Do we really need a DICT?

Inq7 reports that the the proposed bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) might not pass through the Senate as smoothly as in the House.  For me, the reasons so far given for a DICT are flimsy, at best.  But ICT proponents Sens. Mar Roxas and Jun Magsaysay have raised governance issues relating to the proposed department. They would prefer a more “democratized approach” in the government’s policy towards ICT. I don’t understand what they mean exactly. But I think they’ve been observing the manner in which the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) has addressed various issues involving ICT.

It will be recalled that as to the PH ccTLD issue, CICT took a rule-making approach which, to date, has resulted in what seems to be a stalemate. I’ve always held that confrontational approaches by government is counter-productive when it comes to ICT problems simply because technology moves far too quickly that it nullifies regulatory efforts. So, the market solves the problem by making the market obsolete or irrelevant.

However, I think the good senators are referring to the eGovernment Fund which if memory serves, was institutionalized in the current budget and is now about P4 billion. As far as I know, the CICT will: (a) manage the fund by pooling resources from different government agencies; (b) approve eGovernment projects; (c) manage the procurement process; and (d) oversee implementation. All of this sounds good except that the CICT isn’t responsible or accountable for a particular project’s success (this was confirmed during the Senate budget deliberations). This prompted Sen. Roxas to remove the budget provision in order to deny the CICT access to the eGovernment fund by realigning it back to the individual agencies. This move however was nullified when the budget was approved by the Senate without amendment.

So for now, the CICT manages the eGovernment Fund and I believe the Senators want the CICT to be accountable for the funds as well as the success or failure of the eGovernment projects. The more relevant question for me is: What ever happened to the various eGovernment Fund projects approved by the ITECC in 2003?  What problems did they encounter, if any?  Were they successful or not?

The answers to these questions will tell us if there is any wisdom in creating a management-heavy DICT or merely a coordinating body that provides advise and oversight functions.  Let’s see what happens.