27. The review will identify laws and sub laws that need to be redefined to reduce service delivery problems and identify institutional coordination mechanisms. It will focus on G2G, G2B and G2C services. This analysis should provide an important base to take forward simplification of laws and procedures and introduce more efficient digital governance in Kosovo. Implementation of the findings of this process will require substantial investment. “As is” business process maps could be drawn out of this process for various services which can be the basis of designing “to be” business processes and the digital infrastructure to implement these. While many ministries have taken forward digitization, they have not always taken forward the legal, regulatory and procedural reforms needed.

3. 12

2.

28. The initiative for reducing administrative burden is based on several stages. A concept document on the benefits of implementing an administrative burden reduction program is currently being finalized. The concept document is expected to be approved by the end of 2019, and, by 2021, the Government hopes to develop capacities for implementing an administrative burden reduction program through a review of by-laws. A flexible fund is proposed to be allocated within the PM’s office to cover this process. According to OPM officials, the whole process of reducing administrative burdens is expected to take at least 8 years. There are over 200 laws and 1,000 by-laws dealing with service delivery which need to be harmonized. The task led by the OPM on administrative burdens will need to be followed up with implementation support.

Legal and Regulatory Framework 29. The Government of Kosovo has achieved significant progress in establishing the legal and regulatory framework for digital transformation. A number of important laws are in place to enable the smooth implementation of the digital governance agenda, including the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, the Law on Access to Public Information and the Law on Classification of Information. A new Agency for the Protection of Personal Data is in place and a Commission for Freedom of Information has been established with dual authority to both protect public data and support access to public information. A special department for verification and classification of information has been set up along the lines of EU directives.

30. However, secondary legislation/bylaws and manuals also need to be drafted to support implementation and training events to be provided to different constituencies to enable change. The management of archives, for example, continues to be paper-based, mostly due to the lack of a regulatory and technical framework on electronic archiving. These challenges need to be addressed by the GoK as a part of digital transformation agenda.

31. A number of laws and regulations have been introduced to streamline administrative systems within government in line with the Public Administration Reform Strategy (2015-2020). These include the laws on State Administration, Salaries, regulating the Civil Service, and the Law on General Administrative Procedures. A brief discussion on the key legislation is provided in Box 3:

3. 13

2.

Box 3: Legal Framework to Streamline Administrative Systems

Law on General Administrative Procedures (LGAP), Law No.05, L-031A: A new Law on General Administrative Procedures was adopted in June 2016 and entered into force in June 2017. The new LGAP recognizes all the major principles of good administrative behavior, such as: proportionality; equality and non-discrimination; objectivity and impartiality; legitimate and reasonable expectations; open administration; de-bureaucratization and efficiency of administrative proceedings; provision of information and active assistance; minimizing procedural costs; and the right to legal remedies. These principles are broadly in line with the general principles of “The European Code of Good Administrative Behavior”3. Elements of the Code overlap, however, with the fundamental right to good administration, which is enshrined in Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.4

Law on Access to Public Documents, Law No 03/L-215: The Law on Access to Public Documents (LAPD) was approved in 2010. The law guarantees the right of access to official documents maintained, drawn or received by public institutions to every natural and legal person without discrimination on any ground. The Law is based on ten principles of the right of access to information. This law follows broadly principles set in the EU Regulation 1049/2001 of the EU Parliament and the Council regarding public access to EU Parliament, Council and Commission documents.5

Law on Identity Cards, Law No.05/L-015: The Law on Identity Cards was approved in 2015. The law regulates conditions, procedures and competent body for issuance and use of identity cards by the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. The law defines by specific provisions the content (Article 9) of the identity card and the use of electronic data from the identity card (Article 7).

The Law on Classification of Information and Security Clearances , Law No. 03/L-178: The Law on Classification of Information and Security Clearances was approved in 2010. The Law regulates the classification of information, classification authority, conditions, criteria, measures and the activities to be taken in the process for providing protection of classified information, the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the originators and the users of such information, international exchange, as well as other issues concerning the protection of classified information.

Law on Information Society Government Bodies, Law No. 04/L-145: The Law on Information Society Government Bodies (Official Gazette, no. 04/L-145) aims to determine the relevant institutions as well as their functions and responsibilities in the development and implementation of information technology in the Republic of Kosovo. Regarding the functions of the AIS, Article 6 of this law, among others, states that this Agency is responsible for “accumulation, administration, dissemination and storage of data by creating the State Data Electronic Centre, security and protection of electronic communication infrastructure and data, facilitation of the access to public information in electronic form”.

Draft Law on Digital Signature: A significant regulation that is not yet in place is the Law on Digital Signature – essential to support online service delivery. The law has been drafted by the MoED and is currently being finalized. The law should regulate electronic signatures and the agencies involved as well as the embedding processes to provide a safe way for users to conduct business online like electronic fund transfers or transactions with public services.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo

Institutional Framework

32. There is a consensus among Government stakeholders that the key challenge of the digital transformation in Kosovo is weak implementation. This is partly due to unclear and overlapping institutional mandates to implement relevant strategies and laws and a fragmented institutional set-up for policy implementation of public service delivery.

33. Cooperation and consultation between line ministries remains weak and ministries have taken forward isolated and uncoordinated initiatives for citizen service delivery and digital

3 https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/publication/en/35104 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT5 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:145:0043:0048:EN:PDF

3. 14

2.

infrastructure. This makes it immensely difficult to create single windows (integrated service delivery channels), common data bases and simplification across government using common norms.

34. A scatter gun approach to service delivery reforms has evolved. There are a number of agencies which have the mandate to focus on administrative reforms, business process reengineering and support to the digital government infrastructure. MoPA is the secretariat for a Ministerial Council for Public Administration Reforms chaired by the Prime Minister with members including representatives of MoTI, MoF, MoED, and the Ministry of European Integration (MoEI). initiatives led by the OPM have improved the coordination and consistency of reforms. While MoPA has legal authority to take forward the digital governance and e-Services agenda, and has some critical institutions including the AIS and the State Data Centre, both the MoTI (for business services), the OPM and other ministries and agencies are among major stakeholders.

