Witsa
2018 WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards
Nomination Form
Nominated by: Ali Ashfak
President
Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS)
AWARD CATEGORIES:
Awards will be given to individuals, academics, businesses, NGOs, government branches etc., on the basis of particular programs, web sites, strategies of ICT / Internet deployment; i.e. the awards will not be political but technical, honoring use and implementation of technology in accordance with the criteria described below (i.e. a government per se will not be a “winner”, but one of its integrated web sites or services may be). The winners may not necessarily represent the most advanced technology solutions, but should be excellent examples of ICT deployment which have made a difference for the community of interest (whether providing public services, boosting profits or advancing connectivity):
Please note that nominees will be judged on the basis of the following criteria and weighting:
|Judging Criteria |Weighting |
|Global Impact/Potential |40% |
|Market Potential |20% |
|Innovative Features and Functionalities |20% |
|Feasibility of Implementation |20% |
1. PUBLIC SECTOR ICT EXCELLENCE AWARD
Government entities and non-profit organizations are eligible to be nominated in the Public Sector Excellence category.
Criteria for Government authorities: To be nominated, a government entity must, in its delivery of services within or outside the entity, use information and communications technology to 1) improve a national or local government's effectiveness in meeting the needs of its citizens; 2) save time and money in government operations by eliminating inefficient practices and processes; and/or 3) improve access to or the quality of services, communication and information within government. In addition, the project implemented by the nominee must meet at least one of the following criteria: use ICT to improve the common good, either at the local, national or global level (measuring the social benefit); demonstrate efficient use of current technology; highlight the benefits of latest advances; run pilot projects evaluating the potential of new innovative means of communication and information distribution.
Criteria for Non-profit organizations: To be nominated, non-profit organizations must utilize information and communications technology to achieve the organization's goals, as well to improve the common good through programs with significant social benefits. Examples of such programs include: medical groups that facilitate remotely assisted surgery via Internet, deployment of informative databases or other technologies that increase citizen participation in communities of interest - uses that bring aid, comfort, information, support or services to target community groups.
YOUR NOMINEE(S):
BANGLADESH TELECOMMUNICATION REGULATORY COMMISSION (BTRC)
(under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology of Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh)
REASONS FOR NOMINATION (please justify why you think your candidate is qualified):
The reasons for nomination of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) a government entity, as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA PUBLIC SECTOR ICT EXCELLENCE AWARD’ are described hereunder:
Project Title: Central Biometric Verification & Monitoring Platform
(CBVMP)
Through the above CBVMP project, Pre-paid SIM card registration is mandated in a number of countries and requires consumers to provide proof of identification in order to activate and use a mobile SIM card. A number of governments adopt this policy as part of efforts to help mitigate security concerns and to address criminal and anti-social behavior. Being one of the largely populated countries (approximately 160 million people) and having around 130 million mobile subscribers, Government of Bangladesh initiated “Biometric Sim Verification” project to provide better legal, health as well as other forms of services to the masses would be readily available.
Post and Telecommunications Division (PTD) provided prudent guidance and persuasive leadership to the entire drive, and developed the much needed teamwork. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) provided required directives for and closely coordinated execution of the drive by all 6 MNOs and their 120 thousand retailers. National Identity Registration Wing (NIDRW) NIDRW provided the real-time online verification service to the Operators, and also helped rectifying erroneous data through its 514 outlets all over the country.
During this drive, a total of 112.12 million SIM users out of 130.8 million were verified through the Biometric Verification Process. While the process continues, the unverified SIMs were de-activated on June 1st, 2016, though many of those were immediately re-activated as the users are allowedto re-activate the de-activated SIMs after the biometric verification.
As such, we strongly recommend BTRC as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA Public Sector Excellence Award’.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION: Please send any supporting information to the address above, including information from candidate (i.e. excerpt from program description, web site print-out, press release, etc.)
Supporting information of BANGLADESH TELECOMMUNICATION REGULATORY COMMISSION (BTRC) a government entity, as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA PUBLIC SECTOR ICT EXCELLENCE AWARD’ are provided below:
Information and reference link:
Project Background:
Telecommunication & ICT services in Bangladesh have witnessed significant growth over the last 12 years. Affordable and modern mobile telecommunication services are now available to the majority of the population and the telecom sector is immensely contributing to the overall economic growth and social development of the country. The issuing of 3G licensees by auction in 2013 and the subsequent launch of 3G networks has given a huge boost to the mobile/internet segment. Foreign investment interest has also continued to be high. Strong growth of the mobile internet customer base is expected to continue into 2016 and 2017. LTE services are expected to be launched by 2017.
Mobile phone service entered Bangladesh in the mid-90s, at a time when getting a landline connection required more than a year. Initial proliferation of the service here, unlike in many other parts of the world, was not so much for ‘mobility’ as it was for ‘connectivity’ itself. Today, the mobile industry is serving around 130Mn subscribers (as of May, 2016) having the 99% geographical coverage. We have observed significant growth in internet subscription as well. The number of Internet subscriber has crossed 63 Mn in May, 2016 in which mobile internet subscriber is more than 96%.
The Government and the private sector have worked together to turn Bangladesh into one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the region. BTRC being the sector regulator has facilitated a conducive regulatory environment that helped industry to grow, contribute the national economy & bring positive changes in the society.
1 Reasons for Central Biometric Verification & Monitoring Platform (CBVMP)
The Law Enforcement Authorities (LEAs), on the other hand, due to increasing abuse of mobile phone service faced a pressing need for identifying the users. It was after the National ID (NID) had made acceptable penetration that the Government in late 2014 decided to once again undertake a drive for verifying and re-registering the SIM users with the help of NID Database (NIDDB).
The entire process required technical integration of ICT platforms including software, database, servers, and networks among BTRC, NIDRW, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), distributors, and retailers; legal and procedural coordination; dissemination of information and nationwide awareness building efforts; and financial investments.
Project Functionalities
1 System Design
There were extensive consultations among PTD, BTRC, all MNOs, the Association of Mobile Telephone Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), NIDRW, and the LEAs in order to find a suitable, effective, and sustainable process of verification. Although NID Database (NIDDB) today holds data, including fingerprints, of about 100 million people, which is more than 95 per cent of the adult population, the NID Card till date is not verifiable at Point of Sale (POS). A sample test carried out by matching the data of about 10 million users with that stored in NIDDB revealed that 67 per cent users were registered with fake NIDs, and also that there were many NIDs against each of which thousands of SIMs were registered. Using fingerprints at POS for verification with NIDDB was therefore considered apposite.
As per the consensus-based plan, MNOs rolled out about 120 thousand Biometric Verification Devices in the country, which means one Device per 1.2 sq. km area, and connected them to NIDDB through their own platforms. Sharing the Devices among all MNOs without discrimination was made mandatory to avoid smaller MNOs being squeezed out. Required measures were incorporated in the systems to ensure protection of personal data.
2 Verification Drive
A month-long test run of the system was conducted through only the customer care centers of the MNOs after required personnel were trained. December 16, the National Victory Day of Bangladesh, was selected as the D Day for commencing registration of new SIMs following the biometric verification process. Similarly, mandatory re-registration was planned from February 1, 2016, and it was to be completed by April 30, 2016.
Only 26 per cent of the verification attempts were successful in the beginning of the test run. Several causes were identified besides a few technical ones. Fingerprint mismatch was responsible for half of the failure. Many of the Devices could not capture fingerprints efficiently, while some fingerprints at NIDDB also lacked the quality. Many agents at POS still lacked both skill and experience. Erroneous entry of data, particularly related to the date format, caused a quarter of the failure, and either wrong data furnished by the customer or back dated data in the NIDDB accounted for the rest. To improve the situation, the inefficient Devices were immediately replaced. MNOs undertook extensive programs to train all the agents, and later all the retailers. To increase the probability of matching, four fingerprints were captured instead of one and matched on the basis of one-to-one, not one-to-many; the verification result was based on the best match. Customers were directed to and helped at the nearest NIDRW outlet for updating their data. The rate of successful matching stood more than 90 per cent by the end of the month.
The main drive also faced other challenges. Rolling out desired number of Devices took longer time as many of those had to be replaced. Besides, after retailers all over the country got involved in the process, the success rate dropped again for a brief period. Many retailers remained unaware of the whole procedure for a considerable period. Although the rate of failure continued to be less than 10 percent, the cumulative number gradually exceeded 10 million. Most of the customers, however, succeeded after a few attempts, but many did not. More than 500 NIDDB outlets strived to rectify and update data including fingerprints. Especial arrangements were made for those who did not have fingers. Those who were not in possession of a valid NID were also allowed to register SIMs with passport, driving license, or the Birth Certificate, but in such cases the SIM would remain active for only six months if the customer fails to produce NID within this period. Foreigners, off course, could register SIMs with their passports for the valid duration of stay in Bangladesh.
The verification drive initially progressed slowly, primarily because the awareness-building efforts were inadequate. Besides, there was also uncertainty about a tax on SIM. Tax is applicable for a new or replacement SIM, but the National Board of Revenue (NBR) implied the same for change of identity of the SIM user. As correcting the identity of users was the principle purpose of the drive, and most identities were expected to change in the process, the Ministry of Finance waived off the tax in case of re-registration during this drive. Soon the verification process appeared to be effective and the progress of verification gained momentum, only to be impeded again by a counter-move. One of the citizens filed a writ petition in the High Court, questioning the legality of using biometrics for SIM registration. Mass and social media hosted a series of debates. Apparently some people were concerned and some agnostic about privacy issues, but it was generally believed that the move was made by people with ulterior motives, and allusions were made especially to those who were still involved in illegal VOIP business in the country. In spite of the presence of similar debates about it in many parts of the world, the use of biometrics is increasing in the digital domain primarily because of the convenience it provides in identifying people speedily and accurately. About half a billion people in the world, for example, are using biometrics for banking services. It is no surprise that the High Court of Bangladesh dismissed the writ after a deliberate scrutiny of the biometric verification process. It was only after that the awareness-building campaign by both BTRC and MNOs got momentum, and so did the progress of verification.
Customers faced yet other difficulties. Although the retailers were given incentives for each successful verification, many of them started illegally charging fees from customers. Some uncanny retailers have also tried to register multiple SIMs in the name of an inattentive customer by deceitfully portraying that his previous attempts to register had failed. BTRC monitored with its limited capability and relied more on the MNOs, and also involved the LEAs at times. On the other hand, MNOs arranged special care for physically challenged customers, at times even reaching out to their doors. The cue of customers got longer as the target date of completion drew nearer, and the time of waiting in the cue grew harder with the mounting April summer. On top of that, the verification system became overloaded during most of the last two days. The pouring crowd and the harsh weather might have insisted the government to finally extend the drive up to May 31, 2016.
Technical Description
2 Technical Architecture
To define the work flow for how CBVMP works, the total process is defined at first.
• For new registration their registration essentials are sent to CMPO’s from the local retailer along with their NID/Passport copies and fingerprints. CMPOs generate a registration request to the CBVMP and they first validate the SIM count against each individual NID/Passport, other documents. After validation CBVMP generate a One Time Password (OTP) for a certain period of time. Within that time CMPO verify the identification of the subscriber. After the verification process is done CMPO confirm the verification to CBVMP. After the confirmation Registration process is confirmed.
• If count limit exceeds the maximum number of connections the registration will be invalid and registration process will be cancelled by the CMPO after the confirmation.
• For de-registration after the SIM count for individual NID/Passport and other documents OTP ix generated again. After all the verification by CMPO from Election Commission the de-registration process is completed.
Figure: Functional Process Flow
The entire process would be divided into several verification steps to ensure that all forms of validity checks have been done as well as the identity has been properly verified. As such the above diagram delineates the complete process of the solution for CBVMP.
• After collecting the NID/Passport copies and other documents along with the Fingerprints CMPO’s upload and send the copies to the CBVMP from where the request is validated according to the SIM count against individual NID/Passport.
• After validation a One Time Passport (OTP) is generated. This password will be activated for a certain period of time giving the CMPO a period to verify the identification information. Following are the steps that occur during the whole process:
➢ Once OTP is generated the CMPO send verification request to the Election Commission. Election commission confirms the verification and send the confirmation to the CMPO again.
➢ CMPO then send the verification confirmation report to the CBVMP for registration confirmation within the OTP period.
➢ CBVMP confirms the registration and send the registration confirmation update to the CMPO for completing the registration Process.
➢ CBVMP Migrates the Biometric data to their Central database from the existing database. All the actions taken under CBVMP are saved as event log in the following criteria:
• Registration
• Deregistration
• Transfer
• Correction
• Verified
• Non verified
➢ Periodical Reconciliation is done between CBVMP and Election commission for the justified verification process
➢ CBVMP generates regular Report according to BTRC authority demand and other GOB demand.
➢ There is a central schema and the whole database is segregated into six individual Schemas. The CMPO 1 can access the Central Database through the central schema but they can only avail the information from Schema 1. Other Schemas will be available for the other CMPOs
Network Architecture
[pic]
Figure: Netowrk Communication
A basic communication diagram shown here to define how the CMPOs are connected with DC site and DR site as well as how the ring network topology is established through N+1 redundant network connectivity.
3 Tools & Technologies
• Storage: Storage Area Network (SAN);
• Database:
➢ Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition (64 bit) for Database Software;
➢ Redhat Linux – 7 Enterprise Edition (64 bit) for Operating System;
➢ Oracle Secured Backup (OSB);
➢ EM Cloud Control;
➢ SQL Developer;
➢ SQL, PLSQL;
• Application Server and Services:
➢ Redhat Linux – 7 Enterprise Edition (64 bit) for Operating System;
➢ Tomcat for Application Services;
➢ Service Oriented Architecture (SOA);
➢ REST API for Service Integration;
• Development Platform:
➢ Backend: Java, JSP, Spring Framework, JDBC, Hibernate Model, Model View Controller (MVC);
➢ Frontend: HTML-5, CSS-3, Bootstrap, JSON, JavaScript;
➢ Reporting Tools: Jasper Reporting Tool;
• Load Balancing: Nginx Plus;
• Logger: Sys Logger, ElasticSearch, KIBANA, Filebeat;
4 Implementation Specifications
• High Availability (HA) Solution: Implemented (n+1) solution along with Data Center (DC) and Disaster Recovery (DR);
• Network: Dedicated redundant network is established between CMPOs, CBVMP Platform (both DC and DR);
• N+1 Load Balancing instances are implemented;
• N+1 Application Servers are implemented;
• Dedicated Sys Logger Services are implemented;
• Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) implemented for DB Level High Availability;
• Golden Gate and Active Data Guard (ADG) are implemented to real-time data synchronization between DC and DR;
• Dedicated Storage (SAN) along with replication is implemented;
• Standard Data Center Implemented with Power Infra (Electric, Generator, UPS n+1), Cooling, RAK, AVR, STC, Security Devices, Access Control System, CCTV;
• Data Migration of more than 160 Million Mobile Phone Numbers of all the Mobile Operators with their required data for identification to CBVMP Platform
Scalability & Expandibility
High Availability (n+1) Solution
Centralized Database System;
Clustered Database Application and mirror database
Applications are distributed in multiple application servers using Load Balancer
Service Oriented Architecture
Data Center (DC) is performing as Active and Disaster Recovery (DR) as in passive mode
Sufficient dedicated Storage Area Network (SAN) are deployed in both DC and DR
Database Version: Oracle 12c 64 bit enterprise edition
5 Security
• Relevant Passwords are encrypted with secured encryption algorithm
• Schema level segregations are applied for individual data storage
• Restricted roles are applied for data accessing in database level
• GRE over IPSEC are applied for the data communication in network level between the CBVMP and CMPOs
• Physical network security devices firewall and router and implemented with defined rules
• Oracle Secured Backup (OSB) is installed for backup and restoration
• Accessing the application is restricted by specific User ID, password along with IP Mapping
• Application is running under internal network; no other outer network is accessible
• Access Control Device and CCTV camera are installed
• Audit Log is enabled for both Application and Database
6 Performance & Control
|Aligning all Commercial Mobile Phone Operators (CMPO) in a single platform enabling of central platform consent (OTP) before selling |
|or registration activity of any SIM |
|Central Consent Implementation |
|Global SIM Count Capping Implementation against any customer identity such as NID, Passport, Driving License, Birth Certificate |
|Real time data communication and population Centralized Database System |
|Transaction Per Second (TPS) Controlling |
|Handling of 500 Concurrent Requests in a second |
Data Handling
|Migration of Big data more than 160 million records |
|One of the Largest Transactional Database handling a Big data of more than 170 million of records |
|Data Visualization and MIS Reporting Panel |
|Maintaining Historical Logs |
2 Benefits & Impacts of CBVMP
1 Benefits
[pic]
2 Social Impact
• Through this platform every sim card was registered with proper National ID card, personal information and photograph
• Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been able to successfully list down the registered sim networks and subscriber number.
