Inter-Agency Information Sharing (PNG0002)

Problem/lssue to be addressed: The Freedom of Information of cluster commitment in Papua New Guinea aims to create an enabling environment for citizens to use public information to hold government accountable. Currently public data is scattered amongst government departments. This lack of data centralisation results in a bottleneck when information requests are made by the public; it is difficult for the ordinary citizen to monitor service delivery if multiple agencies have separate and distinct caches of information. The Government of Papua New Guinea has identified the electronic sharing of information between departments and agencies as being a priority. As such, there has been substantial investment in an Integrated Government Information System (IGIS). There needs to be sharing of information on the IGIS by all 47 governmental offices and within the 6 provincial centres as stated in Prime Minister O'Neill's speech at the launch of IGIS in 2014.; Main Objective: An increased utilisation of the IGIS by departments and agencies of government after Phase 1.; Brief Description of Commitment: In NEC decision 124/2006 the IGIS was committed to by the Government as a high profile project. The components of the Project are: 1) Records Data Management 2) Government Email 3) Civil Registration 4) IGIS Portal 5) IGIS Data Centre & Disaster Recovery Centre 6) Project Management Office. The project completed Phase 1 in 2014 and was launched by the Prime Minister,. This commitment focuses on the rollout of IGIS to all line agencies and sub-national governments. Through consultation with DCIT, the biggest hurdle would seem to be the lack of uptake by agencies. It is hoped that this commitment will secure rollout and uptake of IGIS so that departments will be able to internally address FOI requests rather than placing the burden on citizens.; OGP Challenge address by the Commitment: OGP grand Challenge 1, Improving Public Services This lack of data centralisation results in a bottleneck when information requests are made by the public; it is difficult for the ordinary citizen to monitor service delivery if multiple agencies have separate and distinct caches of information.; Relevance Briefly describe the way in which this commitment is relevant to further advancing OGP values of access to information, public accountability, civic participation and technology and innovation for openness and accountability.: While there is currently an IGIS framework established by Phase 1, there has not been as efficient a use of the mechanism as there is still duplication in the sharing of information by each of the government departments and agencies. It is hoped that by fully implementing IGIS, that the ease of access to information will be increased leading to greater fiscal transparency as well as public service delivery. This commitment ties in with the proposed Access to Information legislation as well as the Data Portal in the PNG OGP FOI Cluster Commitment; there has to be increased sharing of information between government departments, otherwise the legislation will be meaningless and the portal will be unworkable. Furthermore, other cluster commitments such as Fiscal Transparency which needs a mechanism for the sharing of fiscal data between distinct agencies will depend on there be increased use of IGIS.; Ambition Briefly describe the intended results of the commitment and how it will either make government open or improve government through more openness: Meeting all 6 aims of IGIS within the 47 government bodies so that government is open to itself and information can be shared and disseminated openly and freely.; Variable and Measurable milestones to fulfil the commitment: Appointment of OGP liason officer within IGIS for the purposes of completing this commitment; Identify; officers responsible for IGIS in all government departments and agencies; Establish current level of data uploaded by each agency. They must be informed of their duties as IGIS officers within agencies.; Conduct workshop on current state of IGIS and to gather feedback on Phase 1 rollout. The Workshop will also identify readiness of government data sets and best practice in documentation processing for upload to IGIS; At workshop form committee of IGIS officers to work on a framework for uploading data to IGIS; Draft framework to be submitted to Chief Secretary's Office for review; 2 nd Workshop for IGIS officers to review draft framework for data uploading onto IGIS; Policy Directive from Chief Secretary s Office to be finalised based on IGIS framework feedback; Do a regional meeting follow up with IGIS officers on implementation of Policy Directive.

2. Inter-Agency Communication and Sharing of Information, IGIS

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to Open Government: No

Potential impact: Minor

Completion: Not Started

None of the commitment’s intended milestones on the Integrated Government Information System (IGIS) were started. [30] Since 2015, the system was meant to allow the government to share and store data in one central location. The system did not entail public access and had not consolidated government information prior to the action plan. [31] In March 2020, the Department of Information and Communication Technology expressed that IGIS had not been well-managed and did not have an appropriate policy and legislative framework. It commenced an extensive evaluation of the IGIS project. [32] In August 2021, as the department migrated government agencies to cloud-based technologies, it reflected that the IGIS-owned and -operated infrastructure model had been problematic. [33] The IRM recommends that related future efforts center on public access to information.

Outside of the action plan, progress in this policy area saw development of the PNG Digital Transformation Policy. This policy framework was developed and endorsed by the National Executive Council. It served as the basis for the draft Digital Government Bill. [34]