35. The main stakeholders of digital governance and e-Services are (Figure 5):

Ministry of Public Administration

36. Based on the Government Regulation No.02/20116, MoPA is the main responsible institution for policy development in the field of public administrative services, including oversight and coordination of implementation within the Government. MoPA is responsible for preparing the vision and strategies for modernization of public services and initiate necessary legal changes to support reforms. But specific responsibilities for service delivery coordination within MoPA are not clearly assigned to any specific unit, nor are resources sufficient to follow up on implementation of the service delivery agenda.

6 Regulation No. 02/2011 on the Areas of Administrative Responsibility of the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministries.

3. 15

2.

Figure 4: Key Stakeholders of Digital Government and e-Services

Source: World Bank team based on the information provided by the GoK

37. Within MoPA, a number of departments and agencies are stakeholders in the agenda for public administration reform including the Legal Department, the Directorate for Rationalization of Processes and Department of Public Administration Reform (PAR). In addition, the AIS has the legal mandate to take forward digital governance initiatives across government including policy making authority. While MoPA has responsibility for establishing citizen service centers (one stop shops), separate initiatives have emerged for providing G to B and G to C services through one-stop shops led by different entities. In the meantime, other ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) do not always have incentives to support a government-wide digital agenda but carry forward with digital governance initiatives in support of sector specific reform needs. Consequently, multiple registers are in place with multiple authorities. Reforms of service delivery are taking place driven by individual organizations but need to be overseen by the center of government for adequate and necessary coordination.

38. Despite current capacity gaps, the AIS holds the strongest mandate for reforms in support of better digital governance. Established in 2013 under MoPA, the Agency is the central body for the development and implementation of ICT for public institutions in Kosovo. It has the authority to propose and coordinate all policies related to ICT and e-Services in the public administration; for drafting and ensuring the implementation of the strategy for electronic governance and for relevant action plans; managing and supervising the implementation of the projects related to IT in public institutions; and the accumulation, administration, dissemination and storage of data through the State Data Center. Coordination of the activities of the AIS and other ICT units/officers of

3. 16

Prime Minster’s Office

Ministry of Finance

Tax Administration of Kosovo

Customs Administration

Property Tax Dept

e-Procurement

KFMIS & Electronic Payments

Ministry of Trade & Industry

Business Registry Office

Department for Trade (Law on Services)

Ministry of Public Administration

Agency for Information Society

Kosovo

State Data Center

State Network (GovNet)

Interoperability Platform

(Government Gateway)

Ministry of Internal Affairs

Civil Registry Agency

Civil Identification and Address Registry

Electronic ID

Ministry of Spatial Planning

Kosovo Cadaster Agency

Kosovo Cadaster and Address

Ministry of Economic Development

Department for Telecomunicaton -

Electronic Signature

Legal OfficeGovernment Coordination Secretariat

2.

government institutions, and regulation of the management of IT projects, and electronic databases are among other AIS mandates.

39. Although some initiatives for the development of e-Services are managed by PAR directly, the AIS has the technical mandate and capacity to support their roll out. While MoPA is responsible for coordinating reforms for service delivery, AIS is responsible for proposing and coordinating all polices related to improving e-Service delivery. In practice, however, coordination between institutions to jointly steer ongoing reform initiatives is weak. Apart from this, coordination mechanisms with other government institutions are also weak. After three years of work, the AIS has made the interoperability platform (Government Gateway) functional and currently is at the early stage of integrating relevant registries. The Government Gateway is meant so serve as a “digital highway” for secure automated data exchange based on web services (Application Program Interfaces) and plans are to interconnect all relevant government registries. In the meantime, several ministries and agencies have developed their own point to point connections between information systems over the years and these parallel interfaces need to be maintained for some time to ensure the continuity of operational work. The AIS is also struggling with funding and lack of capacity to effectively transition to a shared interconnectivity platform.

40. AIS is organized in five key directorates: including the Directorate of Network Infrastructure, Directorate of Central Operations and Security, Directorate in charge of Administration and Development of Electronic Systems, Directorate of e-governance Development and Policies and Directorate of Rationalization of Administrative Processes (Figure 5).

Figure 5: AIS Organizational Structure

Source: Ministry of Public Administration Organizational Structure.

41. The Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK) is currently focused on the procurement of a new integrated tax management information system (funded through budget and EU support). The new system is expected to replace the existing Standard Integrated Government Tax Administration System (SIGTAS) platform within the next two years. The TAK IT Department has developed around 10 interfaces to connect their core systems with Customs, Business Registry, KFMIS and other government systems for data exchange. An Electronic Declaration System and Taxpayer portal (providing information on tax obligations and access to submit tax returns) are other TAK systems providing e-Services to citizens and businesses.

3. 17

Ministry of Public Administration

Agency of Information Society

Directorate of Network

Infrastructure

Directorate of Central

Operations and Security

Directorate of Administration

and Development of Electronic

Systems

Directorate of e-Governance Development and Policies

Directorate of Rationalization

of Administrative

Processes

2.

42. A property tax system has been used in 34 municipalities since 2012 to collect revenues, produce reports and publish relevant data on municipal web sites. In 2018, e-Fatura/e-Payment modules have been introduced to improve e-Services. Currently, 780 officials have access to the Property Tax system and about 32-40% of the revenues are created from property tax in municipalities. The system is being expanded to include the Land Tax in 2019 (which is expected to raise the level of recorded revenues up to 60-70%).

43. An e-Procurement system has been launched in 2017-18 with support from USAID. Starting in January 2019, all procurement activities are supported online (from announcement to contract award). The system is being hosted by AIS in the State Data Center and uses GovNet to provide access. The e-Procurement system is not linked to the Kosovo Financial Management Information System (KFMIS) yet, but a new USAID technical assistance is expected to start in 2019 to support the development of interfaces with KFMIS and other systems.

Office of the Prime Minister

44. The OPM plays a key coordination role on public administration reforms. With the support of a SIDA funded project, the OPM is directly engaged in a program for reducing administrative burdens. A concept document on reducing administrative burdens is currently being drafted by the OPM. While the AIS has a Directorate for Rationalization of Administrative Process with the responsibility to assess and rationalize the administrative procedures in use to provide services to citizens, businesses and the administration, so far, they have not been involved in the process of administrative burden reduction led by OPM. Limited coordination exists with the MoPA which is represented by the Director of the Legal Department as a member of the Working Group on this topic.