• Crime through illegal mobile numbers were reduced drastically.
• Young generation got an alert and understood the deceiving impacts of using numerous sim cards.
• Security forces now find it easy to detect any hideous matter while optimizing any crucial crime operation.
3 SIM Registration Enquiry through SMS
Central Biometric Verification & Monitoring Platform (CBVMP) has introduced an SMS based registration enquiry system for the subscribers. This system has been launched for the first time in Bangladesh. In this system susbscribers can dial *16001# from any operator and they get acknowledged of their registered phone numbers through an SMS.
3 Conclusion
Total of 112.12 million SIM users out of 130.8 million were verified through the Biometric Verification Process. While the process continues, the unverified SIMs were de-activated on June 1st, 2016, though many of those were immediately re-activated as the users are allowedto re-activate the de-activated SIMs after the biometric verification. But, the SIM Tax would be applicable in this case. Moreover, to particularly facilitate the Non-Resident Bangladeshi people, a user is allowed to re-activate such SIMs within 18 months from the deactivation of the SIM. As a result, government will be able to ensure fare competition in the mobile phone industry. It would also apprehend the proliferation of illegal call routing using unidentified SIM, thus contribution to the growth in telecommunication revenue for the government.
4. DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY AWARD
Individuals, academic institutions, corporations, NGOs or government authorities that have made a remarkable and successful effort at providing digital opportunities to those in need are eligible for this award. Nominees must help facilitate the deployment of information and communications technology and use of the internet among inner city populations, or in towns, rural areas or cities in developing and least-developed countries in order to be considered for this award. WITSA member associations have autonomy in nominating and selecting the most qualified candidates in their respective country or region. In order to nominate a candidate, the WITSA member association must demonstrate the effectiveness of the program; approximate the number of people benefiting from the program; describe the degree of intensiveness of the program; and evaluate the level of innovation used in achieving the program’s goals.
YOUR NOMINEE(S):
BANGLADESH COMPUTER COUNCIL
(under the Information and Communication Technology Division, the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology of Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh)
REASONS FOR NOMINATION (please justify why you think your candidate is qualified):
The reasons for nomination of Bangladesh Computer Council, a government entity, as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY AWARD’ are described hereunder:
Project Title: National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government (Info-Sarker)
Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) is a statutory body under the ICT Division of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications & IT of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh is actively adopting IT infrastructure in order to improve public services and also to ensure “Internet For All by 2021” one of the very important components of government vision “Digital Bangladesh: Vision 2021”. One of the important IT infrastructure of this government journey is “National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government (“Info-Sarker) Project.”
The project consists of 3 phases with the aim of extension of government ICT network to the lowest tier of administration and root level citizens.
Under phase I and phase II of this project high-speed internet backbone network with high capacity bandwidth using Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology has been established in all ministries, government directorates/departments, all 64 districts and 488 Upazilas (sub-districts) and 18,130 government offices and 25,000 tabs has been distributed to government officials for enhancing use of ICT in public sector. Central secretariat is under Wi-Fi connection, 600 police offices are under VNP connectivity and 800 video conferencing systems and one disaster recovery center has also been established.
Phase III is aimed to expand existing backbone network through 20,000 km optical fiber cable to 2600 rural administrative units (Union) and 1600 police offices within June 2018. At least 60% of the population will be directly benefited from this project. The project is expected to increase the fixed broadband connectivity from existing 5% of household to more than 15% of household and is expected to contribute 1% increase of GDP.
As such, we strongly recommend Bangladesh Computer Council as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA Digital Opportunity Award’.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION: Please send any supporting information to the address above, including information from candidate (i.e. excerpt from program description, web site print-out, press release, etc.)
Supporting information of Bangladesh Computer Council, a government entity. as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY AWARD’ are provided below:
Information and reference link:
1.
2.
3.
Project scope:
❖ Expansion of Network Connectivity;
Expand the backbone network through Optical Fiber Cable to 2,600 Unions.
❖ Establishment of DWDM network:
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network will be established/expanded in 64 districts and 488 Upazilas to cater for increasing broadband demands.
❖ Enhancement of the backbone network capacity:
The project will ensure achieving 10 Gigabits per second capacity network at Upazila level and 100 Gigabits per second capacity network at district level.
❖ Establishment of 2600 Union PoPs to provide broadband connectivity to Union’s offices, schools and colleges, growth centers, etc.
❖ Establishment of connectivity between 1600 offices of Bangladesh Police
❖ Establishment of NMS system:
Establish Network Monitoring System (NMS) to monitor and manage network operations and corresponding equipment.
Goals and objectives
This is an e-Government Infrastructure project, which would help the government to provide services up to Union level as well as “Internet for All by 2021”.
The objectives of the projects are as follows:
❖ To expand the network established under BanglaGovNet (phase I) and Info-Sarker-II (phase II) to 2600 selected Unions all over the country.
❖ To strengthen the capacity of Union Digital Centers (UDCs) to provide connectivity to offices, schools and colleges, growth centers, etc. at the lower level.
❖ To ensure access to e-services for the rural communities of Bangladesh to achieve the goal of the National ICT Policy 2015.
❖ To connect the Bangladesh Police network with National ICT network to ensure seamless data communication to all levels of police units through GoB contribution.
❖ To support the employment generation through the use of ICT.
Strategies
This project is an important part of Bangladesh ICT strategy. "Digital Bangladesh" is an integral part of the government's “Vision 2021”. The expectation of "Vision 2021”' is that by 2021, the war against poverty will have been won, the country will have crossed the middle-income threshold, with the basic needs of the population ensured, their basic rights respected, everyone is adequately fed, clothed and housed, and have access to health care. The 'Vision 2021' aims at developing Bangladesh into a resourceful and modern economy through efficient use of information and communication technology and with main focus on (a) Human Resource Development (b) Connecting Citizens (C) Digital Government and (d) ICT in Business.
The project is expected to contribute towards the journey of Digital Bangladesh.
1) Promote Economic Growth
It is expected that the project will increase fixed internet connectivity to more than 15% household from existing 5% and will contribute to 1% increase of GDP.
Improving the government services to the rural communities, developing talents and creating job opportunities. By completion of the project, the government services in rural areas would be greatly enhanced. All unions would be covered by the government network and the government e-services would be more visible to the local citizens. Citizens would have much easier access to the local government services. The Union Digital Center (UDC) is also a one-stop e-Government service kiosk, providing information services to citizens, as well as organizing professional & career training. A huge number of ICT entrepreneurs will be grown-up with new job opportunities inside the countries and abroad.
By cultivating the talents, more and more professionals would be available and have big potentials for employment generation. The Union Digital Centre (UDC) platform would be utilized as a Business Process Out-Sourcing (BPO) center so as to support the well-trained citizens to start their career or entrepreneurships, consequently creating more job opportunities. In addition, by connecting to unions, lots of Internet Service Provider (ISP) will be created. Those ISPs will purchase bandwidth from operators and develop their own subscribers, creating new business mode and career mode.
2) E-Governance
The target of constructing infra-network in phase I and phase II is to change the unconnected situation of government departments and offices, to set up an information highway and to realize the e-Government services nationwide. The phase III project is the supplement and extension based on phase I and phase II, which extends the "information highway" up to union level, so as to make sure the lowest government entities can enjoy the "Digital Government" benefits. Consequently, the government can better serve the citizens, realizing the “responsive and service oriented governance".
3) Enhance Education Quality through ICT
This project is expected to be a key enabler to address the quality component of the education equation consists of about 150,000 institutions, 34 million students and over 900,000 teachers with a record of nearly 98% roll-out for primary education. Despite there are drop rate above 40% during 5 years. Attractive e-learning environments in schools, and distance learning through TV, radio, mobile phones and internet will increase retention. The government plans to make ICT education compulsory at secondary level and at primary level. Teacher training will be increasingly decentralized through the use of ICTs already in place at the Upazila Resource Centers for primary and model schools for secondary.
4) Facilitate Youth Empowerment
This project will be a great mean to create empowerment for the educated youth of this country comprising 70% of the total population. This project will play an important role in women empowerment by strengthening this huge ICT infrastructure and facilitate skilled women to tap into the global ICT market, women empowerment can be achieved through decent work. For that aim near 150,000 youths will be trained up with ICT employment generation by the ICT Division alone.
5) Pro-citizen Health Services
Internet connectivity and doctors’ access through mobile phone at over 800 health centers, tele-medicine in upazila health complexes, database for health policy planning; OMR based patient-level data collection; rudimentary telemedicine piloted by NGOs; Mobile-based helpline with doctors has also been ensured by phase II of this project.
6) Strengthening Law Enforcement
Crime data management system in all divisional and district headquarters, automated fingerprint identification system, all laws available online, citizens’ access to police cases using SMS and internet. 1600 police office will be directly connected to the national database through VPN connectivity, which will definitely strengthen the law enforcement.
7) Enhancing the Equity Aspects of ICT
The project also provides importance on (a) Improving the efficiency of land markets; (b) Self-governed and responsive local governance; (c) Promoting agriculture through ICT; (d) Strengthening healthcare for the poor through ICT; and (e) Effective and efficient social security administration through ICT.
8) Environmental Sustainability
The project is concerned about the environment and is committed to reduce its own environmental impact as well as that of its customers, partners, and suppliers. The project will work towards deploying network infrastructure that is environmentally sound by conducting operations in a responsible manner.
9) Methodology
1. 1. Advanced DWDM technology
2. 2. Ring topology redundancy in every level
3. 3. HDD methodology for underground Fiber laying in important Highways, railways, river crossing etc.
10) Equipment: Required equipment for this project:
• 2 Network Monitoring Systems (NMS)
• 552 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)
• 3152 Routers
• 3152 Switches
• 19500 km Optical Fiber Cable
• 7500 km High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Duct
1.Project Profile
Project name: National ICT Infra-network for Bangladesh
Government (Info-Sarker) Project.
Information and Communication Technology Division (ICTD) of the Government of Bangladesh is the sponsoring Ministry and Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) is the implementation Agency of this project. The Info-Sarker Project mainly focuses on expansion of ICT infra network towards root level citizens of Bangladesh with the aim of “Internet For All by 2021”. Info-Sarker project is citizen centric and key feature of this government network is its ability to access easily from the Union Level through high speed optical fiber cable.
1. Objectives of the project:
This is an e-Government Infrastructure project, which would help the government to provide services up to Union level. This is in line with ICT development plan of the Government. The objectives of the projects are as follows:
a) To expand the national ICT infra-network to 2600 selected Unions.
b) To strengthen the capacity of Union Digital Centers (UDCs) to provide connectivity to all ministries, government departments/directorates and offices, schools and colleges, growth centers, etc. at the lower level.
c) To ensure access to e-services for the rural communities of Bangladesh to achieve the goal of the National ICT Policy 2015.
d) To connect the Bangladesh Police network with National ICT network to ensure seamless data communication to all levels of police units through GoB contribution.
e) To support the employment generation through the use of ICT
Scope:
1. Expansion of Network Connectivity through Optical Fiber Cable to2,600 Unions.
2. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network will be established/expanded in 64 districts and 488 Upazilas to cater for increasing broadband demands.
3. Enhance the backbone network capacity; this would ensure achieving 10 Gigabits per second capacity network at Upazila level and 100 Gigabits per second capacity network at district level.
4. Establishment of 2600 Union PoPs to provide broadband connectivity to Union’s offices, schools and colleges, growth centers, etc.
5. Establishment of connectivity between 1600 offices of Bangladesh Police
6. Establishment of NMS system:
Establish Network Monitoring System (NMS) to monitor and manage network operations and corresponding equipment.
7. Training & Knowledge Transfer will be arranged at home and abroad.
2. Development of National ICT Infra-network for Bangladesh Government (Info-Sarker) Project consists of 3 phases:
a) BanglaGovNet (Phase I) :
Under the phase I popularly known as BanglaGovNet all ministries, departments/directorates ans all 64 districts and one upazila (subdistrict) under each of 64 districts (64 uapzilas) are connected with national ICT backbone. Duration of this part was April 2010 to June 2015 and implemented successfully.
b) Info-Sarker Phase II:
ICT infra-network expanded to 420 upazilas (sub-districts) and 18,130 government offices at district and upazila level. 25,000 tabs distributed to government officials to enhance ICT use in public sector. 800 video conferencing systems and one disaster recovery center also established in different government offices. Duration of this part was September 2013 to June 2016 and implemented successfully.
c) Info-Sarker Phase III:
Expansion of national ICT infra-network to 2600 selected Unions out of total 4552 and VPN connectivity to 1600 police offices. Duration of this part is from January 2017 to
June 2015 and is under implementation.
Population Coverage:
This project will be carried out to establish connectivity in 2600 Unions and to expand the coverage of nationwide backbone network. At least 60% of the population will be directly benefited from this project.
3. Info-Sarker project; a new citizen-centric content
Bangladesh is administratively divided into 8 divisions, 64 districts, 488 Upazilas and 4,564 unions, as well as more than 96,000 villages.
The phase I project has been implemented to set up the backbone up to 64 districts, covering all ministries and district commissioner offices. The phase II project has been implemented to expand the network to upazila level, covering about 18,130 offices. The Info-Sarker Phase III is for expansion of networking and connectivity to 2,600 unions.
1.4. Scope
| |Phase I |Phase II |Phase III |
|Owner |BCC |BCC |BCC |
|Fund | | | |
|Source |Korea |China |China |
|Scope |1. Connect all ministries |1、Connect 488 upazilas |1. Expand the network connectivity |
| |2. Cover 64 district backbone |2、Connect 18130 offices |to 2600 union |
| |3. Connect 64 upazila |3、Expand the existing data center |2. Establish DWDM network in 64 |
| | |4、Set up the disaster recovery |districts and 400 upazilas |
| | |center |3. Enhance the IP backbone network |
| | |5、Set up 800 video conference |for 64 districts and 488 upazilas |
| | |system |4. Deploy power system for 488 |
| | |6、25,000 tablet PC |upazilas and 2,600 unions. |
| | |7、The WiFi coverage of |5. Deploy the NMS. |
| | |BCC and Secretariat | |
|Service | | |Government staff and |
|Targets |Government staff |Government staff |Citizen |
| | | | |
| | | | |
The phase I and phase II network is constructed for the government only, and the end-users are the government officials. The phase III project is for upgrading and expansion of network up to union level. By realizing the network connectivity up to union level, it would make the one-stop government service possible at union level, which will ensure citizen-centric policy of the government.
Project duration is 18 months starting from January 2017 to June 2018. It was approved by Executive Committee for National Economic Council (ECNEC) on 22 December 2016. Total costing of the project is BDT19,994.90 million amounting to CNY 1.042 billion, USD 156.88 million. Government of Bangladesh will fund BDT 7720.5 million as grant and government of China will fund BDT12274.4 million as concessional loan. Whole Chinese loan will be for 20 years with 5 years grace period and the interest rate is 2%.
Info-Sarker Phase 3 project having following main components (a) Network Connectivity for 2,600 unions throughout Bangladesh by deploying optical fiber cable (b) Providing 19500km cables and related network equipment (c) Establish DWDM backbone transmission network in 64 districts and 400 upazilas (d) Enhance the IP backbone network; upgrade the backbone routers in 64 districts and 488 upazilas (e) Provide power system (rectifier) for upazilas and unions (f) Deploy the network management system to monitor and manage the (g) DWDM, routers, power system and other equipment (DPP, Info-Sarker Phase 2 project 2016).
2. Project Background
2.1. Importance of the development of the ICT Infra-Network
The Government of Bangladesh deeply realizes that ICT is the important impetus for the modern society, and fully understands that the ICT is playing a key role in the economic development and social progress. In recent years, the government of Bangladesh continuously increases the direct investment on the adaption of ICT through improvement and enhancement of the ICT infrastructure (World Bank, 2013).
