Development of Monitoring Reports on the Electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC) (BR0061)

to develop reports and indicators panels with information obtained from the Electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC). These reports shall ensure the monitoring of information related to the Brazilian Access to Information Law by society and shall assist government bodies and agencies in the management of their information services.

Commitment 2.4. Development of monitoring reports on the Electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC)

Commitment Text: To develop reports and indicators panels with information obtained from the Electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC). These reports shall ensure the monitoring of information related to the Brazilian Access to Information Law by society and shall assist government bodies and agencies in the management of their information services.

Responsible institution: Office of the Comptroller General

Supporting institution: None

Start date: Not specified                          End date: 14 March 2014

Commitment aim

The commitment was designed to improve the Electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC), which became one of the two principal instruments for tracking the Law of Access to Information (LAI). The e-SIC automates data on the implementation and use of access to information requests in real time. While commitment 2.1 focused on understanding the jurisprudence involving the LAI, this commitment aimed to improve real-time monitoring of information requests, and identify problems of information disclosure in individual agencies. Specifically, this commitment intended to publish monitoring reports to improve oversight of information related to the LAI, and help government institutions better manage information requests.

Status

Midterm: Completed

The e-SIC reports are online and can also be downloaded in open standards.^{[Note 40: Sistema Eletrônico do Serviço de Informação ao Cidadão, Relatórios Estatísticos, http://bit.ly/2f7TXVE. ]} The reports contain information on requests, responses, resources, and requesters related to the LAI. The commitment also established a network of government experts and public servants interested in e-SIC standards and practices, which were created by more than 300 members and used by the government to advance the implementation of the commitment.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Marginal

Previously, the e-SIC tracking information was only available to the system’s managers. The commitment sought to publicly release this information and condense it into monitoring reports. It, therefore, improves the status quo by publishing indicators and data on LAI implementation, such as the number of requests and responses by agency, and the reasons for rejecting requests. However, the core of the commitment was on LAI implementation by only the executive branch, which could have been expanded to other branches of government. The commitment also did not take into consideration existing data use by civil society. For example, Article 19 uses sampling to visualise e-SIC data on all branches of the government. While the new monitoring reports include all information requests, which moves beyond sampling and expands the amount of information available publicly, the commitment marginally advanced access to information since existing web tools were already in place to visualise e-SIC data.^{[Note 41: Article 19, Observatory, http://observatorio.artigo19.org/.]}

Carried forward?

While the e-SIC monitoring reports have not been carried over to the next action plan, the overall goal of this commitment — greater monitoring of government performance regarding the LAI — is carried forward. Specifically, Brazil’s third action plan includes a commitment that aims to establish guidelines for, and evaluate government responses to, information requests. Moving forward, the IRM researcher recommends promoting civil society interaction with government in the development of indicators and accountability of LAI requests.