45. The OPM along with MoTI is also supporting a process of reducing the number of licenses and permits for business transactions as part of an agreement with the European Union. There is an agreement to reduce the 480 licenses and agreements by 10%. An update of the inventory of permits and licenses has been undertaken (with the support of IFC) resulting in a reduction to 456. This process is carried out in partnership with four ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, MoTI, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MoESP), and Ministry of Health. The concept note will identify which laws need to be changed. For example, in the Ministry of Agriculture there are twenty licenses regulated by different laws, of which four need to be abolished, three need to be merged and three need to be reworked. The OPM plans to have a law establishing a central system for licenses and permits which defines criteria for ministries to establish licensing systems.

Ministry of Internal Affairs - Civil Registry

46. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) provides e-Services through the Civil Registry Agency (CRA), as laid out in the Law on Civil Status. According to this law, all state and private institutions collecting and administering databases related to persons, should supply the data on the basis of a request to the CRA and in accordance with the Law on Protection of Personal Data. All civil registration data is linked to a single national ID number issued along with the birth registration. The central Civil Registry shares data with other public institutions such as TAK through individual interfaces.

47. The CRA will initiate the development of a new system for dwelling and placement (so called address registry) in mid-2019 with support from the Norwegian Embassy. The new system is expected to be developed within 12 months and used by offices located at 38 municipalities to automate the address registration process. This system will be linked to the cadaster system which holds registered street names and codes of each address.

3. 18

2.

48. The CRA is responsible for issuing all civil identification documentations such as Birth Certificates, Extracts of Birth, Extracts of Residence, Citizenship Extracts, Marriage Certification and Death Certification. All these civil documents are being issued at the municipal level. In most municipalities these are offered at municipal one stop shops. Employees at these centers are paid by the municipality, while administratively they report to the CRA.

Ministry of Trade and Industry

49. While MoTI has no formal role in public administration reforms and e–Services, it has sponsored the Law on Services to take forward an initiative for the establishment of one stop shops for business registration. The preparation of the Law on Services shows further the ambiguous distribution of responsibilities in the digital governance area. Although the Law was prepared by MoTI, the responsibility for the sector lies with MoPA. It has been pointed out that there was limited cooperation between the two ministries during the process of drafting the law to ensure that all the relevant issues are covered. Currently, the Law on Services is being assessed by the Parliamentary Commission for Trade and Industry for its alignment with the Law on General Administrative Procedures.

The Kosovo Business Registry Agency (KBRA) - Ministry of Trade and Industry

50. In accordance with the provisions of the Law on Business Organization, KBRA is responsible for the registration and de-registration of business organizations. The Government has recently approved this new Law, which mandates the issuance of one Unique Identification Number (UIN) for each business organization that will be used for both business and tax registration purposes. Following approval of this Law, MoTI has just approved an administrative instruction for regulating the process of issuing a UIN.

51. The updated business register has been interconnected with the tax register held in the TAK, through a direct link for secure data exchange. The KBRA plans soon to connect the new system to the Government Gateway to communicate with other government systems as well. At the moment, due to technical specificities, only the register of Individual Businesses (about 90% of 163,000 registered businesses are for individuals) has been connected with the TAK. The protocols for connection of the business registry with other categories of businesses, such as L.L.C, Corporations and so on, is expected to be finalized by the end of June 2019.

Ministry of Economic Development

52. Within MoED, the Department of Post, Telecommunications, and ICT is in charge of finalizing the Law on Electronic identification and Trust Services and establishing technical solutions for secure e-Services. This includes Certificate Authority, as well as the Registration and Verification Authorities needed for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Digital Signature hardware and software options, and more. Currently, the Law on Digital Signature is in the final drafting phase and it has been submitted to the Legal Office of the OPM for further procedures. Representatives from MoPA and AIS have been involved in drafting of this law. The law covers transactions between citizens, businesses, and government and is expected to be passed by the end of 2019. The MoED is also preparing a proposal for funding the establishment of the digital signature infrastructure using EU funds and technical expertise from Austria.

Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning – Kosovo Cadastral Agency (KCA)

53. The KCA is responsible for the overall cadaster and functions like an Executive Agency within the MESP. Kosovo’s Cadastral System is regulated by a Law on Cadaster and operates under a two-tier system.7 Cadaster data is managed and maintained by Municipal Cadaster Offices and

7 https://gzk.rks-gov.net/ActDetail.aspx?ActID=27573. 19

2.

controlled by the KCA. The cadaster system covers the entire country and is updated regularly. The cadaster consists of two databases: the graphic (cadastral map) and the textual (legal). The graphic part is public through the geo-portal and includes geometry and parcel identification numbers, while the textual part is not accessible to the public, as this is limited by the provision of Article 24 of the Law no. 04 / L-013 on Cadaster, which refers to the Law no. 03 / L-215 on the Protection of Personal Data. The KCA has developed a Geoportal which aims to provide complete geographic information and offers a wide range of geographical and textual tools to users. The Geoportal is a web portal that presents geographic information from different sources in a unified form.8

54. The institutional framework for delivering e-Services is fragmented. Where political and administrative agency comes together e-governance initiatives have proved successful and coordination has been possible. This is seen most clearly in the example of Pristina Municipality where an ambitious program of simplification and digitization has been taken forward (see Box 4). However, such reforms may not be possible at the center of government due to contested mandates.

Box 4: The Pristina Municipality’s e-Kiosk

Led by the Municipality of Pristina, one stop shops have been established in a number of urban locations in Pristina. Recognizing that citizens had to wait one to two days for accessing a service, in 2015, the municipality began a process for digitizing services and making them available through a single window. The earlier system had a number of windows for transacting services including an application window, a payment window, a receipt window and a window where certificates could be stamped. The recognition that efficiency gains were possible led to the establishment of one stop shops and to the establishment of e-Kiosks, which brings down service time to under a minute.

Citizens can access copies of birth certificates, residence extracts, citizenship extracts, marriage certificates and pay property tax and obtain ownership certificates through one stop shops/e-Kiosks. The process of linking cadastral documents is underway which will allow citizens to soon access copies of plans with boundaries. The Pristina municipality has recently ordered two drones to record the cadaster and support urban planning.

Over 130,000 certificates have been issued in Pristina through these kiosks with a huge impact on overcrowding of offices, on transparency and accountability. The Pristina example has now been followed by around 8 municipalities, some of whom provide a more limited menu of services. This process has been enabled by the advanced civil registration system in Kosovo through which 70–80% of the population have a unique biometric ID. This enables even citizens outside Pristina to use the services offered by the municipality of Pristina. Key challenges to expanding this system include the absence of the law on digital certificates and the need for enhanced human capacity and ownership amongst government staff.

