For several months now, the provincial governments of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, Localret and the AOC Consortium have formed a technical working group to address theeres calls for proposals for the European Next Generation funds that plan to allocate 391,4 million euros to the digital transformation of local administrations in the period 2021–23.
This ambitious program presents an exceptional opportunity for the local administration of Catalonia to give a decisive impetus to its digital transformation to adapt to new times and new needs, with the aim of achieving a high social impact, efficiency and economic.
However, it has to be executed in a short time, it has generated a lot of expectations and a very complex management and execution is expected. For this reason, it is essential to define a governance model and a shared, coordinated and agreed roadmap that guarantees the identification of shared initiatives, the definition of priorities, the distribution of responsibilities in the different areas to ensure the best provision of services to local bodies for administration, and good coordination of execution.
Criteria of the working group
The criteria of the working group to define possible projects and their governance are the following:
- Contrast, despite the current uncertainties, and as far as possible to align the initiatives of European funds with the Catalan model of digital administration that among all institutions we have developed over the last 20 years with very good results, through collaboration, consensus, the transversal vision of the Catalan administrations and promoting common and interoperable services.
- Advancing towards a model for the provision of face-to-face and digital public services, with a vision of the country and an integrated system, which puts the citizen at the center and makes the relationship with the different levels of administration easier.
- Ensure that all public bodies, regardless of their resources and capabilities, offer quality digital public services with a sustainable economic model.
- Facilitate the management of change and the adoption of digital services, through the application of good practices, support, digital training of citizens and public employees, communication and support.
- Define management models, standards and guidelines that facilitate the management of change in public bodies
- Evaluate, based on objective data and in a rigorous manner, the progress of digital transformation to highlight the good work done, learn about the good practices of leading administrationseres, facilitate self-evaluation by the entities themselves, and identify the entities that require the most support.
- Promote innovative initiatives that take advantage of the opportunities of the most advanced technologies to drive the transformation of service delivery models to provide more efficient, easy, personalized, proactive and cross-cutting digital services.
- To promote collaborative spaces for learning and experimentation with the practical application of advanced technologies to validate their public value, and to define reusable models for all Catalan administrations, with different needs and capabilities.
Introduction to the Catalan model of digital administration
The Catalan model of digital administration was born with the pact for the promotion and development of the Information Society in Catalan public administrations, signed in the Parliament of Catalonia on July 23, 2001, between the presidents of all parliamentary groups, the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia and local governments. representats by the Localret Consortium. This pact identifies the digital transformation of the public sector as a strategic challenge for the social and economic progress of Catalonia.
The collaborative model of digital administration in Catalonia has achieved some very remarkable indicators.
- 99% of local administrations in Catalonia offer digital processing services and a space for transparènciaMore than 90% of these use AOC services.
- In 2020, 74% of the procedures of the city councils and county councils have been done through an electronic channel. And there have been 80 million exchanges of data and documents between public administrations, which the public has saved from attaching in their procedures.
- 82% of citizens are happy or very happy with digital public services.
- Despite the good work done so far in the field of digitalization, there is much work to be done and new challenges. It is necessary to promote organizational transformation that has a great impact on efficiency, agility, usability, digital inclusion and transparència and, therefore, generate greater satisfaction and trust among citizens in public services. And it is necessary to incorporate advanced technologies, such as advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence, to offer innovative services that respond to new demands.
Opportunity for funds Next Generation
On 21 July 2020, the European Council agreed on the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and the “Next Generation EU” recovery fund (NGEU). This plan was born as a lever to build the Europe of the new generation, promoting projects that involve structural change and have a lasting impact on economic and social resilience, sustainability, long-term competitiveness and employment. It is endowed with € 750.000 million to be disbursed to member states during the period 2021-2026 and one of the top priorities is digital transformation.