On May 21, 2006, the Bangladeshi submarine optical cable (SEAME4) was put into trial operation, connecting Southeast Asia, the Middle East and to Europe. In this way, Bangladesh formally joined in the global information highway and obtained the data transmission capacity of 10Gbyte/s, which greatly boosted the development of the ICT industry, E-commerce and national ICT infra-network. Bangladesh today is in the process of connecting to yet another submarine cable SEAME5 and has already connected through multiple terrestrial dark fiber for improved network connectivity (Islam, I. 2017).
As the foundation project of national ICT infra-network and government informationization, this project will be one of the core foundations for “Digital Bangladesh”. The Info-Sarker project has been regarded as the highest priority project and listed in the Bangladeshi National Development Plan of 2015, 2016 and 2017.
2.2. Bangladeshi National ICT Infra-network construction urgently demanding the modern information network
The network infrastructure in Bangladesh needs continuous upgradation, and nationwide has not formed a complete internet system. The computer popularity is a little bit backward, and network interconnection & information sharing has been achieved in only a few sectors. In many ministries and some other government department, pure paper and fax working mode is quite common. Due to the absence of government network interworking and e-processes, government efficiency is relatively low.
With the economic development and the increase of the various international activities, the current national ICT infra-network is already unable to satisfy the administrative demand of the government. Therefore, the government of Bangladesh hopes to improve the national ICT infra-network and office automation application level by constructing an advanced and efficient modern ICT network.
2.3. The Chinese Government supporting the ICT infrastructure
construction of Bangladesh consistently
Since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and China in 1975, great progress has been made in terms of political mutual trust and economic & trading cooperation. The cooperation has been deepening
continuously in such fields as economy, trading, infrastructure construction, communication, transportation, culture, education, medical care and hygiene. The construction projects aided by China have boosted the economic and social development of Bangladesh positively.
The Chinese Government supports the ICT infrastructure construction of Bangladesh consistently. In addition to the direct aid fund, the Chinese government also actively encourages the excellent ICT enterprises of China to develop in Bangladesh, which will help train ICT talents and professionals for Bangladesh while participating in the ICT project construction. With the support of the Chinese government and Chinese enterprises, the ICT infrastructure level and the competition strength of the operators have improved substantially.
2.3. Phase III: Project objectives
Realizing the relevant targets in “Digital Bangladesh: Vision 2021”
In order to eliminate the digital gap, promote the application of ICT in the national economic fields such as education, health and scientific research, create equal opportunity for the whole people to access ICT, the government of Bangladesh formulates the development planning of “Digital Bangladesh
2021”, which specifies various goals including promoting the diversity of ICT applications, ensuring the social fairness, realizing universal access and improving the social operation efficiency (GoB, 7th FYP 2016).
By completion of the project, the national ICT infra-network of Bangladesh will cover 2,600 unions in the whole country, boost the mutual connection among the ministries, divisions, districts and upazilas, accelerate the implementation of the national ICT infra-network, and increase the application and popularity of ICT in Bangladesh with the demonstrative effect of the government. By virtue
of the national ICT infra-network system, the government can release the policies and market information more conveniently and rapidly, create the information exchange platform for those involved in various industries and for investors, provide the fundamental support for the economic and social development of Bangladesh, and realize the long-term goal of “Digital Bangladesh: Vision 2021”.
2.4. Phase III: Project scope in detail
The scope of Info-Sarker project includes the supply of optical fiber cable and equipment, design, installation and related services in districts upazilas and unions, etc. The detailed scope is as follows:
1. According to the requirements of the 7th Five-Year Plan, the government network would be extended to 2,600 unions. The average distance between upazila and union is around 7.5KM, therefore 19500km optical fiber cable would be provided to connect those unions. In addition, one router, one switch, one ODF and one power system would be deployed in each union.
2. The bandwidth of current network can’t meet the requirement of the newly added 2,600 unions and the increasing bandwidth demand. Especially after establishing the connectivity of all 4,500 unions and most upazilas, the bandwidth requirement of the government, enterprises and individuals will be explosively growing in the future. According to experiences of other countries, DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) network construction is essential. This technology allows multiple channels (up to
80 channels) to transmit simultaneously in the same fiber, which can greatly save the valuable backbone fiber resources. This technology can meet the current demand, but also the subsequent network expansion. In this project, a DWDM network would be established to cover 64 districts and 400 upazilas nationwide, and it will be integrated into the existing DWDM backbone network of capital level and division level.
3. Besides the construction of national DWDM transmission network (physical layer), the national backbone routers also need to be upgraded and expanded. The DWDM network operates at the physical transport layer, which is the backbone bearer network; the backbone routers work at the network layer and it is user-oriented. Therefore, the backbone routers in 64 districts and 488 upazilas need to be upgraded respectively.
4. The power infrastructure in Bangladesh is not perfect enough, and the power outage frequently occurs. Although in recent years there are some improvements in power plants and grids, in some upazilas, unions and other remote areas the voltage and current is still unstable, and the power outage is still prevalent. In order to ensure the stable operation of the network and to protect the equipment, the DC power system is essential in the upazila and union level. For equipment rooms in located in district headquarters, where the power supply infrastructure is better and power system and generators are ready, the existing facilities would be reutilized in this project.
5. A large number of DWDM, router, switch, power system and other equipment would be deployed in this project. A NMS (network management system) is also needed to monitor and manage the equipment.
6. Related consulting services, site survey services, engineering services, project management services, 3-year maintenance services, etc.
2.5. Info-Sarker project is an important part of Bangladesh ICT strategy
Digital Bangladesh” is an integral part of the government’s Vision 2021. The expectation of “Vision 2021” is that by 2021, the war against poverty will have been won, the country will have to cross the middle income threshold, with the basic needs of the population ensured, their basic rights respected, when everyone is adequately fed, clothed and housed, and have access to health care.
The ‘Vision 2021’ aims at developing Bangladesh into a resourceful and modern economy through efficient use of information and communication technology. This goal has eloquently been described by the Prime Minister as
‘Digital Bangladesh’. It is believed that through the successful implementation of the ICT policy and its principles it would be possible to create a Digital Bangladesh by 2021 as promised by the government.
The “Digital Bangladesh” can be described by the following architecture and categorized into: i) Digital Government, ii) ICT in Business, iii) Connecting Citizens and iv) Human Resource Development. These 4 aspects together constitute the infrastructure of “Digital Bangladesh”, which makes the scope and direction for realizing “Digital Bangladesh”.
“Digital Bangladesh” Plan:
1. Digital Government
2. ICT in Business;
3. Connecting Citizens;
4. Human Resource Development
According to the 7th Five Year Plan (2016-2020), in Chapter 12 “DIGITAL BANGLADESH AND INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
(ICT)”, it describes the details on how to reach “Digital Bangladesh”. 10 ICT
Strategies have been specified:
1） Promote Economic Growth
2） Enhance Education Quality through ICT
3） Facilitate Youth Empowerment
4） Enhancing the Equity Aspects of ICT
5） ICT for Greater Transparency, Good Governance and Service Delivery
6） Pro-citizen Civil Service
7） Strengthening Judiciary
8） Responsive Law Enforcement
9） Strengthening Responsiveness of Parliament
10） Reduced Environmental Vulnerability
Among the above, the No.4 “Enhancing the Equity Aspects of ICT” is categorized into the following aspects:
a) Improving the efficiency of land markets
b) Self-governed and responsive local governance;
c) Promoting agriculture through ICT
d) Strengthening healthcare for the poor through ICT
e) Effective and efficient social security administration through ICT
For the above “b) Self-governed and responsive local governance”, it suggests to set up “one-stop centers” to deliver e-government services and disseminate information. Especially, this part also mentions that the government has undertaken the project (Info-Sarker phase 3) to connect 2,600 unions. That’s to say, this project has been considered into the national ICT strategy and plan.
Furthermore, in terms of “Digital Government”, the Access to Information Program (a2i) under Prime Minister Office (PMO) supported designing, developing and implementing the National Portal of Bangladesh, which provides a gateway to 25,000 websites of all government offices starting from the lowest (union) to the highest (ministry) level. Several office automation
tools are also initiated and introduced by a2i. Those activities have created content for “Digital Government”. In order to deliver the “content” to government employees and citizens, it is essential to establish the information highway.
As a matter of fact, the target of constructing infra-network in phase I and phase II is to connect the unconnected rural citizens, to set up an information highway and to realize the e-Government services nationwide. The phase III project is the supplement and extension based on phase I and phase II, which extends the “information highway” up to union level, so as to make sure the lowest government entities can enjoy the “Digital Government” benefits. Consequently the government can better serve the citizens, realizing the “Self-governed and res responsive local governance”.
2.6. Components and Estimated Cost Summary:
[pic]
2.7. Log frame:
| |Narrative Summary |Objectively Verifiable |Means of |Important Assumptions |
| | |Indicators (OVI) |Verifications |(IA) |
| | | |(MOV) | |
|Goal |Expand countrywide optical fiber |Established countrywide optical |PCR |Deployment time of the |
| |network up to Union level to |fiber network | |project. |
| |improve e-Governance through the | | |Natural Disaster |
| |effective delivery of services | | | |
| |(Ref: National ICT Policy 2015, | | | |
| |Sub-Head 3.0 Universal Access) | | | |
|Objectives/ |To expand the network established |2600 Unions connectivity through |PCR |Smooth deployment of the |
|Purpose |under BanglaGovNet and |Optical Fiber Cable from Upazila.| |project activities |
| |Info-Sarker-II to 2600 selected | | | |
| |Unions from the existing 4600 |National Backbone with higher | | |
| |Unions. |bandwidth capacity. | | |
| |To strengthen the capacity of Union|Access to e-services for the | | |
| |Digital Centers (UDCs) to provide |rural communities of Bangladesh. | | |
| |connectivity to offices, schools |2600 UnionPoPs are capable to | | |
| |and colleges, growth centers, etc. |provide broadband connectivity to| | |
| |at the lower level. |Union’s offices, schools and | | |
| |To ensure access to e-services for |colleges, growth centers, etc. | | |
| |the rural communities of Bangladesh| | | |
| |to achieve the goal of the | | | |
| |National ICT Policy 2015 | | | |
| |Toconnect the Bangladesh Police | | | |
| |network with National ICT network | | | |
| |to ensure seamless data | | | |
| |communication to all levels of | | | |
| |police units through GoB | | | |
| |contribution | | | |
| |To support the employment | | | |
| |generation through the use of ICT. | | | |
|Outputs |Connection of 2,600 Unions from |2,600 Unions Connections are |PCR |Successful completion of |
| |Upazila through Optical Fiber |operational. | |the project |
| |Cable. |DWDM network is operational in 64| | |
| |Realize DWDM network in 64 |districts and 400 Upazilas. | | |
| |districts and 400 Upazilas. |Backbone network capacity is | | |
| |Enhance the backbone network |upgraded, 10G in Upazila level, | | |
| |capacity. |100G in district level. | | |
| |Establish NMS system to monitor & |All network equipment could be | | |
| |manage equipment. |monitored from NMS system. | | |
| |Establishment of police office |1000 Police offices are | | |
| |connectivity |connected through secure VPN. | | |
| |Skill enhancement through Technical| | | |
| |Knowhow transfer. |Technical Knowledge transferred | | |
| |Foreign & local training |to 5980 government officials and | | |
| | |related engineers/ technicians. | | |
| Inputs |Signing of the commercial contract |Signed commercial contract with |Monthly, |Approval of the project |
| |with selected company of China EXIM|selected company of China EXIM |quarterly & |in time |
| |bank |bank |yearly progress |National Disaster |
| |Signing of the framework agreement |Signed framework agreement |report |Sufficient allocation of |
| |between Chinese government and ERD |between Chinese government and | |fund |
| |Signing of the loan agreement with |ERD | | |
| |China EXIM bank |Signed loan agreement with China | | |
| |Recruitment Manpower |EXIM bank | | |
| |Local Procurement |5980 Participant attendedthe | | |
| |Training & visit |Training & visit | | |
| |OSP line Construction |2600 Union is connected through | | |
| |Space at Union Parshad |OFC | | |
| | |Union PoP is established | | |
2.8. Improving the government services to the rural communities, capacity building in ICT sector and creating job opportunities
By completion of the proposed project, the government services in rural areas would be greatly enhanced. All unions would be covered by the government network and the government e-services would be more visible to the local citizens. Citizens would have much easier access to the local government services.
The Union Digital Center (UDC) is also a one-stop e-Government service kiosk, providing information services to citizens, as well as organizing professional & career training. By cultivating the talents, more and more professionals would be available and the ecosystem would be much more mature. The UDC platform might be utilized as entrepreneur/BPO center so as to support the well-trained citizens to start their career, consequently creating more job opportunities.
In addition, by connecting to unions, lots of ISP (Internet Service Provider) will be created. Those ISPs will purchase bandwidth from operators and develop their own subscribers, creating new business mode and career mode.
2.9. Improving the Network Readiness Index (NRI)
Network Readiness Index (NRI) is defined as the degree to which a community is prepared to participate in the Networked World and a community’s potential to participate in the Networked World in the future. NRI
is considered for measuring the preparedness for the nations for networked world. It is a major international assessment of countries’ capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by ICTs, and the first global framework to map out factors that contribute to this capacity.
Bangladesh is ranked 119 in 2014 out of 144 nations (World Economic Forum, 2016) and execution of this project will help improve this dismal scenario. This will also improve the position of Bangladesh for network readiness and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
2.10. The necessity of the backbone network enhancement and expansion
In this project, 2,600 unions will be connected, and lots of broadband subscribers will be developed. Meanwhile, the existing government office bandwidth will be expanded. It will require higher bandwidth in the backbone network. The bandwidth demand analysis is as follows :
| | | | |Total | | |Constructi on|
| | | | |Bandwidt h8 |Converg ence|Bandwidth |Bandwidth |
| | |Bandwidth6 | |(Mbps) |Ratio9 |requiremen t |10(Mbps) |
| | | |Quantity7 | | |(Mbps) | |
| | |(Mbps) | | | | | |
| |Broadband | | | | | | |
| | |5 |100 |500 |30% |150 |300 |
| |Subscriber | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| |Subtotal | | | | |350 |700 |
| |Government | | | | | | |
| | |10 |30 |300 |30% |90 |180 |
| |Organization | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Bandwidth | | | | | | | |
|requirement of | | | | | | | |
|upazila | | | | | | | |
| |Union | | | | | | |
| | |700 |10 |7000 |30% |2,100 |4,200 |
| |Convergence | | | | | | |
| |Broadband | | | | | | |
| | |5 |500 |2500 |30% |750 |1,500 |
| |Subscriber | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| |Subtotal | | | | |2,940 |5,880 |
| |Government | | | | | | |
| | |10 |50 |500 |30% |150 |300 |
| |organization | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Bandwidth | | | | | | | |
|requirement of | | | | | | | |
|district | | | | | | | |
| |Upazila | | | | | | |
| | |5880 |8 |47040 |28% |13,171 |26,342 |
| |convergence | | | | | | |
| |Broadband | | | | | | |
| | |5 |1000 |5000 |30% |1,500 |3,000 |
| |subscriber | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| |Subtotal | | | | |14,821 |29,642 |
| |District | | | | | | |
|Bandwidth | |29642.4 |10 |296424 |28% |82,999 |165,997 |
|requirement of |convergence | | | | | | |
|division | | | | | | | |
| |Broadband | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |82,999 |165,997 |
| |subscriber | | | | | | |
In the above table, the figure of "Construction Bandwidth" is twice as the
"Bandwidth requirement", which is based on the experience of network construction. Considering the network traffic, twice of the “Bandwidth requirement” would ensure the stable and reliable network services.
According to the above calculation:
The requirement of bandwidth in union level is 700Mbps (0.7Gbps). The optical fiber cable would be deployed from upazila to unions in this project, and averagely 10 unions would form a ring network. By adopting 10GE (Gigabit Ethernet) ports, 1Gbps bandwidth would be ensured for each union, which can fully meet the requirements.
The requirement of bandwidth in upazila level is 5880Mbps (5.88Gbps, 10GE (Gigabit Ethernet) bandwidth capacity will be provided.