Existing ICT Infrastructure

55. A series of shared ICT infrastructure resources are available for Government institutions to underpin the further development of e-Services. There is a solid nationwide government network (GovNet) reaching most rural areas. Over 650 government buildings are connected to GovNet and the number of users of the network is over 15,000. 400 more buildings are planned to be added to the network, including schools and family health clinics.9

56. The AIS also manages the SDC that hosts a series of government applications but excludes several significant government services. The SDC was funded through a US$ 2 million World Bank-funded project and according to the AIS has already provided a two-fold return through

8 http://geoportal.rks-gov.net/9 The bandwidth available for connected nodes is in between 10Mbps (min) and 1Gbsps (max). Two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are providing centralized access to Internet services (1Gbps and 700Mbps). Annual cost of network operations is € 268,800 for fibre-optic backbone connection and € 60,000 for VPN service.

3. 20

2.

infrastructure savings of over US$ 4 million from the use of shared infrastructure and about 600 virtual servers. There are current 118 government IT systems of which 64% use the SDC. Some ministries have their own server rooms without necessarily coordinating their efforts and resources with AIS, as the central IT policy development and implementation agency.10 All civil servants are using the government systems hosted in SDC (for example, email exchange is being used by around 20,000 users). AIS has installed 40 racks in the SDC and the utilization of rack space is around 66%. Overall data storage capacity is 700 TB, and about 80% is currently utilized. Although the SDC capacity is adequate for supporting hosted government systems,11 server and storage capacity need to be increased for transition to shared platforms and expected increases in online services.

57. A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) has not yet been established. This is an important step in completing the institutional architecture for data management. A building for the DRC has been found and the 2020 budget includes an allocation to initiate the purchase of equipment. The DRC is expected to be fully operational in 2021. At the same time, there is a need to explore cloud-based alternatives. Transition to a “hybrid cloud” can be considered by linking existing data centers and network connections to SDC and GovNet, as part of a government cloud. Virtualization and effective use of existing server and storage capacity, as well as a secure countrywide network (GovNet) can be operated by the AIS as a government service provider for all ICT/e-Gov solutions.

58. An interoperability platform exists with the potential to support a coordinated approach to roll out digital services. The Government Gateway is meant to serve as a “digital highway” for government data exchange and plans are to interconnect all relevant government registries. The platform has been in existence for three years and there are currently 16 web services (Application Program Interfaces) developed by several key agencies running on the platform. The Gateway is a Microsoft solution maintained by the AIS and can connect any database application to securely exchange data based on a protocol and using audit trails. So far, the AIS has managed to interconnect the Civil Registry with the Kosovo Business Registry, and the Customs Registry with the Food and Veterinary Agency Registry. AIS is currently working on connecting the Customs Registry with the Pharmaceutical Registry. In the meantime, several key agencies (e.g. TaK, CRA, KCA) have developed their own mini gateways or interfaces, since their information systems were operational long before the establishment of the shared platform.

59. However, integration of public registries remains a challenge due to lack of trust on the part of line ministries. The AIS is currently maintaining the gateway platform using necessary information security, system monitoring and audit tools, and other agencies are expected to use the Government Gateway as a common data exchange platform in the coming years, instead of continuing to invest in fragmented and disconnected interfaces. The AIS is promoting the use of the platform and other shared ICT platforms to build trust, avoid duplicate investments and ensure interoperability of government systems.12

60. Data classification is needed to define data sensitivity and usability. In deciding whether and how to move to a hybrid cloud, GoK will need to classify its data. Less sensitive data should be considered for migration to public clouds that are much cheaper and easier to deploy, while the most sensitive data should be kept in a private government cloud (within the country boundaries).

61. AIS has initiated the development of e-Kosovo portal in May 2019. Since 2009, AIS has been managing a government and public service portal (https://www.rks-gov.net) for the provision of information services (Level 1-2) to citizens, business, public administration and interested visitors. 10 Open Data Readiness Assessment, Government of Kosovo, September 201811 AIS virtualization platform includes 28 hypervisors (VMware and Hyper-V) with 2 sockets and 256 Gb RAM. Also, 14 hypervisors (VMware) with 2 CPU (10yr old) and 32Gb RAM. Annual maintenance cost of the SDC is around 120,000 Euro (60,000 for hardware/servers and 60,000 for non-IT components).12 The annual cost of the Government Gateway is Euro 500,000.

3. 21

2.

AIS is in the process of upgrading the current portal to a single window platform for transactional and personalized digital governmental services (Level 3-4) at all levels of government (state, provinces, municipalities) with expanded scope. The new portal is expected to be developed gradually during 2019-2021 by introducing new capabilities in parallel to ongoing modernization projects of various government systems and e-Services. The e-Kosovo portal is expected to provide access to a comprehensive catalogue of e-Services (see Annex 2) and have modular reusable building blocks such as e-forms/e-applications generator and repository, single sign on, payment gateway, e-invoice, e-delivery, citizens’ mailbox and similar that could be used by service providers for easy implementation of digital governmental services.

62. The CRA has implemented a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to be used with National ID cards. A digital certificate is embedded in the Near-Field Communication Chip (contactless) of the e-ID produced by the German firm Giesecke & Devrient. An Identity Provider has been developed to support the applications using the e-ID card issued by CRA of Kosovo. The e-ID Identity Provider is an application developed within the Microsoft .NET framework as a web application hosted on a Windows IIS server. Additionally, the AIS has implemented an internal PKI to be used for government systems, and authorized government officials and agents (public notaries).

Capacity and Resources for Digital Transformation63. The share of technical experts and support staff to total public employment is low considering the ambitions to further develop digital governance and e-Services. The total number of IT specialists and support staff in the public sector is around 450 corresponding to only 0.5% of total public employment. There are nearly 250 technical specialists and 200 support technicians and help desk operators supporting daily operations of 118+ government systems, data centers, government network, Government Gateway and other platforms. Based on international experience, the total share of technical specialists should be around 2-3% to ensure adequate support for existing/new government systems, countrywide ICT infrastructure, and expected increases in the workload due to the e-Kosovo portal and enhanced e-Services.

