Macau (MNA) – The Commission of Audit (CA) released a report on Thursday denouncing the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) for its slow progress in developing electronic public administration.
The report reveals that the SAFP has invested some MOP237.35 million (US$29.35 million) in developing electronic administration but the Bureau had only completed 39 of 61 planned projects for the period 2001 to 2016, which represents a mere 63.93 per cent execution rate.
SAFP argued that it had no obligation to develop electronic administration before the Bureau was restructured in 2011, claiming that since that year it started to conduct preliminary studies to elaborate upon pilot projects and work plans.
However, the CA refuted those claims noting that the department’s organisational rules implemented in 1994 prior to its reconstruction clearly stated that the department had an obligation to modernise public administration.
In addition, the CA pointed out that the dispatch released in 2011 by the Secretary for Administration and Justice about the establishment of SAFP had also included the setup of a cross-department taskforce to co-ordinate departments developing e-administration, with the SAFP head co-ordinator of the taskforce.
According to the audit results, even after the restructure of SAFP in 2011, the SAFP had conducted related preliminary studies and remained in the stage of obtaining experiences from pilot projects for several years without solid progress.
‘Hence it is not surprising to see that the overall progress of those projects is slow,’ stated the CA in the report.