The requirement of bandwidth in district level is 29642Mbps (29.642Gbps). By deploying 100G pipe in physical layer (DWDM), and deploying several 10GE (Gigabit Ethernet) bundled ports, the bandwidth requirement will be fulfilled.
The requirement of bandwidth in division level is 165997Mbps (165.997Gbps). It is recommended to deploy several 100G channels in the physical layer (DWDM) and several 100G bundled ports in the network layer (router) will be ensured.
The bandwidth requirement calculation above is based on the average of every network levels, which can be applicable to the project scope.
2.11. Network topology
In the backbone level, the DWDM transmission network would be established in 64 districts and 400 upazilas. The 100G “Ring” would be deployed at district” level, and 10G “Ring” would be deployed at upazila level (DPP, Info-Sarker 3 2016).
[pic]
The routers in district and upazilas will access to the 100G and 10G backbone transmission network respectively through the DWDM equipment, so as to achieve the fast non-blocking access and data exchange.
3. Project financing
3.1. Concessional loan debtor: Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh
For the project, Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh, on behalf of the government of Bangladesh, conclude the intergovernmental loan agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China, and will be responsible for the repayment. The government of Bangladesh will provide the national sovereignty level guarantee for the concessional loan.
3.2. Creditor of the Concessional Loan: The EXIM Bank of China
The Export and Import Bank of China (EXIM bank of China) is the key policy financing channel for exports & imports of mechanic and electronic products, complete set of equipment, high-tech products, offshore construction contracts, as well as overseas investment projects. It is also the major on lending bank for foreign government loans and the lending bank for Chinese Government concessional loan entrusted by the Chinese Government.
EXIM Bank of China is mainly responsible for the conclusion of the loan agreement, project evaluation and review, loan making, loan management, as well as payback of the principal and interest.
4. Capacity Development through the project
4.1. Enhancing capability of the Government over the Economic and Social Development
By completion of the proposed project, it can greatly improve the modernization level of the Bangladesh government ICT facilities, effectively make up the inadequacy of the government control capability due to the underdeveloped communication infrastructure, low information, and poor information administration capability, strengthen the central government’s control capability over politics, economy and society of the whole country especially some remote regions, and create the advantageous macro environment for the political stability and economic construction of the country.
4.2. Improving work efficiency of the government and reducing the
administrative expenditures
By completion of the proposed project, the computerization of the work process and resource distribution of the government departments will be greatly improved, the transmission and exchange efficiency for information and files will be improved, and so does the administrative efficiency of the Bangladeshi government. Meanwhile, the application of the ICT system can increase the transparency of the public administrative institutions, reduce the resource consumption, strengthen the planning, greatly reduce the administrative expenditures (of communication, meeting, office consumables and staff cost), and improve quality of the public service. The project can also provide the ICT renting service for the enterprises that is closely related with the government, so as to increase the financial revenue.
5. ICT sectoral capacity development
Bangladesh’s ICT industry has developed considerably over the past few years. Telecommunications have generated total industry investments of USD4.5 billion since 2002, and the industry currently provides about 8 percent of the government’s total revenue per annum2. Mobile penetration rates have increased from less than 1 percent in 2002 to about 86 percent on June 2017, and 98 percent of the country is now covered by wireless networks. Internet penetration has reached to 48% (BTRC, 2017).
However Bangladesh has significant room for improvement. In addition its e-readiness remains behind global averages - especially in terms of the general population’s ICT skills, perception of the country’s suitability for ICT businesses, supporting infrastructure, and technology foundations for the public and private sectors for improvement at upazila level.
Hence GOB recognizes the need to be holistic in its approach for leveraging ICT, especially with regards to its Seventh Five Year Plan goals for governance, economic growth, and employment creation. This is reflected in its strategic pillars for Digital Bangladesh, which holistically covers (i) Digital Government; (ii) ICT in Business; (iii) Connecting Citizens; and (iv) Human Resource Development (GoB, 7th FYP 2016) . These strategies are encompassed in GOB’s Digital Bangladesh strategy document, which was developed through a highly consultative process by the Prime Minister’s Office. A number of key policy and legal instruments have been approved in the last years in support of Digital Bangladesh.
ICT Division (ICTD) under the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and IT (MOPT&IT) is the policy maker and also responsible internet networking and connectivity. Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) is the subordinate agency of ICTD and supports the implementation of e-Government programs at grass root level and is responsible for managing personnel and infrastructure at grass root level.
The ICTD has entrusted BCC to implement Info-Sarker Phase III project financed through the concessional loan of China financing bank.
Methodology
1. Advanced DWDM technology
2. Ring topology redundancy in every level
3. HDD methodology for underground Fiber laying in important Highways, railways, river crossing etc
6. Project investment
6.1. Main Economic Indices of the project
| | | | |
|No. |Item |Unit |Amount |
| | | | |
|1 |Total investment |US dollar |274,766,964.65 |
| | | | |
|1.1 |Construction investment |US dollar |261,879,922.73 |
| | | | |
|1.1.1 |GoC part |US dollar |169,566,340.97 |
| | | | |
|1.1.2 |GoB part |US dollar |92,313,581.76 |
| | | | |
|1.2 |Interest for the construction period |US dollar |4,408,724.87 |
| | | | |
|1.3 |Current capital |US dollar |8,478,317.05 |
| | | | |
|2 |Payback period |Year |12.12 |
| | | | |
|3 |FNPV (Financial Net Present Value) |US dollar |21,289,181.89 |
| | | | |
|4 |IRR (Internal Rate of Return) | |8.39% |
6.2. Fixed asset investment and fund source
6.2.1. Implementation investment
The total construction investment is 274,766,964.65 US dollars, including
169,566,340.97 US dollars sourcing from GoC (Government of China) and
92,313,581.76 US dollars sourcing from GoB (Government of Bangladesh). The breakdown for the investment is shown as below table.
|Implementation investment | |
|Item |Amount (USD） | |
|A |Fund Source from GoC (Government of China) |169,566,340.97 | |
|1 |Equipment Investment |131,455,765.85 | |
|1.1 |NMS |3,624,470.57 | |
| |NMS for DWDM |1,564,011.71 | |
| |NMS for Datacom |185,664.39 | |
| |NMS for Power System |1,874,794.47 | |
|1.2 |Sadar Upazila (Central Upazila) |26,790,763.90 | |
| |Backbone Router |7,460,495.61 | |
| |DWDM Equipment |19,330,268.29 | |
|1.3 |Upazila |31,015,694.31 | |
| |Backbone Router |10,116,676.42 | |
| |DWDM Equipment |13,101,333.33 | |
| |ODF |1,485,503.74 | |
| |Rack |493,237.07 | |
| |DC Power System |5,818,943.74 | |
|1.4 |Union |38,187,447.15 | |
| |Backbone Router |12,200,552.85 | |
| |ODF |4,937,463.41 | |
| |Rack |2,627,902.44 | |
| |DC Power System |14,299,577.24 | |
| |Access Switch |3,022,764.23 | |
| |SFP Transceiver Module |1,099,186.99 | |
|1.5 |Optical Fiber Cable |28,552,487.80 | |
| |Underground OFC (7500KM) |16,543,902.44 | |
| |Overhead OFC (12000KM) |12,008,585.37 | |
|1.6 |Spare Parts |3,284,902.11 | |
| | | | |
|2 |Service and Other Investment |38,110,575.12 |
|2.1 |Freight and Insurance |5,126,774.80 |
|2.2 |Engineering Service |4,562,300.65 |
|2.3 |Vehicle |246,449.27 |
|2.4 |Training |3,043,821.14 |
|2.5 |Factory Inspection |1,382,113.82 |
|2.6 |Network Design & Site Survey |3,041,523.41 |
|2.7 |Inland Transport |2,629,115.28 |
|2.8 |Warehouse |1,314,557.72 |
|2.9 |PAT Service |1,824,914.15 |
|2.10 |FAT Service |912,457.07 |
|2.11 |Insurance for Erection All Risks and 3rd Party Liability |657,278.86 |
|2.12 |Project Management |5,399,798.86 |
|2.13 |3 Years warranty & 2nd line maintenance |7,969,470.08 |
| | | |
|B |Fund Source from GoB (Government of Bangladesh) |92,313,581.76 |
|3 |Equipment & Facility Related Investment |43,320,998.42 |
|3.1 |Machinery & other equipment |12,919.90 |
|3.2 |Computer & Accessories |8,145,994.83 |
|3.3 |Office equipment (Photocopier, fax etc.) |9,689.92 |
|3.4 |Furniture &Fixtures |70,258.40 |
|3.5 |CD/VAT |34,072,023.39 |
|3.6 |Custom Clearance Agent |1,010,111.98 |
|4 |Civil works, Service and Other Investment |48,992,583.35 |
|4.1 |OSP Civil Works |44,053,585.27 |
|4.2 |Supply & Services |1,344,085.77 |
|4.3 |Repairs, Maintenance -Motor Vehicles |25,839.79 |
|4.4 |Repairs, Maintenance - office building |3,187,286.82 |
|4.5 |Others |381,785.69 |
6.2.2. Fund source and repayment plan
The project is funded from the concessional loan of the Chinese government
(GoC), totaling 169,566,340.97 US Dollars.
The government concessional loan interest implements the governmental concessional loan framework agreement with interest rate 2%. The maturity period is divided into the grace period and the repayment period. The maturity period is 20 years, including 5 years of grace period. During the grace period, the debtor only repays the interest without the need to repay the principal. In the repayment period, the debtor should repay the principal and interest according to the loan agreement. According to the governmental concessional loan framework agreement, the interest will be repaid every 6 months and the principal will be repaid every 6 months in the repayment period.
| | |
|6.2.3. Project Investment Utilization Plan and Fund Financing (Unit: US Dollar) | |
| | | | |
|No. |Item |Sum | |
| | | | |
|1 |Total investment |274,766,964.65 | |
| | | | |
|1.1 |Construction investment |261,879,922.73 | |
| | | | |
|1.1.1 |GoC part |169,566,340.97 | |
| | | | |
|1.1.2 |GoB part |92,313,581.76 | |
| | | | |
|1.2 |Interest for the construction period |4,408,724.87 | |
| | | | |
|1.3 |Current fund |8,478,317.05 | |
| | | | |
|2 |Fund financing |274,766,964.65 | |
| | | | |
|2.1 |Long-term loan (GoC) |169,566,340.97 | |
| | | | |
|2.2 |Self-owned fund (GoB) |105,200,623.68 | |
6.2.4. Principal and interest of project loan (US$) :
| | | | | | | | | |
|Year |2017 |2018 |2019 |2020 |2021 |2022 |2023 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Interest |1,017,398 |3,391,327 |3,391,327 |3,391,327 |3,391,327 |3,334,805 |3,108,716 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Principal | | | | | |11,304,423 |11,304,423 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Year |2024 |2025 |2026 |2027 |2028 |2029 |2030 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Interest |2,882,628 |2,656,539 |2,430,451 |2,204,362 |1,978,274 |1,752,186 |1,526,097 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Principal |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Year |2031 |2032 |2033 |2034 |2035 |2036 | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Interest |1,300,009 |1,073,920 |847,832 |621,743 |395,655 |169,566 | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Principal |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 |11,304,423 | | |
6.2.5. Implementation plan of phase III
|Particulars |2017-Q3 |2017-Q4 |2018-Q1 |2018-Q2 |
| |July-17 to |Oct-17 to Dec-17 |Jan-18 to |Apr-18 to Jun-18 |
| |Sept-17 | |Mar-18 | |
|HDPE DUCT (Underground Installation) |1984 |2597 |2448 |471 |
|Duct Deployment (Cumulative) |1984 |4581 |7029 |7500 |
|Fiber Total Monthly |2200 |6975 |6113 |4212 |
|Fiber Deployment (Cumulative) |2200 |9175 |15288 |19500 |
|Overhead Cable & Accessories ( Qty in KM) |1400 |4125 |3740 |2581 |
|Underground Cable & Accessories (Qty in KM) |800 |2850 |2373 |1631 |
|Active device set at Central Upazila (Qty in No) |6 |22 |24 |12 |
|Central Upazila (Cumulative) |6 |28 |52 |64 |
|Active device set at Upazila (Qty in No) |47 |161 |165 |115 |
|Upazila (Cumulative) |47 |208 |373 |488 |
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6.2.6.District level OFC laying plan
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7. Economic Impact of the project
7.1. Economic evaluation bases
Info-Sarker phase 3 is for improving the work efficiency and public service quality of the government, and for enhancing the transparency, justice and clean image of the government. The project is not profit-oriented and after the completion and operation, except that some everyday operation cost is compensated by the rental of some facilities, the normal operation will mainly rely on the financial appropriation. The economic evaluation is mainly composed of the direct benefit evaluation and indirect benefit evaluation.
The direct benefit evaluation will comply with the principle that the calculation scope of benefit should be in line with that of expenses. The financial feasibility of the project are evaluated through calculation of the cost and revenue. The indirect benefit evaluation will be analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively, so as to analyze the economic benefit which can save the cost of government affairs for the governmental departments and the whole national economy by completion and operation of the project.
7.1.1. Digital Bangladesh
In order to eliminate the digital gap, promote the application of ICT in the national economic fields such as education, health and scientific research, create equal opportunity for the whole people to access ICT, the government of Bangladesh formulates the development planning of "Digital Bangladesh 2021", which specifies various goals including promoting the diversity of ICT applications, ensuring the social fairness, realizing universal access and improving the social operation efficiency.
By completion of the project, the national ICT infra-network of Bangladesh will cover 2,600 unions in the whole country, boost the mutual connection among the ministries, divisions, districts and upazilas, accelerate the implementation of the national ICT infra-network, and increase the application and popularity of ICT in Bangladesh with the demonstrative effect of the government by virtue of the national ICT infra-network system, the government can release the policies and market information more conveniently and rapidly, create the information exchange platform for those involved in various industries and for investors, provide the fundamental support for the economic and social development of Bangladesh, and realize the long-term goal of "Digital Bangladesh: Vision 2021"
2. E-Government:
By completion of the project, it can greatly improve the modernization level of the Bangladesh government ICT facilities, effectively make up the inadequacy of the government control capability due to the underdeveloped communication infrastructure, low informationization level, and poor information administration capability, strengthen the central government's control capability over politics, economy and society of the whole country especially some remote regions, and create the advantageous macro environment for the political stability and economic construction of the country.
Improving Work Efficiency of the Government and Reducing the Administrative Expenditures:
By completion of the project, the computerization of the work process and resource distribution of the government departments will be greatly improved, the transmission and exchange efficiency for information and files will be improved, and so does the administrative efficiency of the Bangladesh government. Meanwhile, the application of the ICT system will increase the transparency of the public administrative institutions, reduce the resource consumption, strengthen the planning, greatly reduce the administrative expenditures (of communication, meeting office consumables and staff cost), and improve quality of the public service. The project will also provide the ICT renting service for the enterprises that is closely related with the government, so as to increase the financial revenue.
Revenue from Broadband or VPN Network service:
By optical fiber cable connectivity, the fixed broadband will be realized in union level. Some enterprise branches, agricultural institute, schools, health care, clinics and NGOs at union can use the broadband services, which may be a great source of revenue.
3. Promote Economic Growth
It is expected that the project will increase fixed internet connectivity to more than 15% household from existing 5% and will contribute to 1% increase of GDP. This project will establish point of presence in 10,000 growth centers and will also establish Regulatory Lab, Cyber security lab and VLS lab. These establishments will definitely contribute for greater economic growth of Bangladesh.
4. Enhance Education Quality through ICT
Bangladesh has a large educational system consisting of some 150,000 institutions, 34 million students and over 900,000 teachers. There are about 20 million students in primary education (including madrasas and non-formal programs) and 11 million at the secondary level (including madrasas). At university level, there are 31 public and 54 private universities. The nation has achieved an enviable near-100% enrollment in primary education, but, at the same time, the dropout rate is an alarming 50% by the end of the 5-year primary cycle. It has been observed that a little over 1% of the students who complete primary schooling acquire the standard competencies. 25% of the primary graduates drop out at the initial stage of enrollment in secondary education.
This project can be a key enabler to address the quality component of the education equation. Attractive e-learning environments in schools, and distance learning through TV, radio, mobile phones and internet will increase retention. The government plans to make ICT education compulsory at secondary level and at primary level. Teacher training will be increasingly decentralized through the use of ICTs already in place at the Upazila Resource Centers for primary and model schools for secondary.