64. Digital skills of public servants need strengthening. Attracting and retaining talent with needed ICT skills to government positions is difficult due to the pay structure and non-competitive benefits. Staff turnover is high as workers with these skills choose private sector jobs with better pay and benefits. Even though legal provisions provide for market rate allowances for ICT staff, these are not applied consistently due to existing challenges in containing the public wage bill. 

65. There is an urgent need to create a registry of all IT specialist and support staff in all ministries and agencies and identify the gap in terms of specific skills needed to support new/expanded ICT/e-Gov platforms. There is no digital skills inventory of the IT units established under each ministry, department or agency. Box 5 provides a snapshot of the staffing patterns in ministries. The AIS has 58 staff positions (32 specialists + 26 other roles including managers, help desk, call center, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting). The specializations include system and database administrators, security analysts, web and network administrators, software developers, mail and user administrators. The AIS has limited capacity to manage existing shared platforms (Data Centers, GovNet, GG, security, user management, system monitoring, and more) and support future e-Kosovo portal in upcoming years.

Box 5: IT Staffing in Ministries

MoF IT Dept: 14 IT specialists + 5 help desk Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK): IT Department has 37 staff (10 specialists + 6

developers + 3 analysts + 3 SIGTAS experts + 10 technical support + 5 administrative)3. 22

2.

MoF Property Tax Unit: 6 IT specialists + 15 experts paid by SIDA (temporary) E-Procurement: 1 IT specialist + 1 programmer MoEF IT Department: 10 specialists Business Register: 3 IT specialists to manage the registry and interfaces. Cadaster System: 7 IT specialists (Director + 4 specialists + 2 technical support) Civil Registry: 15 staff (12 specialists + 3 support) compared to nearly 720 employees of

the MoI.

Source: Elaborated by the World Bank team based on the information provided by the GoK

66. Although reliable data on ICT/e-Gov spending is scarce, the current spending level in Kosovo appears to be relatively low. During 2016-2018, the GoK spent 28 million Euro on capital and recurrent expenditures of existing and new government systems, corresponding to around 0.1% of total public expenditure. This number does not include the salaries of the 450 technical specialists and support staff (around EUR 1.4 million annually). The 2019-2021 medium-term budget plan includes a further EUR 123 million ICT/e-Gov allocation mainly for new government systems (including DRC and digital signature) and to maintain existing infrastructure.

67. It has not been possible to compare the ICT/e-Gov investments with the overall investment plan to clarify the focus on digital government. However, past spending and future plans indicate that the investment on ICT/e-Gov is modest and needs to be increased to support integrated digital solutions and planned expansion of online services. Box 6 provides a further breakdown of ICT/e-Gov spending by ministry and type of spending.

Box 6: Breakdown of ICT/e-GOV spending

Top 5 budget organizations with the largest ICT spending in 2018 (EUR 13.3 million in total): (1) MoF (2.8 million); (2) MoPA (1.5 million); (3) MoED (1.4 million); (4) MoI (1.4 million); (5) MoSF (0.9 million).

Based on the KFMIS data, about 60% of the ICT spending appears to be on hardware/equipment and 40% on software.

The 2019 budget included Euro 37 million for ICT /e-Gov projects. Top 8 agencies investing on ICT/e-Gov solutions: AIS (5.3 million), TAK (3.8 million), Ministry of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (3.0 million), Kosovo Police (2.6 million), Air Navigation Services Agency (1.9 million), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1.7 million), Kosovo Customs (1.7 million), KCA (1.6 million).

About 67% of the ICT/e-Gov budget appears to be allocated to the development of new systems, application software and renovation of data centers, and 11% is for recurrent costs.

A large portion of the 2019 budget is allocated for the development of new government systems, digitalization, and enhancement of existing platforms (35.8% for 81 different activities). Other major investments include ICT equipment for budget organizations (18%), e-Gov/e-Services (6.8%), establishment/renovation of data centers (6.5%) and software licenses (6.3%).

68. Several donor-funded projects are supporting the investments on ICT infrastructure, government systems and e-Services. Annex 2 presents a summary of ongoing donor funded activities. The AIS is the key entity for the coordination of all donor funded activities in ICT/e-Gov domains.

3. 23

2.

Summary of Challenges 69. Despite significant achievements in moving forward with digital governance, challenges remain. A key indication of these challenges can be seen in the fact that of the service inventory of 700 services provided across government to businesses and citizens at central and local levels, only 10% are made available to users online. Most institutions do not yet have necessary infrastructure, systems, and skills to provide online services. Where services are provided online, most are provided through individual agency portals making cross data transfers difficult. In many cases, the functionalities available to users are also quite limited, corresponding only to levels 1 and 2 of the UN e-Services definition. Keeping this in mind, the AIS is aiming to establish a new government services portal (the current portal is more an information portal) to provide such electronic services and which will serve as a secure interface with a payment gateway.

70. Strategies and laws on digital governance and e-Services remain unclear and are often overlapping. The e-Government strategy needs to be updated and ratified as a basis for progressing with e-Services. While most of the relevant laws and regulations are in place, a critical draft law dealing with digital signature requires amendments and adoption. The regulatory framework is generally weak on implementation and bylaws and manuals need to be drafted to support implementation and training provided to different constituencies to enable change.

71. Limited coordination and ownership of the digital governance agenda at the highest level is slowing down reform implementation. The scattered institutional functions and responsibilities for service delivery reforms requires identifying champion institutions and strong coordination frameworks. There are several agencies which have the mandate for and focus on process reengineering and administrative reforms including supporting digital government infrastructure. MoPA has the legal authority to take forward the Digital Government and e-Services agenda, and has some critical institutions including the AIS and the SDC, while both the MoTI (for business services) and the OPM as well as other ministries and agencies are major stakeholders.

72. Despite current capacity gaps, the AIS holds the strongest mandate for reforms in support of better digital governance. The AIS has the technical mandate and capacity to support the roll out of e-Services. Weak coordination between institutions to jointly steer ongoing reform initiatives needs to be addressed. The AIS manages a State Data Center that hosts a series of government applications but excludes several significant government services. Yet not all agencies make use of it. A few government ministries have their own server rooms without necessarily coordinating their efforts and resources with AIS. Server and storage capacity need to be increased for transition to shared platforms and expected increase in online services. There needs to be a government strategy in place to enforce the use of shared platforms and review parallel ICT/e-Gov activities.