5. Facilitate Youth Empowerment
This project can be a great mean to create empowerment for the educated youth of this country without creating much pressure on its environment and very limited energy resources as this network is spread among the 70% area of the country. This project can play an important role in women empowerment too. By Strengthening this huge ICT infrastructure and facilitate skilled women to tap into the global ICT market, women empowerment can be achieved through decent work.
6. Pro-citizen health Services
Internet connectivity and doctors’ access through mobile phone at over 800 health centers; tele-medicine facilities in upazila health complexes; database for health policy planning; OMR based patient-level data collection; rudimentary telemedicine piloted by NGOs; health information for primary health care and maternal and child health, mobile-based helpline with doctors.
7.1.7. Enhancing the Equity Aspects of ICT
The project is expected to meet (a) Improving the efficiency of land markets (b) Self-governed and responsive local governance (c) Promoting agriculture through ICT (d) Strengthening healthcare for the poor through ICT and (e) Effective and efficient social security administration through ICT
7. Achievements, impacts and opportunities
In terms of "Digital Government", the Access to Information Program (a2i) under Prime Minister Office (PMO) supported designing, developing and implementing the National Portal of Bangladesh, which provides a gateway to 25,000 websites of all government offices starting from the lowest (union) to highest (ministry) level. Several office automation tools are also initiated and introduced by a2i. Those activities have created content for "Digital Government". In order to deliver the "content" to government employees and citizens, it is essential to establish the information infrastructure.
As a matter of fact, the target of constructing infra-network in phase I and phase II is to change the unconnected situation of government departments and offices, to set up an information highway and to realize the e-Government services nationwide. The phase III project is the supplement and extension based on phase I and phase II, which extends the "information highway" up to union level, so as to make sure the lowest government entities can enjoy the "Digital Government" benefits. Consequently, the government can better serve the citizens, realizing the "Self-governed and responsive local governance".
© Improving Work Efficiency of the Government and Reducing the Administrative Expenditures:
By completion of the project, the computerization of the work process and resource distribution of the government departments will be greatly improved, the transmission and exchange efficiency for information and files will be improved, and so does the administrative efficiency of the Bangladeshi government. Meanwhile, the application of the ICT system can increase the transparency of the public administrative institutions, reduce the resource consumption, strengthen the planning, greatly reduce the administrative expenditures of communication, meeting office consumables and staff cost, and improve quality of the public service. The project can also provide the ICT renting service for the enterprises that is closely related with the government, so as to increase the financial revenue.
d) Improving the government services to the rural communities, developing talents and Creating job opportunities:
By completion of the project, the government services in rural areas would be greatly enhanced. All unions would be covered by the government network and the government e-services would be more visible to the local citizens. Citizens would have much easier access to the local government services. The Union Digital Center (UDC) is also a one-stop e-Government service kiosk, providing information services to citizens, as well as organizing professional & career training. By cultivating the talents, more and more professionals would be available and the ecosystem would be much more mature. The UDC platform would be utilized as a BPO center so as to support the well-trained citizens to start their career or entrepreneurships, consequently creating more job opportunities. In addition, by connecting to unions, lots of Internet Service Provider (ISP) will be created. Those ISPs will purchase bandwidth from operators and develop their own subscribers, creating new business mode and career mode.
7.2. Economic evaluation criteria
(1) Relevant regulations on the economic evaluation approach and parameters for communication construction projects;
(2) The regulations and systems for finance and taxation currently in force in
Bangladesh;
(3) The current financial accounting system of the government departments;
(4) The relevant financial statistics of the government departments;
(5) The business prediction and investment estimate for the project.
7.3. Financial Evaluation
7.3.1. Basic Data
(1) Calculation Period
The calculation period for the financial evaluation of the project adopts 20 years, i.e., Jan 2017 - Jun 2036. According to the project construction schedule, Jan. 2017 to June 2018 will be the project construction period, totaling 2 years, while July 2018 to Dec 2036 is the project production period, totaling 18 years.
(2) Project Investment Plan
The total fixed asset investment of the project (GoC part) is 169,566,340.97
US dollars, invested from Jan 2017 to June 2018 in batches.
(3) Current Fund Estimate
The current fund will be based on 2% of the fixed asset investment (GoC) during the implementation period.
(4) Estimate for the Residual Value of Fixed Assets
The residual value of fixed assets of the project is based on 2% of the fixed asset investment.
(5) Arrangement for the Operation and Maintenance Personnel
7.4. Service delivery after implementation:
Due to inadequate manpower of ICTD and BCC, it would be hard for BCC to provide internet service at union level. Therefore Public Private Partnership will be followed for internet service delivery.
A contract will be made with Private NTTN for service delivery at union level for the duration of 20 years. During this period partner NTTN will make revenue sharing with BCC.
7.5. Revenue sharing:
Private partner will pay revenue earnings from this project to BCC. It will be 2 years grace period for implementation phase without any revenue, 5% of revenue for the subsequent 04 years, 3% of the revenue for the next 4 years and 2% of the revenue for the last 10 years. Ownership of the whole network will belong to BCC.
7.6. Maintenance and service delivery:
All maintenance cost including manpower repair, maintain, up-gradation will be borne by private NTTN. BCC will not pay anything for that. Internet service will be provided by NTTN to government/non-government sector/institutions, educational institutions and individual households at a rate decided by the government. With gross violation of the conditions of contract BCC will have the rights to cancel the contract with written notice to NTTN.
A committee comprising ICTD, PMO, Cabinet Division, Ministry of Public Administration, BCC, BTRC, Power Division, Local Government Division, representatives from NTTN will supervise the total service and will make directives as necessary.
7.7. Prediction on the Income
This project is the national infra-network construction. By completion of this project, it will serve government, enterprise, telecom operators, individuals, etc., which will generate income and revenues. The income prediction of this project is based on service revenue, and the major income comes from broadband services. According to serving targets, it can be categorized into 2 sources:
7.7.1. Income from Operator Backhaul service:
The optical fiber resource could be leased to mobile operators as backhaul in order to make 3G services available in union level. Averagely there are over 10,000 citizens in each union, so there will be very much potential 3G business in the future.
7.7.2. Income from Broadband or VPN Network service:
As the ICT technology develops, the demand to access to Internet is increasing day by day from enterprises, agricultural institute, schools, health care clinics, NGOs at the union level. There are more and more potential broadband users at union level.
Optical fiber at union level will ensure sufficient broadband capacity. As the technology develops and broadband popularizes, the renting fee would start to be decreased 5 years later. According to the implementation schedule, 2600 unions will be connected by June 2018. Assume that initially there would be 5 subscribers for each union, and there would be 10% subscriber increase every year, the subscribers would be increased to 46 per union after 20 years. Seamless service will make revenue generation stable; but the broadband is closely related with subscriber quantities, and as citizens become accustomed to using Internet, revenue would be greatly increased by subsequent time.
7.8. Financial Evaluation Indices
Payback period of the project is 12.12 years, FNPV value is USD 21,290,000.00 and IRR is 8.39 %, which indicates that the project is profitable and acceptable and has strong payback capacity.
7.9. Increasing the employment and attracting the investment
During the project implementation and maintenance, a certain amount of local technical and engineering personnel will be employed, which will improve the local employment status. The successful project implementation can drive the development of relevant industries, improve the informationization and modernization level of Bangladesh, provide high-efficient and convenient service platform for the investors, improve the investment environment, and boost the fulfillment of “Digital Bangladesh 2021”.
7.10. Increase of Gross Domestic Product from the project
This project will also contribute the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation. World Economic Forum 2016 report says that, every 10% increase of population coverage of fixed internet connection make 1.2% of growth of GDP for a developing country like Bangladesh. Info-Sarker Phase 3 project is expected to increase the % of population coverage for broad band connectivity from existing 4.5% to about 15%. The resulting 10% increase of broadband connectivity will contribute our GDP about 1% growth.
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7.11. Specific Linkage with Perspective Plan/Five Years Plan/SDGs/Ministry/Sector Priority
The project materializes the goals and objectives of the 7thFive Year Plan. The 7thFive Year Plan in Digital Bangladesh & Information communication technology emphasis on IT infrastructure development. The Government will invite the private sector and not-for-profit sector for rolling out broadband connectivity in rural area. Basically it will be government-private - NGO partnership for reaching the very last mile, where there is already vibrant NGO presence. Here, local entrepreneurs will be encouraged to launch last mile broadband internet service to local community.
i) ICT may play a pivotal role to achieve the targets of SDGs. Project’s important intervention for skills development and employment creation through ICT infrastructure development in the public sector will help to reduce poverty and uplift the socio-economic condition of the people.
ii) The linkages with National ICT Policy:
To realize the Digital Bangladesh in 2021 following issues have been incorporated in the National ICT policy:
The constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has edified social equity and ICTs are the best means to propagate that ethos within a framework optimizing the effective utilization of the nation’s limited natural and abundant human resources. Optimal resource utilization, certified skills development, efficient communication and quality education delivery all these parameters could be realized within the specified timeframe by pushing the growth rate to above 7.5% through extensive use of ICTs. The objectives of Social Equity, Productivity, Integrity, Education and Research, Employment Generation, Strengthening Exports, Healthcare, Universal Access, Environment, Climate and Disaster Management and Supports to ICTs could be achieved through development of ICT.
The National ICT Policy 2015 has specifically stated the objective of reaching the rural areas of the country to ensure Universal Access to all. On completion the project will ensure 78% of the objectives of National ICT Policy 2015 under Universal Access.
iii) This project would able to facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development throughout the country. This will significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet. Which cover the goal-9 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
7.12. Sensitivity Analysis
Financial Sensitivity analysis is used to determine the anti-risk capability. The financial evaluation indices adopted by sensitivity analysis include Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback Period and Financial Net Present Value (NPV). The economic benefit of this project is affected by lots of factors, including the tariff level, user affordability, market competition, invest and operation cost, etc. Those factors can be attributed to project income, fixed asset investment and operation cost. The sensitivity analysis of this project is based on the uncertain factors like project income and operation cost which are somewhat uncertain.
As the project is government-led investment, and it is targeting to serve the public, increase employment, improve international competitiveness, this project has the nature of serving the public interest.
7.12. Improving the economic efficiency, driving the change of the economic growth mode and the sustainable development of the national economy
After the project implementation, the government can provide the information service for the textile and agricultural population, which can change the status of unsmooth flow of market information, waste and great loss in the production and operation activity, and overstock of many products. Besides, the good information sharing and transmission can greatly drive the reasonable utilization of the tourist resources and accordingly push the development of the tourism.
ICT is now the thrust sector in national economy. It will produce huge radiation and multiplication effect on the growth of national economy.
First, it will push the structural upgrade of the national economy. The transformation of economic structure from agriculture to manufacture industry and service industry becomes the main target of the economic development and reform. The application of ICT can effectively realize the adjustment, transformation and upgrade of the economic structure.
Second, it will optimize the elements of production. One distinct mark of the information economy is high technical contents, strong penetrability and fast increase of value, which can optimize the management and allocation of elements of production, realizing optimum allocation of various resources.
Third, it will substitute the basic resources. The investment on ICT resources is expected to substitute the investment on physical resources and energy to a certain extent, lower down the consumption on resources and energy, and also change the traditional economic growth manner.
8. Evaluation of direct benefit
8.1. Substantially Saving the Government Office Expenses
(1) Saving the bandwidth expenditure of government:
After the implementation of this project, government organizations of the 2,600 unions will be benefitted from the network connectivity. The connectivity would decrease the expenditure and save costs by US$40 monthly per office. Assuming there are 5 offices in each union, the yearly savings for the government would be 2,600 unions * 5 offices * USD 40 * 12 Months= USD 6,240,000.
(2) Saving the expenditure of post and transportation:
After the implementation of this project, the online service facility will decrease the expenditure and save costs by US$ 100 monthly per office at union level. So, the total savings for the government from the post and transportation would be (2,600 unions * 5 offices* USD100 * 12 Months) = USD15,600,000.
The above items would save expenses of total 21.84 million US dollars per year. In a conservative estimate, even if it can just save 60% of the said expenses, it would save 13.1 million US dollars per year. The expenditure reduction means the revenue increase of the government. Therefore, the benefit of the project is considerable.
8.2. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Info-Sarker project:
|SDG Goal |SDG Target |Info-Sarker-3 Project Objective |
|GOAL 10. Reduced Inequalities: |Target 10.1: By 2030, progressively |1. Expanding Broadband internet up to union level/rural area |
|Reduce inequality within and |achieve and sustain income growth of |will definitely reduce gap of Information Technology within |
|among countries |the bottom 40 per cent of the |the country |
| |population at a rate higher than the | |
| |national average | |
|GOAL 4. Quality Education: |Target 4.1: By 2030, ensure that all |1. Providing High-Speed internet connection to all school and |
|Ensure inclusive and equitable |girls and boys complete free, |colleges for 2600 union will ensure opportunity for |
|quality education and promote |equitable and quality primary and |e-education and audio visual classes for all students of |
|lifelong learning opportunities |secondary education leading to |primary and secondary education. |
|for all |relevant and effective learning | |
| |outcomes | |
|Goal 9. Industry Innovation and |Target 9.C: Significantly increase |1. Establishment of Optical Fiber Backbone network up to 2600 |
|Infrastructure: |access to information and |Unions. |
|Build resilient infrastructure |communications technology and strive |2. Ensure access to e-service for the rural communities of |
|promote inclusive and sustainable|to provide universal and affordable |Bangladesh |
|industrialization and foster |access to the Internet in least |3. Connecting 1000 Police office with National ICT Network for|
|innovation |developed countries by 2020. |better e-Governance |
| | |4. Creating opportunity of accessing information super highway|
| | |for people of least-developed area of Bangladesh. |
| | |5. This infrastructure will increase fixed Internet subscriber|
| | |up to 10% by the end of 2020. |
9. Administrative Social and environmental Sustainability
In addition to the great direct and indirect economic benefits, the project construction will also have significant positive influence on the economic and social development of Bangladesh.
Sustainability of the project benefit
The project is very technical in nature, which will be implemented through soft loan, therefore government will have to ensure sustainability by providing continuous support for operation, maintenance, and transfer under revenue budget and by providing adequate skilled manpower. Otherwise it will be a total loss of the nation.
Ease of administration and management:
The network could be supervised, managed and controlled easily and efficiently by the centralized NMS system.
High efficiency and collaboration:
The large scale network coverage would improve the efficiency of the government routine affairs and reduce the travel cost.
Police Office Connectivity:
Establishment of Wide Area Network (WAN) for Bangladesh Police will ensure seamless data communication between the offices of Bangladesh Police throughout the country.
Establishment of highly secured network for Bangladesh Police is essential because police offices located across the country need to access various applications such as Police Clearance for Passport, FIR etc. which can improve citizen services which are hosted at the Data Center of Bangladesh Police in Dhaka.
According to Bangladesh Police there are many offices across Bangladesh, which are not yet connected with the national network. These locations are required to be connected with the Bangladesh Police Network. Under the project these locations will be connected through leased lines of NTTNs. Separate Virtual Private Network (VPN) will be created for Bangladesh Police, which will also include currently connected sites. The Network for Bangladesh Police will be administered, managed and controlled by Bangladesh Police.
10.1. Improving the governance level of the rural area
With the unremitting efforts, the government of Bangladesh has established the government network preliminarily, and all the ministries and commissions have their own office websites. However, the informationization level of the rural people is still not considered, with various problems and security risks, e.g., the required eco system is not established, the online administration system is not realized, the e-learning platform is not developed and the line and equipment has not been considered & installed.
The project construction and implementation will be a process of informationization popularization, which will enhance the informationization awareness of the whole people of Bangladesh especially in the rural areas. After the project completion and operation, all the rural people of Bangladesh could use high speed Internet-learning/distance learning facilities, Video conference, IP telephone, online business which will greatly help to change the rural peoples live & also fulfill the vision towards Digital Bangladesh. It can provide the better public service & access with the online service and relevant information release and improve the government image and the democratic value with the high-efficiency information towards the rural people of Bangladesh. It can greatly improve the operation ability and ICT caliber of the personnel through the training, accelerate the application and promotion process of the national ICT infra-network, and boost the networking administration.
Info-Sarker Phase 3 will establish the nationwide ICT infrastructure, up to rural areas. Through the use of ICT, citizens could acquire information in time, and this would bridge the digital gap effectively. National ICT infra-network is the whole process for the government to realize the high-efficient, transparent, normative, electronic and networking internal administration, cooperative administration and external service with the information technology. The project implementation will create good conditions for the information technology strategy development of the government of Bangladesh, greatly improve the administration efficiency and transparency, and significantly improve quality of the public service.
10.2. Environmental compliance
The project’s environmental stewardship begins with its design for the Environment Strategy, whose three pillars are:
1. Practical solutions to reduce energy consumption conserve materials and supplies, and more efficiently manage IT.
2. Convenience and simplicity for customers to recycle their technologies and supplies and proper e-waste disposal without impact the environment detrimentally.
3. Advanced technology to deliver more performance for every watt of energy.
10.2.1. The project will also comply on the following standards
1) China Restricts hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS), which is officially known as Administrative Measure on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products, this is a Chinese government regulation to control certain materials, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and others.
2) ISO 14001 (US) Certifies that work environments are healthy, safe, and environmentally sustainable for HP and our supply-chain partners. WEEE (EU) Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment. European Community (EC) directive that mandates:
a. The project will directly and indirectly benefit the women and children through effective delivery of services.
b. The project will create employment opportunity throughout the country, which will ultimately lead towards alleviation of poverty.
c. The project will enable e-Governance through the effective delivery of public services and that will definitely increase productivity.
6. INNOVATIVE eHEALTH SOLUTIONS AWARD
Award Criteria- This Award recognizes Individuals, healthcare institutions, academic institutions, corporations, NGOs or governments that have made remarkable and successful efforts at utilizing ICTs as a tool to promote health and health care such as telehealth, mHealth (mobile health), eHealth or through eLearning, electronic health records, big data, legal frameworks, or social media. Solutions utilized may range from provision of information to keep citizens healthy, to support for public health in communities, care and support systems in health facilities, and from all the above the data needed to inform management and policy-makers.
YOUR NOMINEE(S):
INFO CARE
REASONS FOR NOMINATION (please justify why you think your candidate is qualified):
SUPPORTING INFORMATION: Please send any supporting information to the address above, including information from candidate (i.e. excerpt from program description, web site print-out, press release, etc.)
The reasons for nomination of INFO CARE, a private entity, as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA INNOVATIVE e-HEALTH SOLUTIONS AWARD’ are described hereunder:
Project Title: National Digital Prescription for Bangladesh
Digital Prescribing or Electronic prescribing or e-prescribing is the computer-based electronic generation and filling of a Digital Prescribing or Electronic prescribing or e-prescribing is the computer-based electronic generation and filling of a medical prescription, taking the place of paper and faxed prescriptions. Digital Prescribing allows a physician, pharmacist, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant to electronically transmit a new prescription or renewal authorization to a community or mail-order pharmacy. It outlines the ability to send error-free, accurate, and understandable prescriptions electronically from the healthcare provider to the pharmacy. Digital Prescribing is meant to reduce the risks associated with traditional prescription script writing. It is also one of the major reasons for the push for electronic medical records. By sharing medical prescription information, Digital Prescribing seeks to connect the patient's team of healthcare providers to facilitate knowledgeable decision making sharing medical prescription information, Digital Prescribing seeks to connect the patient's team of healthcare providers to facilitate knowledgeable decision making.
This projects can ensure digital data records of patients and diseases and facilitate doctors, health researches, patients, pharmaceutical companies, medical institutions with the preserved data for easy health solution.
As such, we recommend INFO CARE as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA Innovative eHealth Solutions Award’.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION: Please send any supporting information to the address above, including information from candidate (i.e. excerpt from program description, web site print-out, press release, etc.)
Supporting information of INFO CARE as a contender for the ‘2018 WITSA INNOVATIVE eHEALTH SOLUTIONS AWARD’ are provided below:
Information and reference link:
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The basic components of a Digital Prescribing system are the:
1. Prescriber - typically a physician
2. Android App
3. Web application
4. Internet connection
5. Pharmacy with implemented electronic prescribing software
6. Digital Image
This type of activity is already implement by the government in modern day. Here is the
reference :
Project scope:
The rule “Digital Prescribing” provides practitioners with the option of writing and transmitting prescriptions for controlled substances electronically. The regulations also permit pharmacies to receive, dispense, and archive these electronic prescriptions.
The current situation is that the doctor writes a prescription manually on the paper form. In addition to that, the doctor compiles a report indicating the number and type of prescriptions he has written. Patient brings the paper prescription to the pharmacy where the pharmacist enters the prescription into the pharmacy’s information system, and then issues the medication.
The biggest minus of the currently existing system is that the reporting process required from the doctors and pharmacists is very time consuming. Doctors make mistakes related to the complicated task of assigning subsidies to prescriptions, and incorrectly calculated subsidies will be later deducted from their wages. Additionally, patients have to make another appointment to see the doctor again if they have lost their manually written paper prescription.
The initiators of this project have established as the goal of the Digital Prescription to solve the current problems through giving the prescription and reporting an electronic format. As a secondary priority the Digital Prescription should practically make it impossible for the doctors to make mistakes and for the patients to lose their prescription.
In the course of the project, a central system will be developed. This system will store the incoming prescriptions (messages), and based on a request it will issue the prescriptions of the specific patient to the information system of pharmacies.
• The system enables to monitor and manage issuing of prescriptions.
• The system will ensure an identical business-logic of medications and preferential prices.
• The system will ensure an orderly circulation of treatment information.
• The information system issuing a medication will receive a confirmation (for the benefit) from the Estonian Health Insurance Fund.
• The Estonian Health Insurance Fund will be provided with fast and accurate reporting.
• Doctors will spend significantly less time on issuing prescriptions.
• Pharmacies will spend significantly less time on issuing prescriptions.
• Currently there are approximately 8 million prescriptions issued each year. Majority of these prescriptions would be issued digitally.
• Doctors will get feedback as to whether the medication was actually bought out by the patient.
• The implemented system will protect the doctors from unforeseeable costs related to inaccurate use of subsidies.
• Patients no longer have to worry about carrying the paper prescription around nor losing their prescription.
• It will be easier to protect the prescription data.
Goals and objectives
1) The quality and efficiency of health services will be increased
Based on the information gathered it should be possible to provide health services essentially faster and with better quality. The digital presentation of data is a prerequisite for creating a modern and functional system that considers the current requirements of health record, cost accounting, and medical statistics. The statistics gathered must provide an opportunity to more precisely plan and direct the work of the health care field.
2) Patient services will be better, faster, and more competent
Patient will receive significantly better, faster, and more competent medical services because the attending doctor will have quick access to patient’s complete health information. The quality of medical services will improve as well as become friendlier for the patient. Patients’ medical records will be gathered into one central database that is accessible for the doctors. As a result, treatment of patients will become more authentic and objective. The health service waiting lists will get shorter because the electronic information exchange will decrease the number of unnecessary appointments (prescription refills, duplicate lab tests and screenings, using the patient as a courier to make inquiries about getting an appointment with a specialist). Because of the possibility of the electronic information exchange between the patient and the doctor, there will be some services that can be taken out of the context of hospitals and medical institutions (increasing the proportion of home care and patients’ health related knowledge, more opportunities to prevent health related problems, etc.).
3) Patients will be more informed
Patient will have a comprehensive overview of how their medical records are used by medical institutions.
4) Medical statistics will improve
Gathering of medical statistics will become essentially faster, the statistics will be more comprehensive and accurate, and easier to use, and as a result of this the planning and administration of health care will be improved. The gathering of statistics will be integrated with different statistical registers that already exist or that are still being created. This will allow for a complete and realistic overview of the patients’ health records, making it possible to find out systematic problems (applied research, etc.), and to compile more objective statistics.
5) There will be less paperwork
Work load of doctors will be significantly reduced because large volumes of paperwork will be eliminated. Doctors will be better informed of patients’ health status, and they will have more time to focus on each patient. The amount of bureaucratic paperwork will be decreased in the doctor’s work process allowing them to use time more efficiently. Also, there will be savings on costs due to the ability to avoid the occurrence of duplicate lab tests, screenings, etc. Considering the long-term perspective, the increase in the quality and efficiency of care will allow for significant savings on time and financial resources with an end result of having more resources available for treatment of more patients and finding cures for more diseases.
Strategies
Illegibility from handwritten prescriptions is eliminated, decreasing the risk of medication errors while simultaneously decreasing risks related to liability. Oral miscommunications regarding prescriptions can be reduced, as e-prescribing should decrease the need for phone calls between prescribers and dispensers. Causes of medication errors include mistakes by the pharmacist incorrectly interpreting illegible handwriting or ambiguous nomenclature, and lapses in the prescriber's knowledge of desired dosage of a drug or undesired interactions between multiple drugs. Electronic prescribing has the potential to eliminate most of these types of errors. Warning and alert systems are provided at the point of care. E-prescribing systems can enhance an overall medication management process through clinical decision support systems that can perform checks against the patient's current medications for drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, diagnoses, body weight, age, drug appropriateness, and correct dosing. Based on these algorithms, the system can alert prescribers to contradictions, adverse reactions, and duplicate therapies. The computer can also ensure that clear and unambiguous instructions are encoded in a structured message to the pharmacist, and decision support systems can flag lethal dosages and lethal combinations of drugs.[6] E-prescribing allows for increased access to the patient's medical records and their medication history. Having access to this information from all health care providers at the time of prescribing can support alerts related to drug inappropriateness, in combination with other medications or with specific medical issues at hand.
Contributing for Bangladesh
1) Promote Economic growth
Digital Government is Intelligent Government. Digitizing public services is an urgent need for many governments around the world today. Good digital government can help business to flourish, increase citizen engagement, and drive economic growth. Many governments are engaged in wholesale digital transformation, aiming to turn themselves into fully-fledged digital governments. Digital government will help make public institutions more inclusive, effective, accountable, and transparent. However, against this backdrop of increasing digitization, there are substantial regional disparities. In many countries, the digital divide persists, or is even growing wider. Migrating to digital government before all citizens have Internet access could potentially widen the gap, rather than closing it.
At every stage of digital development, governments have to overcome barriers to success. These include both technical and cultural challenges that hinder collaboration within and between government organizations at local and national levels.
The challenges also include financing and security issues. Government budgets are chronically constrained, so effective financing models need to be found for digital projects. Smaller projects, such as online license applications, with a clear revenue or cost-saving strategy and minimal upfront investment, are more likely to be successful. But the larger the scale and the more sophisticated the services, the more expensive government projects become. Finding a sustainable financing model becomes harder. Many digital government projects will not produce returns for 10 or even 20 years, so governments will need to bring a long-term vision to their digital strategies.
Protecting the personal data and privacy of citizens is critical in digital government projects, because this is the key to user trust. Data protection is both a policy issue – e.g. the passing of privacy legislation – and a question of deploying the most advanced security technologies. Talent is another issue. You can't design, implement, and operate digital projects without a highly skilled workforce. Sometimes key workers will need to be drawn from global resource pools.
1) E- Governances
Electronic governance or e-governance is the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for delivering government services, exchange of information, communication transactions, integration of various stand-alone systems and services between government-to-citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-government (G2G) , government-to-employees (G2E) as well as back office processes and interactions within the entire government framework. Through e-governance, government services will be made available to citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner. The three main target groups that can be distinguished in governance concepts are government, citizens and businesses/interest groups. In e-governance there are no distinct boundaries.
The purpose of digital government is to provide better services to citizens. However, these benefits may not be enjoyed by the entire population. A digital divide runs through the middle of today's society, in terms of both access and the skills required to make the most of digital services.
Governments which invest in and deliver digital services can dramatically improve the welfare of their citizens. Digital government enables broader access to high-quality public healthcare and education, targeted social programs, improved security and prevention of crime, fast response to epidemics, and increased efficiency across a wide range of other services. More importantly, digital technology has the capacity to turn the one-way street of government information and services into a two-way relationship, in which citizens, companies, and governments actively engage with one another.
As digital government expands, the public will see how governments are becoming more transparent, and that will build higher levels of public trust. With more trust comes more engagement, and so the government will start to hear a wider range of voices. When government processes are open and transparent, and when people and businesses can understand and have a say in decisions that ultimately affect them, public confidence will naturally increase
3) Enhance Education Quality
Inspire of much talk and hyped concept there is very little which is done and which can be quoted as achievement in this area by the government bodies. Enormous amount of resources has been spent but very little change on actual health status of people have been noticed. Thus despite the availability of technical skills the gains from information technology usage has been apparent. Effective usage of technology is not purely technical. It has socio-cultural and organizational aspects which need to be recognized and carefully implemented. IT applications such as computers, networks, databases will be of very little help if they are used to just automate the existing infrastructure. To benefit from the potential of IT corresponding organizational changes should be anticipated, planned and brought about in the health departments in a systematic way.
eGovernment and digital government are terms used to describe the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve public services and to increase citizen participation in democratic government.1 eGovernment has been the dominant term used in policy-making in the European Union (EU); the term puts the emphasis on user-centric services that can be integrated to support easy and efficient use of public services by citizens and businesses. Recently however, commentators have also been talking about digital government, a concept which extends the eGovernment model by building on the notion of new services that public sector 'open data' can support, as well as the collaborative community of public authorities, businesses, citizens and civil society which can develop them. However in line with the European Commission's Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe,2 the term eGovernment will be preferred here.
Different commentators have developed models of eGovernment interaction and service delivery. Some models have four different phases or types of interaction, some have five,3 but there is a large degree of agreement at least on the initial three phases: (1) informational (in which information is delivered to citizens, such as through downloading reports and brochures from websites); (2) interactional (where citizens have the ability to ask questions, make complaints or search for information sources); and (3) transactional (where users can complete online all the different steps of a complex interaction). The one or two subsequent phases may either be deemed participatory (where citizens provide input to the formulation of policies); transformational or integrated (where government's internal organisation is modified as a result of the need to deliver services in an integrated, client-centric way); or connected (combining features of both).4 In addition, eGovernment interactions are sometimes classified as government-to-citizens or G2C (such as when citizens file income tax declarations); government-to-business or G2B (such as when businesses seek permits); or government-to-government or G2G (as when different branches or levels of government exchange information).
6) Job placement
Electronic government (e-Gov) essentially refers to the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for delivering government information and services to citizens (G2C), businesses (G2B), employees (G2E), and governments (G2G). The most obvious benefit of e-government from an organisational perspective is to improve the efficiency of the current system so that, in turn, it can save money and time. For example, moving away from a heavily paper-based system to an electronic system can reduce the need for manpower, that results in a reduction in operational costs. From the citizens’ perspective, one of the most important benefits of e-government (in comparison to manual systems) is the ‘anywhere and anytime’ availability of government services to citizens. Other benefits of e-Government for citizens include: the provision of multilingual information content, disabled-friendly navigation and accessibility of content and regular updates on the latest changes in government-related information, services and schemes. Furthermore, eGov services would reduce the need for printed paper; hence, they contribute to a greener planet and a sustainable ecosystem. Using the Internet makes finding information easier by means of a “look and feel” approach.
Poor governance (which contributes to problems such as autocracy, corruption, a lack of transparency and accountability) is considered to be one of the major issues of many developing countries. Effective eGov implementation would enable e-Governance, which, in turn, has the potential to reduce autocracy and corruption and to create better transparency and accountability through citizen engagement and participation in government decision-making. Therefore, e-Governance could be considered to be one of the ultimate desirable outcomes of eGov implementation. Employers and job seekers are brought together for potential matches through their recruitment and job search activities. Employers may post help wanted signs, run newspaper advertisements, or seek referrals from private employment agencies. Job seekers may speak with friends and relatives, solicit the aid of the state employment agency, or simply walk in and apply. These recruitment and search activities help both parties acquire information about each other, and the more information they obtain prior to entering an employment agreement the higher the likelihood of a good employment match. The crucial role of information in the labor market has been recognized since Stigler (1962), but despite a voluminous literature on job matching and organizational behavior in labor markets, we know far less about employers’ recruitment strategies than about job seekers’ search strategies. As Granovetter (1995) notes, “while people are finding jobs, employers are finding people to fill them, and their behaviors, strategies, and purposes play a central but often neglected role in the process of matching people to jobs.”