73. Establishing a DRC would be an important step in completing the institutional architecture for data management. A DRC is planned and is expected to be fully operational in 2021. There remains a need to explore cloud-based alternatives. Transition to a “hybrid cloud” can be considered by linking existing data centers and network connections to the State Data Center and GovNet, as a part of a government cloud.

74. The interoperability platform has the potential to support a coordinated approach to roll out e-Services, but line ministries lack the necessary trust in AIS’s capabilities and incentives to use its services. This Government Gateway managed by the AIS is meant to serve as a “digital highway” for government data exchange. However, integration of public registries remains a challenge due to a lack of trust on the part of line ministries. Several ministries and agencies have developed their own point to point connections between information systems over the years.

3. 24

2.

However, agencies need to use the Government Gateway as a common data exchange platform in the coming years, instead of continuing to invest in fragmented and disconnected interfaces.

75. While the AIS mandate covers all that is needed to take forward a comprehensive e-Governance agenda, its position within MoPA and the lack of incentives for ministries to recognize its leadership role makes it less effective. The Agency is constrained by both budgets and human resources, and conflicting ownership of its ambitious agendas A number of stakeholders suggested that it would be useful to examine the institutional mapping of the Agency so that it can best leverage cross government support for its mandate and lead a coordinated agenda. It is also important to identify a forum with directive power for critical stakeholders to come together in the form of a convergence forum that can support both data exchange between agencies and direct administrative restructuring. This needs to be accompanied by the establishment of an inter-agency forum or working groups to further elaborate recommendations and decisions at a technical level.

76. Capacity and resources across government to implement digital governance remain constrained. The government noted the need to elaborate a capacity building strategy for both public servants and consumers of services. Digital skills of public servants and consumers need strengthening. Attracting and retaining talent with needed ICT skills to government positions is difficult due to the pay structure and non-competitive benefits. The total number of government IT specialists and support staff is very low (0.5% of 82000 public employees served) and the allocated budget (Euro 36 million in 2019) inadequate. Staff turnover is high with staff movement to the private sector. While legislative provisions allowed for market rate allowances for ICT staff, there is anecdotal evidence that these supplements are not being applied consistently as they can exacerbate current wage bill issues. 

V. Recommendations

77. Despite significant challenges, a number of opportunities exist to improve the digital governance model and develop a sustainable platform to support the expansion of e-Services in Kosovo:

The prospect of EU accession can be leveraged to push for further public administration reforms, including with respect to digital governance and e-Services. The EU accession is already driving a number of reforms, and the GoK has emulated a number of EU requirements and regulation, including the EU interoperability framework.

The EU accession, Kosovo’s status as a fragile and conflict-ridden state, and the general interest of donors mean there is ample access to technical assistance and investment financing.

The strategic and regulatory framework, despite gaps, overlaps and weak implementation, is a strong starting point for further reforms.

The high internet and smart phone penetration and the generally high level of awareness of the possibilities that present themselves in terms of digitalization.

78. The recommendations elaborated in this section seek to address the key issues with digital governance while building on the opportunities outlined above. The recommendations are divided into short term recommendations, which are assumed to be implementable within one year and which require limited legal and institutional changes and limited investment; and medium to long-term recommendations which can be implemented within approximately three years and which may require some investment as well some institutional and/or regulatory changes. Within both categories, recommendations are linked to the main groups of issues identified in the foregoing section.

3. 25

2.

79. Recommendations are guided by the GoK’s longer-term strategic vision of implementing user-centric services. To do this, the GoK will have to invest in ICT shared services in order to simplify processes, increase efficiencies and streamline costs. The consolidation of ICT functions could lead to significant efficiency gains, including reduction in ICT cost, productivity improvements and improvements in service delivery. Successful ICT consolidation can also advance human resource management, financial management and other administrative back-office functions through the process of digitalization, with uniformity of standards, processes, user applications and ICT systems. For citizens and businesses, the key benefits of moving to shared services include reduced time and cost of information, accessing services, and obtaining approvals – both through electronic and face-to-face interactions across multiple platforms. The interoperability platform developed by the AIS needs to become the common platform through which all government institutions connect.

80. However, before this can take place there is an immediate need to develop a commonly accepted strategy and institutional framework for agreeing and implementing both regulatory and infrastructure requirements and take forward business process reengineering for improving service delivery using common protocols. Collaborative leadership will be critical for integrated e-Service delivery A whole-of-government ICT Enterprise Architecture (EA) as a comprehensive tool for planning and aligning all ICT initiatives in the Government will eventually be needed including a clear vison for – and approach to – shared services. The further development of e-Services should be planned with these longer-term goals in mind and clarify where decisions are necessary to avoid deviating from this path.

81. The suggested areas of intervention are selected to ensure complementarity with the work of other donors. This entails, for example, building on previous and on-going work by the GiZ and the World Bank to support the implementation of the Law on General Administrative Procedures and reduce administrative burdens as well as work of the World Bank KODE project to enable the digital economy through improved connectivity. At the same time, the recommendations of this note will reinforce the work of other donors as well as ongoing World Bank projects by, for example, strengthening governance and institutional arrangements. Going forward, the implementation of the recommendations of this note could also mean adjustments to other projects or donor initiatives to align activities with updated strategies and common digital solutions.

82. The recommendations to improve digital service delivery in Kosovo follow four main steps. These steps are ordered in a logical sequence so that Kosovo can move towards a whole of government ICT Enterprise Architecture with shared services and so that each step is a precondition for – or makes most sense if conducted before – the subsequent step (figure 6).

3. 26

2.

Figure 6: Key steps in improving digital service delivery in Kosovo

Source: World Bank

Step 1: Establish the Institutional Framework for agreeing and implementing digital service delivery83. A first critical step in taking forward a comprehensive digital governance strategy is to establish the governance arrangements and institutional structures to ensure coordination between key stakeholders to develop and implement a digital governance action plan. Institutional frameworks are weak and online services currently available are the result of sectoral initiatives rather than part of a coherent and coordinated reform strategy. There is currently no single point of authority and the institutional mandate for implementing this agenda is fractured. While the MoPA and the AIS on paper have between them the technical mandate and coordination authority, the lack of incentives for ministries to recognize their leadership role makes them less effective.  The AIS at the same time lacks capacity, funds and skills. An institutional arrangement that gives the AIS the authority and resources to take forward this agenda is critical.