7) improving health care services
Mobile health interventions could have beneficial effects on health care delivery processes. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of controlled trials of mobile technology interventions to improve health care delivery processes.
Over the past few decades, computing and communication technologies have changed dramatically. Bulky, slow computers have been replaced by portable devices that can complete increasingly complex tasks in less and less time. Similarly, landlines have been replaced by mobile phones and other mobile communication technologies that can connect people anytime and anywhere, and that can transmit text messages (short message service; SMS), photographs, and data at the touch of a button. These advances have led to the development of mobile-health (mHealth)—the use of mobile computing and communication technologies in health care and public health. mHealth has many applications. It can be used to facilitate data collection and to encourage health-care consumers to adopt healthy lifestyles or to self-manage chronic conditions. It can also be used to improve health-care service delivery processes by targeting health-care providers or communication between these providers and their patients. So, for example, mobile technologies can be used to provide clinical management support in settings where there are no specialist clinicians, and they can be used to send patients test results and timely reminders of appointments.
Automated hospital information systems can help improve quality of care because of their far-reaching capabilities. An example is the HELP system, which is a complete knowledge based hospital information system. It supports not only the routine applications of an HIS including ADT, Order Entry/Charge Capture, Pharmacy, Radiology, Nursing documentation, ICU Monitoring, but also supports a robust decision support function. Use of the HELP integrated system showed that the risk of wound infection decreased significantly when antibiotics were given in the 2 hours before surgery at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. Also, the HELP system detected 60 times as many adverse drug reactions in patients as the traditional method at LDS Hospital. The computer-detected reactions - 95 percent of which were moderate to severe - occurred in 648 patients over 18 months. Given this information, one can argue that decision support within the HELP system improved:
8) Strengthening Law Enforcement
The use of computers in law enforcement has changed and developed rapidly, especially in recent years. Computers are used to hold databases of information, to run sophisticated software that can recognize faces or identify fingerprints and to connect to the Web, an avenue for communication and a rich source of intelligence. As well as desktop computers, law enforcement personnel also use mobile devices, such as laptops and tablets, to do their job
A) Databases
Computer technology allows law enforcement services to store and retrieve vast amounts of data. This information can include details of incident reports, criminals' descriptions, fingerprints and other identifying marks. It can also include descriptions and registrations of vehicles involved in criminal activity. Another crucial pool of information is DNA data taken from suspects. DNA databases allow samples of DNA taken from suspects to be matched with samples taken from crime scenes.
B) Sharing Information
Computers are an invaluable tool for communication between individuals, departments and law enforcement agencies. Documents, photographs and other material can be sent almost instantaneously from one location to another, saving valuable time. Email is a good example: Encrypted emails can be used to send important data securely while mitigating the risk that the information they contain will fall into the wrong hands.
Mobile computing devices -- laptops, notebook computers and tablet PCs -- are very useful to law enforcement. Armed with a laptop, a police officer can take notes, access records or contact colleagues in other districts, all without leaving a vehicle. Mobile devices can be used to check the identity or other credentials of individuals at the scene of a crime, as well as recording and tracking vital data such as vehicle license plates. Computers can also be used to track the position of GPS devices, helping law enforcement officers to find vehicles.
B) The Internet
The Internet is used by law enforcement agencies in innumerable regards. Web sites can be used by law enforcement agencies to educate and inform the public, appeal for information or alert people to ongoing situations such as a missing child or a felon at large. Because criminals often use the Internet to share information, it can be very useful in crime prevention and detection. For instance, those responsible for a crime sometimes incriminate themselves by discussing it on social sites such as Facebook or Twitter -- this information can be used to prosecute them.
8) Environmental Sustainability
“Go paperless, save trees” are common messages seen these days as many organizations encourage their customers to switch to electronic transactions and communications. Implicit in these requests is the assumption that going digital is better for the environment. But the paper industry disputes this. Beyond the toll it takes on our natural resources, there are many other costs associated with a paper-based business culture: printing services, delivery, mailing, and storage, processing, disposing and recycling. Copier and printer supplies alone amount to a huge expenditure.
Project profile:
1. Introduction:
Digital Prescribing or Electronic prescribing or e-prescribing is the computer-based electronic generation and filling of a medical prescription, taking the place of paper and faxed prescriptions. Digital Prescribing allows a physician, pharmacist, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant to electronically transmit a new prescription or renewal authorization to a community or mail-order pharmacy. It outlines the ability to send error-free, accurate, and understandable prescriptions electronically from the healthcare provider to the pharmacy. Digital Prescribing is meant to reduce the risks associated with traditional prescription script writing. It is also one of the major reasons for the push for electronic medical records. By sharing medical prescription information, Digital Prescribing seeks to connect the patient's team of healthcare providers to facilitate knowledgeable decision making.
1.2 Object of the project
The current situation is that the doctor writes a prescription manually on the paper form. ... Patient brings the paper prescription to the pharmacy where the pharmacist enters the prescription into the pharmacy’s information system, and then issues the medication.
e-Prescribing is defined as the process of electronically generating and sending a prescription order, so that physicians and other medical practitioners can transmit an electronic prescription to a pharmacy directly from the point of care. e-Prescribing or electronic prescribing improves accuracy, enhances patient safety
Jump to Increasing patient convenience and medication compliance - By elimination or reducing this waiting period, e-prescribing may help reduce the number of unfilled prescriptions and hence, increasing medication adherence. Allowing the renewal of medications through this electronic system
Currently there is a situation where the digital registration systems of different health care institutions are not integrated. Because of this there is no central unit through which the patient could see the appointment times and waiting lists for all medical workers practicing in Estonia. As a result of this situation the long waiting lists and frequently missed appointment by the patients have become a problem. It has become apparent during the inspections of the Health Care Board that in some health care institutions the percentage of missed appointments can be as high as 50%. This has influenced the Estonian Health Insurance Fund to have an opinion that in most specialty areas and in most health care institutions the waiting lists are caused by non-monetary problems, i.e. the problem lies within work organization.
The initiators of this project believe that the centralized information exchange between health care institutions will result in more effective time use for doctors as well as the patients, and in conclusion it will bring about an improved medical service quality for patients.
During the projects, with the help of a partner employed from a private sector, a centrally administered Digital Registration system will be developed that enables patients and family physicians to view all the available appointments of all medical doctors, to book appointments, and to cancel existing bookings over the web portal.
During the project the existing registration systems used by health care providers will not be replaced with the new ones. This would bring about unnecessarily big costs as well as the need to provide comprehensive training for medical workers in order to teach them how to use the new system. Instead of replacing the existing systems, uniform standards will be developed on the basis of which the existing systems will be interfaced with the central web portal.
During the projects, a centrally administered digital registration system is developed. Within the system it will be possible to execute an inquiry for collecting identical type of data.
1.3 Development of National Digital Prescribing for Bangladesh Government project consists of 5 phases
1.3.a Collect raw data
Idea generation and initial thoughts: In 2013, It took almost 3 months to concrete my idea and initial thoughts to go for the planning phase.
Planning: In planning phase we took 1 month to create the documentation for the survey and other analysis works.
Survey & Analysis: It almost took 6 months to complete the survey and necessary analysis before we go for the final development phase.
Implementation & development: In 2014 we started develop our software and took almost 2 years to get the Beta version.
Final Version: After different kinds of fixing and tweaking finally we developed our sellable version in 2016.
Online Version: Recently we have launched online version of Digital Prescription
Current Users: Currently we have more than 120 users using the system.
1.3.b Advertisement
we see it everywhere and we do our best to ignore it. And yet so much business is dependent upon advertising that we cannot tune it out completely. Why do we need advertising and does it really help consumers in any way? This is a great topic because most articles that discuss the “benefits of advertising”
This is a great topic because most articles that discuss the “benefits of advertising” focus on the benefits to the advertisers. But there are advantages to advertising which promote social well-being, distribution of wealth, and even consumer interests.
Let’s start by looking at the three partners in advertising: Advertisers, Publishers, and Consumers.
Advertisers may be businesses, governments, non-governmental agencies (non-profits), and individual people.
Publishers are the services who carry or distribute advertising, including television, radio, and Internet advertising, billboard advertising, and printed media advertising (as is found in books, magazines, and newspapers). Publishers may also include the manufacturers of packaging (such as boxes and envelopes) who print ads on the packaging, specialty painting and fixture companies that create signs for vehicles and buildings, and small print publishers who distribute novelty advertising platforms like fliers and menus.
Consumers are people, although people may be influenced by advertising for their own purposes or to assist in operating a business or organization. Consumers therefore may be proxies on behalf of groups of people who respond to advertising.
There are four major benefits of advertising for advertisers:
Announce new, interesting, or helpful information
Promote political messages to voters
Inform citizens of government services
Engage with customers through story-telling
We use advertising to announce interesting or helpful information to other people. A manufacturer of a product, a retailer, or a service provider may use advertising to inform the general public about the availability of their products and services. But advertising can accomplish so much more, as in providing information on how to contact the advertiser, where to find the advertiser, who the advertiser is, and even what the advertiser’s core philosophy may be.
Politicians use advertising to tell potential voters what their goals and priorities are, when to meet them at rallies and other events, and also what public issues they (the politicians) feel are most important.
Governments use advertising to tell their citizens how to find special services, when special events are scheduled, and also how to participate in government (through election to office, applying for jobs, attending public meetings, etc.).
Businesses use advertising to engage with potential customers by telling them an ongoing story about the nature and strengths of their companies and organizations. Business advertisers also build up customer loyalty to their products and services.
Advertising can be very plain and matter-of-fact or it can be extremely creative, even entertaining. The style of an advertisement may be decided by how competitive the industry of the product or service may be, or it could be that a government agency invokes creative advertising to ensure that the public becomes aware of a very important fact.
Benefits of Advertising for Consumers
There are six major benefits of advertising for consumers who see the ads:
Learn about product, service, and event choices
Learn about upcoming events
Discover new products or services
Associate products with special activities
Learn about important social issues
View the advertisements as entertainment
Because our society produces so many goods and services we have come to rely on advertising to inform us about as many options as possible. We use advertising as a roving index of what goods and services are currently available.
Advertising also serves to remind us of upcoming events. As consumers move through cities in their daily routines they will take note of certain large advertisements over and over again. Just as the ads are placed strategically to persuade consumers to attend special events or buy certain products, so the consumers selectively memorize certain ads for future reference.
Consumers also use non-permanent advertising (such as commercials broadcast on television or radio) to learn about new things, and not just the products and services being advertised. Advertisers have learned to tap into new cultural icons, specialties, and interests to draw attention to their ads. These attention-grabbing elements in ads serve to spread information about new cultural interests and activities to consumers.
For example, a soft drink commercial may be filmed at a relatively unknown sporting event. Consumers will remember the commercial as much or more for the unusual sporting event as for the product being sold. Advertisers may schedule a series of advertisements around a specific theme so as to bond consumer awareness of their products to that theme.
Consumers, in return, learn to associate certain products with specific activities. Although some associations (such as soft drinks) may be incidental, others may be important in instructing consumers about necessary items. For example, a shoe manufacturer may demonstrate the effectiveness of a competition shoe through advertising featuring world-class athletes using its shoes in competition. A new sporting equipment manufacturer may teach consumers how to use its products through commercials that feature specially trained stunt performers using the equipment (this is how snowboarding became so popular).
Consumers may learn about socially important issues through public service announcements and government-sponsored advertising campaigns. For decades tobacco companies inundated consumers with advertising messages about how much fun cigarette smoking should be; when government agencies finally reached a comprehensive settlement with the tobacco companies over the millions of premature deaths their products caused, new advertising campaigns against the health consequences of cigarette smoking began to appear.
Consumers also look to advertising for pure entertainment. They don’t care about the products and services being sold as much as they care about the spokespeople and improbable stories the ads tell. For example, GEICO’s “cave man” commercials became increasingly popular through the years, as has their Gecko. Progressive Insurance’s spokesperson Flo has millions of adoring fans.
Although businesses use these kinds of advertisements to create emotional responses in their consumer audiences, consumers have become accustomed to viewing commercials as entertainment. The more entertaining an advertisement is the more memorable it will be. For the consumer the product or service being sold is less important than knowing which company or organization is behind the advertisement.
1.3.c Training
Training courses are ways of improving the effectiveness of your current workforce, but they are also attractive benefits for ambitious people. Training isn't just important to any company, it is vital. Although there are many categories of training such as Operation and management training and or sales training.
1. Increased efficiency of employees: An effective training programme can make the employees of the company work in an effective manner. With training people gain confidence and this confidence is seen in the output and results.
2. Reduced supervision: An employee needs to be supervised when he works. When the employee has got sufficient training the amount of supervision required is less as mistakes are less. This reduces the workload of the supervisor.
3. Less amount of wastage: The amount of wastage by an employee is reduced a lot due to training and therefore if we take an account of the amount of wastage we find that the company has saved a lot of money.
4. Reduced turnover: Proper training improves chances of obtaining promotions and employees are happy because they have better opportunities Due to this their chances of leaving their current job reduces greatly thereby reducing labour turnover in the company.
5. Helps new employees in the organization: Training always benefits employees whether old or new. In case of new employees, training helps them a lot . This is because new employees may not be aware of the functioning of the organization and training helps them to gain knowledge and insight into the working of the company.
6. Better labour –management relations: Labour – management relations are very essential for any organization. When companies introduce training programmes and prepare employees for future jobs and promotions they send out a message to the unions that they are interested in employee welfare. Due to this the unions also adopt a positive attitude and labour- management relations improve.
1.3.d Implementation (pilot project)
If your project involves large scale organizational change, whether it involves software or not, conducting a pilot prior to full implementation can prevent a disaster.
No matter how much planning you do on paper, there will always be a few bumps along the way when implementing a change project in the real world. There really is some truth to that old saying, “Well, it looked good on paper.”
When implementing a big project that impacts multiple departments or business units, especially in situations where the work process has changed, it can put the business at risk if everything changes at one time. Segregating the change by testing a smaller, sample area first (as the pilot) for a specified period of time, gives the project an opportunity to find, assess, and fix any issues before a full roll out.
Should every project have a pilot first? Well, no. There’s no real hard and fast rule on when to conduct a pilot. My rule of thumb hinges on the amount of risk to the organization. Whether the project is short or long, if the implementation poses a risk to customers or employees, could impact the financial stability of the organization, or would be difficult to reverse, a pilot is a good idea.
When conducting a pilot, there are five key steps to help you make it meaningful for your project success.
Choose Your Pilot Area
Create a Pilot Plan
Conduct the Pilot
Assess Pilot Results
1) Choose Your Pilot Area
It’s important to choose an area that gives you an opportunity to test as much of your new state as possible. First take a big picture look at the organization and narrow down to areas that will allow for adequate testing of the changes that are happening with the least amount of impact on the rest of the organization. This could be anything from a work group to a department to a business unit.
2) Create a Pilot Plan
Having a road map for your pilot is vital to learning from and conducting your pilot. There are several key areas that should be covered in your plan. Basically, you want to answer the who, what, when, where, and how of your pilot.
Purpose Statement or Goals – clearly identify why the pilot is being conducted and what the pilot is intended to accomplish, along with any assumptions being made. Include the planned pilot duration to adequately test your goals.
Pilot Area – define what part of the organization is in and not in the pilot area. Include as much detail as necessary, such as job roles or titles to make sure this is perfectly clear.
Pilot Resources – detail all resources that will be necessary to fully conduct the pilot. This includes both people and things such as new equipment or office layouts. Designate the pilot team(s) and leadership.
Training Required – determine the amount and type of training that will be necessary for pilot participants, how long it will take, and when it will occur.
Feedback Loop – daily feedback is critical when conducting a pilot. Plan for at least a 15 minute feedback session with the pilot team every single day. Discuss what’s working, what’s not and adjust as needed.
Communication Plan – make sure the rest of the company stays in the loop by reporting on pilot progress. If your pilot will impact customers, ensure there is adequate communication with them also.
3) Conduct the Pilot
When you’re ready to go, start the pilot with a kick off meeting for the participants. Explain the purpose of the pilot and your key expectations for their participation. Share the plan and schedule. Make sure you are available to answer any questions or concerns during the entire pilot process.