84. Key recommendations in step 1 include:

Develop an effective institutional digital governance model to coordinate and implement an ICT/e-Gov strategy and action plan, by i) forming a strategic Steering/Coordination Committee composed of key stakeholders (OPM, MPA, MoF, MTI, MED, MIA, MSP, and others). This forum could serve as a consensus-building platform on the issues related to scoping and prioritization of the reform process as well as ensuring implementation of reforms; ii) establishing a similar inter-agency forum or working groups at the technical level to further elaborate recommendations and decisions (led by AIS)

Identify and empower an implementation agency that reports to the fora and coordinates the implementation of their decisions and recommendations. The AIS has the technical capabilities to serve in this role.

Arrange a high-level workshop in the upcoming months, with the participation of senior managers from key stakeholders to create a shared vision, develop a joint action plan, agree and launch the proposed Steering Committee, and clarify roles and responsibilities for the management and coordination of the digital transformation agenda in Kosovo. AIS could be the coordinator of donor funded activities in the ICT/e-Gov domain in Kosovo.

Undertake a functional review of the AIS to assess how best it can be structured to serve as the nodal agency for the development of e-Services.

3. 27

Implement changes in business

processes reengineering and develop capacities

Develop inter- operability

standards and protocols and appropriate

infrastructure

Update the strategic policy and regulatory

framework

Establish the institutional

framework for agreeing and implementing digital service

delivery

2.

Step 2: Update the strategy, policy and regulatory framework 85. While the enabling legislation and strategies to support the implementation of integrated digital service delivery are broadly in place, some key policy enablers are still required. These include:

Approving an amended Law on Digital Signature: A significant regulation, critical for service delivery, that is not yet in place is a law to regulate digital signature. The law will need to both regulate electronic signature, specify agencies involved and embed processes to provide safe pathways to transact online.

Update and approve the new strategy on e–Governance (2016 – 2020). The GoK does not currently have a comprehensive strategy to take forward activities in support of e–service delivery. This is a critical step forward and an important short-term input into the reform process.

Develop a joint action plan to implement the e–governance strategy and identify a sequenced set of reform activities.

Approve and implement a new law on e–archiving for digitization of registries and other historical document archives for better document management.

Step 3: Develop inter-operability standards and protocols and appropriate infrastructure86. The expansion of e-Service delivery to citizens, businesses and government requires much greater investment in the interoperability of existing systems and provisioning of sound infrastructure.. Linking base registers and other government systems through a common interoperability platform is crucial for the efficient and effective exchange of data, and a foundational requirement to support the delivery of e-Services. Foundational ICT infrastructure also needs to be developed. Key recommendations include:

Agree on a strategy for taking forward the common interoperability platform, how many entities will be connected and the sequencing process. This will include a strategy for transition to a hybrid government cloud platform by connecting distributed data centers with the State Data Center (SDC) to form a hybrid government cloud and an extension of the Government Gateway on existing GovNet infrastructure. The strategy will need to classify data on the basis of their sensitivity and establish a balance between using an on-premises private cloud to host sensitive or critical workloads while using a public cloud provider for hosting less sensitive or critical functions.

Establish a Disaster Recovery Center. This remains a priority action to improve the reliability and availability of shared platforms (included in the AIS investment plans for 2019-2021).

Implement use of e-ID in online services, with embedded digital signature Continue to rollout Citizen Service Centers (One-Stop Shops).

3. 28

2.

Step 4: Implement change in business processes reengineering and develop capacities 87. A progressive modernization of the delivery of government services and on-line provisioning is required for the efficiency, quality, effectiveness, transparency and accessibility of government services, including reducing the time incurred by citizens and businesses in accessing government services. However, this would require simplifying procedures and eliminating redundancies. A key initial step informed by agreements at the level of the Steering/Coordination Committee is to develop and implement methodologies and formats for business process reengineering of selected services in order to create simplified digital processes. Clustering and prioritization of services for modernization, development of service level standards, implementation of a help desk and alignment of internal organizational structures and capacities for service providers will all be critical tasks. At the same time, digital transformation would also require the development of advanced digital skills and effective communication about reforms. Key recommendations include:

Identification from the existing services inventory of pilot services for business process reengineering and developing “as is” business process maps for each service. These maps will identify the current state of play for each service. Piloting of business processes related to tax and business registration could be considered given the significance of these areas for citizens and businesses and the on-going and planned initiatives to improve tax registration under TAKs medium term reform action plan.

Identify legislative and process changes needed for simplifying services. Develop methodologies for business process reengineering and take forward a sample pilot of

“to be” business process maps for selected services with maximum citizen impact which will serve as the basis for large scale business process reengineering and future digitization.

Digitize critical services to be made available/accessed online and/or through government portal to be accessed by business and citizens.

Align internal structures of service provider organizations with new service delivery models. Build human resource capacity through developing and implementing a staffing plan (up to 2

– 3 percent of total public employees need to have ICT/ e -gov specialization), skills, awareness and communication strategy for both government and citizens.

Develop and implement a process of citizen support (help desk) and engagement, including to measure citizen satisfaction with reengineered and digitized services. 

88. Annex 1 provides a summary of priorities, and sequencing of activities needed to take forward the agenda of digital governance.

3. 29

4.

Annexes

Annex 1: Proposed action plan for developing e-Services

# Activity Sponsor Short(S), medium (M) or long (L) term

Step 1: Establish the Institutional framework for agreeing and implementing digital service delivery

1 Develop an effective institutional digital governance model to implement ICT/e-Gov strategy & action plan, by forming i) a Steering/Coordination Committee comprising of key stakeholders and ii) a technical-level forum or working groups.

OMP and MoPA S

2 Identify and empower an implementation agency that reports to these fora. The AIS has the technical capabilities to serve in this role.

OMP and MoPA S

3 Arrange a high-level workshop with the participation of senior managers from key stakeholders to create a shared vision, develop a joint action plan, agree and launch the proposed Steering Committee, and clarify roles and responsibilities for the management and coordination of the digital transformation agenda in Kosovo. AIS could be the coordinator of donor funded activities in ICT/e-Gov domain in Kosovo.

OMP and MoPA, assisted by AIS S

4 Undertake a functional review of AIS to assess how best it can be structured to serve as the nodal agency for the development of digital services

OMP and MoPA M

Step 2: Update the strategic policy and regulatory framework 5 Approve the Law on Digital Signature MoED S

6 Update and approve the new strategy on e-Governance (2016 – MoPA, AIS and OMP S

30

4.

2020)

7 Develop a joint action plan to implement the e-Governance strategy and identify a sequenced set of reform activities.

AIS M

8 Approve and implement a new law on e–Archiving for digitization of registries and other historical document archives for better document management.

AIS, MoPA and PMP M

Step 3: Develop inter- operability standards and protocols and appropriate infrastructure

9 Agree on a strategy for taking forward the interoperability platform and how many entities will be connected and sequencing process. This will include a strategy for transition to a hybrid government cloud platform by connecting distributed data centers with SDC to form a hybrid government cloud and an extended interoperability platform on existing GovNet infrastructure.

OPM, AIS M

10 Establish a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) AIS, MoPA M

11 Use e-ID in online services, with embedded digital signature. CRA and AIS M/L

12 Continue to rollout Citizen Service Centers AIS, MoPA M/LStep 4: Implement change in business processes reengineering and develop capacities

13 Develop methodologies for business process reengineering and identify pilot services from the existing services inventory; develop “as is” and “to be” business process maps for each service.

AIS S/M

14 Identify and implement legislative and process changes needed for simplifying services

AIS and OPM M

15 Align internal processes and build human resource capacity through developing and implementing a staffing (up to 2 – 3 percent of total public employees need to have ICT/ e -gov

OPM and MoPA, assisted by AIS M/L

31

4.

specialization), skills, awareness and communication strategy for both government and citizens.

16 Digitize critical services to be made available/accessed online and/or through the government portal to be accessed by business and citizens.

AIS M/L

17 Develop a process of citizen support and citizen engagement to measure citizen satisfaction with reengineered and digitized services.  

AIS M/L

32

5.

Annex 2: Donor funded programs supporting digital government and e-Services

A number of donors are supporting Kosovo’s initiatives in public administration and digital governance. These include the European Union, SIDA, IFC, and the World Bank.

SIDA – Support to OPM

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is currently supporting the General Coordination Secretariat within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) for improving policy development in Kosovo. The project supports improvements in policy development, coordination and scrutiny functions of the OPM. It supports development planning based on policy priorities and strategic plans formulated by line ministries. As part of this assistance, the project has recently initiated the drafting of a concept document on the benefits of implementing an administrative burden reduction program. Following the approval of the concept document, the Government with the support of SIDA plans to develop capacities for implementing an administrative burden reduction program by 2021.

EU funded Project – Support to Public Administration Reform

The main purpose of the current EU funded project is to improve service delivery to citizens and businesses through supporting implementation of the Law on General Administrative Procedures. The project provides technical assistance to strengthen the regularity and operational framework for administrative actions. Among other results, the project aims to establish a strategic framework for administrative service delivery and administrative procedure simplification by analyzing and amending the administrative public services (see Box 7).

Box 7: EU support for ICT/e-Gov initiatives

The EU and Kosovo have concluded a Sector Reform Contract for Public Administration Reform, which foresees a total of €25m in financial assistance until 2021. This assistance is divided into four payments of a maximum amount of €22m into the Budget of Kosovo, and €3m of technical assistance. The payments into the budget are conditioned upon making progress on the reforms and on meeting targets that have been mutually agreed.

The conditions for payment include progress made on implementing public administration and public finance management reforms, on implementing credible and stability-oriented macro-economic policies and on increasing the transparency of the budget. These conditions are assessed and need to be met for each payment of the contract, including the payments foreseen for 2019, 2020 and 2021. For the future years, the payment will also be linked to the achievement of eight targets, jointly negotiated and stipulated in the reform contract. These targets cover the following areas:

Inclusive and evidence-based policy and legislative development, Improved public access to documents, Improved professionalism and management of human resources, Improved services to citizens and businesses, Reduced administrative burden for citizens and businesses, Improved policy planning, A more rational and accountable state administration, and Improved access to administrative justice

The World Bank Group

6. 33

5.

As a part of its Investment Climate Project in Kosovo, IFC supports the Ministry of Trade and Industry in improving the business environment through reforms to the business inspections system and simplifying administrative procedures.

The development objective of the Digital Economy (KODE) Project for Kosovo (P164188) is to improve access to better-quality and high-speed broadband services in project areas and to online knowledge sources, services and labor markets among citizens, and public and academic institutions. The project comprises three components. The first component will support digital inclusion through: (a) the expansion of digital connectivity through the co-financing of deployment of high-speed broadband connectivity in areas that have been identified as not connected or underserved, and (b) improving the enabling environment for wireless broadband services, through the deployment of the national spectrum monitoring system (NSMS). It consists of the following sub-components: (i) financing of digital connectivity; and (ii) improving the enabling environment for digital connectivity. The second component, digital work and empowerment, will support the youth online and upward (YOU) program and increased access to knowledge, information, and online services. It consists of the following sub-components: (i) YOU program; and (ii) increasing access to knowledge, information, and services. The third component, project implementation support, will support project management, implementation and citizen engagement activities.

The Real Estate & Geospatial Infrastructure Project (P164555) is another World Bank funded activity, assisting the KCA in improving their Cadaster system, data and disaster recovery centers, and National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

Previously completed World Bank projects supporting various government systems and services include:

P069516 Kosovo - Education and Health Project > Education and Health MIS

P071264 Economic Assistance 3 Project (PSD) > Business Registry

P071265 Private Sector Development Technical Assistance Project > Business Registry

P078674 Economic Policy & Public Expenditure Management TA > PEM, Health Exp Mgmt

P079260 Kosovo - Education Participation Improvement Project > Edu MIS, FMIS integration

P088045 Business Environment TA Project > Business registry improvements

P101214 Real Estate Cadaster and Registration > Real estate registration

P101614 Public Sector Modernization Project > Payroll & HRMIS systems upgrade, Data Center

P102174 Institutional Development for Education Project > EMIS, integration w primary schools

89.

6. 34

5.

Annex 3: Catalogue of e-Services

Catalogue of the public services for the whole government is active and is hosted in Common Data Sets (CDS), which can be used by e-Kosovo portal as e-Service to this dataset.

6. 35

5.

Details of e-Services

6. 36

7.

Annex 4: World Bank conceptual model of connected e-Services and service delivery channels

8. 37

7.

8. 38