4) Assess Pilot Results
Once the pilot has run its course, compile the data gathered. What worked? What didn’t? What had to be changed on the fly? It’s a good idea to get the pilot team(s) together to talk through this information and add additional insights they discovered along the way. Use this information to modify your full project implementation plan.
5) Go For It!
At this point, you should be ready to go with full implementation of your project. Whether that happens on a phased schedule or all at one time depends on what changes you’re making. Conducting your pilot in advance of this can give you more confidence in achieving a successful outcome.
The Pilot Project Program facilitates specialized research training of graduate students, junior faculty or new investigators, and promotes the development of multi-disciplinary research addressing NORA–related topics in the areas of occupational health or safety
1.3.e Acknowledgement
Currently there is a situation where the digital registration systems of different health care institutions are not integrated. Because of this there is no central unit through which the patient could see the appointment times and waiting lists for all medical workers practicing in Estonia. As a result of this situation the long waiting lists and frequently missed appointment by the patients have become a problem. It has become apparent during the inspections of the Health Care Board that in some health care institutions the percentage of missed appointments can be as high as 50%. This has influenced the Estonian Health Insurance Fund to have an opinion that in most specialty areas and in most health care institutions the waiting lists are caused by non-monetary problems, i.e. the problem lies within work organization.
The initiators of this project believe that the centralized information exchange between health care institutions will result in more effective time use for doctors as well as the patients, and in conclusion it will bring about an improved medical service quality for patients.
During the projects, with the help of a partner employed from a private sector, a centrally administered Digital Registration system will be developed that enables patients and family physicians to view all the available appointments of all medical doctors, to book appointments, and to cancel existing bookings over the web portal.
During the project the existing registration systems used by health care providers will not be replaced with the new ones. This would bring about unnecessarily big costs as well as the need to provide comprehensive training for medical workers in order to teach them how to use the new system. Instead of replacing the existing systems, uniform standards will be developed on the basis of which the existing systems will be interfaced with the central web portal.
During the projects, a centrally administered digital registration system is developed. Within the system it will be possible to execute an inquiry for collecting identical type of data
2.1 project background
2.1.a importance of the NDPBG
Perhaps the most powerful yet simple tool in psychotherapy is the here-and-now: sharing the raw, honest thoughts and feelings about what's happening in the moment.
Here-and-now is based on the idea that the client's interpersonal issues will eventually emerge in the therapeutic relationship. A woman who feels betrayed by all her friends and family will probably feel betrayed by her therapist at some time. A man with anger issues will eventually feel angry in therapy. Addressing the material that emerges in the room becomes the focus. Therapy becomes less talking about issues and more working withthem as they happen, in the here-and-now.
Yalom encourages therapists and patients alike to take the vulnerable risk of discussing what's happening in the moment, a noticeable shift that often bears fruit. But, as you'll see below, here-and-now is not exclusive to the therapy office:
2.1.b supporting the service
User-friendly assistance for individuals having technical problems with electronic devices. The technical support team is composed of individuals that are familiar with the ins and outs of a device. With this knowledge, they are able to troubleshoot most problems that a user experiences. Information on how to reach technical support is usually provided with the packaged materials included with a device. Technical support may be provided over the phone, through email, or with a live-chat interface.
Technical support (often shortened to tech support) refers to a plethora of services by which enterprises provide assistance to users of technology products such as mobile phones, televisions, computers, software products or other informatic, electronic or mechanical goods. In general, technical support services address specific problems with a product or service rather than the provision of training, customization, or other support services. Most companies offer technical support for the products they sell, either freely available or for a fee. Technical support may be delivered over by e-mail, live support software on a website, or a tool where users can log a call or incident. Larger organizations frequently have internal technical support available to their staff for computer-related problems. The Internet can also be a good source for freely available tech support, where experienced users help users find solutions to their problems.[not verified in body] In addition, some fee-based service companies charge for premium technical support services
2.1.c Comparing and static graph
2.1.d project implementation delinquent
Myth 1: People don’t want to use digital services for healthcare
Many healthcare executives believe that, due to the sensitive nature of medical care, patients don’t want to use digital services except in a few specific situations; decision makers often cite data that point to relatively low usage of digital healthcare services. In fact, the results of our survey reveal something quite different. The reason patients are slow to adopt digital healthcare is primarily because existing services don’t meet their needs or because they are of poor quality. Across all the countries in our survey,1more than 75 percent of respondents would like to use digital healthcare services, as long as those services meet their needs and provide the level of quality they expect (Exhibit 1). Of course, nondigital channels will continue to be relevant and important, so digital channels will have to be embedded in a well-thought-through multichannel concept.
Exhibit 1
More than 75% of all patients expect to use digital services in the future.
[pic]
Myth 2: Only young people want to use digital services
One of the more prevalent myths about healthcare is that only younger generations want to use digital services, and therefore digitized healthcare would not reach many of the system’s core stakeholders. Our survey shows, however, that patients from all age groups are more than willing to use digital services for healthcare (Exhibit 2). In fact, older patients (those over 50) want digital healthcare services nearly as much as their younger counterparts. More than 70 percent of all older patients in the United Kingdom and Germany want to use digital healthcare services; in Singapore, that number is even higher. There is a difference between the kinds of digital channels older and younger patients want to use, though. Older patients prefer traditional digital channels such as websites and e-mail, while younger patients are, unsurprisingly, more open to newer channels such as social media. A recent report from the European Union2suggests that service type—not just channel—should be segmented by age; younger patients, of course, want access to health-promotion and prevention services, whereas older patients need information about services for acute and chronic conditions. But both groups seek information at the same rates.
Exhibit 2
Digital-service use is expected to increase across all age groups.
[pic]Myth 3: Mobile health is the game changer
Mobile health—the practice of healthcare supported by mobile devices—is often hailed as the future of digital services in healthcare. Still, our survey shows that demand for mobile healthcare is not universal. It is therefore not the single critical factor in the future of healthcare digitization.
Of course, there is certainly demand for mobile healthcare applications, and it is strongest among younger people. Health systems should therefore create mobile solutions that target this audience—for example, apps that focus on prenatal health or those that could be classified as lifestyle apps. Beware of solutions that could have a lot of impact but are not of interest to the segment in question—digital applications to manage chronic conditions typically found in older people, for example.
Myth 4: Patients want innovative features and apps
Health systems, payors, and providers often think they need to be innovative when designing their digital-service offerings. But the core features patients expect from their health system are surprisingly mundane: efficiency, better access to information, integration with other channels, and the availability of a real person if the digital service doesn’t give them what they need. Highly innovative services, better apps, and more social media are far less important to most patients (Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 3
Awareness and process execution are the core drivers of digital-service adoption for patients.
Myth 5: A comprehensive platform of service offerings is a prerequisite for creating value
When going digital, many institutions—not only those in healthcare—think it is necessary to “go big” before they can achieve anything; they believe they must build a comprehensive platform with offerings along the entire spectrum of customer services. But our survey finds that it can be smarter to start small and act fast (Exhibit 4).
Exhibit 4
The services that Singaporean patients request most show it’s not always necessary to start big.
[pic]
Surprisingly, across the globe, most people want the same thing: assistance with routine tasks and navigating the often-complex healthcare system. In Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, for example—three very different countries with three very different health systems—patients most often cite “finding and scheduling physician appointments” as the service with which they need assistance. Other commonly cited needs include help selecting the right specialist and support for repetitive administrative tasks such as prescription refills. What most of these services have in common is that they do not require massive IT investments to get started.
2.1.d Reduces the complexity
Reducible complexity (IC) is the idea that certain biological systems cannot evolve by successive small modifications to pre-existing functional systems through natural selection. Irreducible complexity is central to the creationist concept of intelligent design, but it is rejected by the scientific community, which regards intelligent design as pseudoscience. Irreducible complexity is one of two main arguments used by intelligent design proponents, the other being specified complexity.
The theological argument from design was presented in creation science with assertions that evolution could not explain complex molecular mechanisms, and in 1993 Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, presented these arguments in a revised version of Of Pandas and People. In his 1996 book Darwin's Black Box he called this irreducible complexity and said it made evolution through natural selection of random mutations impossible. This was based on the mistaken assumption that evolution relies on improvement of existing functions, ignoring how complex adaptations originate from changes in function, and disregarding published research. Evolutionary biologists have published rebuttals showing how systems discussed by Behe can evolve, and examples documented through comparative genomics show that complex molecular systems are formed by the addition of components as revealed by different temporal origins of their proteins
3.1 Components and estimated cost
|Cause |Time |Costing |
|Ideas generation and initial thoughts, planning | 4 months |40,00000 BDT |
|Survey, Data collection & analysis | 1 year |1,20,00000 BDT |
|Fixed cost (Server and infrastructure) |Total in 4 years |2,00,00000 BDT |
|Office and Utility |Total in 4 years |7,20,0000 BDT |
|Employee salary and other expenses |Total in 4 years |100,0000,000 BDT |
|Total |129,32,00000 BDT |
5.1 Project financing
5.1.a Financing
Local Government Finance
In terms of Local Government Finance, the Department is focused on the financial well-being and effective financial management and accountability of local authorities and the promotion of value for money principles in the sector.
Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure is expenditure that results in the creation of an asset beyond the year in which that asset is provided e.g. houses, swimming pool, library etc. It is financed largely by State grants with the balance being funded from development levies and borrowings and own internal resources and property sales. In the case of some projects (e.g. local authority offices) they may be funded entirely by local authority own resources and borrowing.
The local authority Chief Executive prepares and submits to the elected members a report indicating the programme of capital projects proposed by the local authority for the forthcoming and following two years. The capital programme includes expenditure on the acquisition of fixed assets, infrastructure projects, work-in-progress and preliminary expenses.
The Annual Financial Statement (AFS) of a local authority provides details of Capital Account Income and Expenditure and overall Capital Balance.
Current Expenditure
A local authority’s annual budget represents current expenditure (sometimes referred to as revenue expenditure) which covers the day-to-day running of the local authority (including staff salaries, housing maintenance, pensions, operational costs etc.). The annual budget is adopted by the elected council at its budget meeting.
The Local Government Act 2001, as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014, provides the legislative basis for the local authority budget process. The budget is developed in a phased process involving input from the Chief Executive, the Municipal District members and the Corporate Policy Group. It is a matter for each local authority to determine its own spending priorities in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources. The elected members of a local authority have direct responsibility in law for all reserved functions of the authority, which includes adopting the annual budget, and are democratically accountable for all expenditure by the local authority.
Individual local authority budgets are available from the council’s finance section and are generally published on the authorities’ website. Consolidated annual budget data for all local authorities, compiled by the Department is available at Local Authority Budgets.
Current expenditure is funded from a variety of sources, as set out below, although the specific contribution of income from the different sources may vary between authorities.
5.1.b Investment
Reports of the demise of Second Market have been greatly exaggerated.
The company carved out a niche by facilitating trades of private-company stock, particularly pre-IPO shares of LinkedIn (LNKD) and Facebook (FB, +1.79%). But once those companies went public, trading volume in the so-called secondary market stalled, and publications including the New York Times predicted that the sun was setting on Second Market and other secondary exchanges like SharesPost. Bloomberg reported in January that both exchanges had “wound down” operations.But that “couldn’t be further from the truth,” SecondMarket founder and chairman Barry Silbert told Fortune recently.
Indeed, secondary trading volume—both at SecondMarket and more broadly—recently surpassed its pre-Facebook IPO heyday. According to data provided exclusively to Fortune, SecondMarket has already facilitated more than $900 million in secondary stock sales in the first half of 2014 alone—nearly quadruple the $250 million it did all of last year. Overall, secondary transactions will total $17.7 billion this year, estimates private equity research firm NYPPEX. That’s nearly 30 times the secondary volume a decade ago, and almost double the 2011 peak volume before Facebook went public. “Many people thought it would disappear after Facebook, and it didn’t,” says Andy Boyd, head of global equity capital markets for Fidelity, who also oversees the firm’s private investments.
5.1.c Re-pay policy
So today’s secondary market, and SecondMarket itself, are not what they used to be: While the old model allowed shareholders to auction their stakes to any willing buyer, sometimes independent of the company’s approval, SecondMarket today only works with the private companies themselves to host official secondary transactions where the companies set the price of their own shares and choose the buyers.
Not only does this limit startup employees’ ability to cash in their private shares, it also shuts out retail investors. “It’s a big change from the market in the early days, where if you had money, and someone had shares to sell, you might be able to get some Facebook stock,” Silbert says. “Not only do buyers have to be accredited, but they basically have to be an institution.”
5.1.d Impact on GDP
Four factors comprise a nation's Gross Domestic Product, GDP: government spending, consumer spending, investments made by industry and the excess of exports versus imports. GDP is a measurement of all the goods an economy produces in a given time, investments included. However, when calculating GDP, "investment" doesn't mean buying securities, according to Mind Tools. It is a term used to encompass how businesses invest its money in the physical operations such as factories, offices, warehouses and computers.
Economic Conditions Depend on Business Investments
The GDP increases when businesses invest money in infrastructure, real estate and other physical operations. Accordingly, when business and other private sector investments taper off, the GDP tends to follow suit. Other factors comprising GDP must pick up the slack when one factor is reduced, according to American Progress. Aside from consumption, business investment is the most powerful catalyst in calculating an economy's GDP. Also, industries whose businesses tend to invest more of its profits tend to grow and comprise a larger percentage of GDP.
Business Investments Enable Speculation
An economy's Gross Domestic Product, GDP, tends to go in the same direction as the investments its businesses make. As a component of GDP, business investments also allow economists and other analysts to predict which direction an economy will go. For example, Qatar wants to become a knowledge-based economy, according to Arabian Business. The Qatari GDP will conceivably grow as more organizations invest in education and research, therefore GDP growth can correlate to investment. Future events, such as the World Cup, which Qatar will host in 2022, also allow analysts to speculate on the economy's future by reviewing which industries are likely to make investments in the event.
Investments Can Cause a Boom
Aside from being a prime mover in economic change, a country whose GDP is saturated with business investments can approach an economic boom. For example, before the 2008 economic crisis, India's GDP was 38 percent business investments, which, according to the Financial Express, coincided with the country's heightened economic performance. An economy is most robust when its businesses make financial investments that enable it to produce more and sustain more growth. Financial investment can also have an impact on other GDP factors, such as consumer spending, by creating jobs and creating buying power for consumers.
6.1 ICT sector development
Advanced levels of digitization — the mass adoption of connected digital technologies and applications by consumers, enterprises, and governments — have realized significant benefits in their economies, their societies, and the functioning of their public sectors.
We share the optimism of SajibWazed Joy that the ICT sector is the next big thing for Bangladesh as a source of earning foreign currency. The ICT adviser to the prime minister is hopeful that Bangladesh will become a major player in the sector in a few years from now.
Bangladesh has to identify and create opportunities to maintain its relatively stable economic state. ICT and also the telecommunication industries have harnessed welfare for the economy of this country. It is a one-of-a-kind industry which, with slight input, gives outstanding output in the form of economic development, education and employment along with benefits in areas of investment, banking, security, sociability, marketing, tourism and a number of other areas with unimaginable fruits. While we have to say that these spectra of benefits have not yet been fully utilised by the governments for the welfare of citizens but the sector has already managed to change the lives of many people, especially among the youth, for the better.
Recognizing the economic advantages of this sector the government is formulating policies to utilise information technology innovations. The ICT sector has motivated entrepreneurs to gravitate towards this industry which provides better employment opportunities, opens new trade horizons and embarks on track of success through education and awareness.
IT companies have created a sizable market space in service industries like telecommunications, retail and wholesale business, healthcare, education, publishing and real estate. The growth in the software industry has been driven by this growing IT automation demand in the domestic market. The impressive trends in software exports in recent years played a deterministic role as well. Bangladesh has made major strides in laying the groundwork for a diverse and successful outsourcing market, particularly in 2010 and 2011.
A new trend is the individual/group-based outsourcing, also known as freelancing. These are informal initiatives taken by young IT professionals and students to acquire clients through various online marketing channels.
Bangladesh's ICT sector is a glimmering example of what can be achieved if government's goodwill and a skilled workforce work together. Rapid development in the ICT sector also reflects a rapid growth of skilled manpower which ultimately accelerates the economic growth. Despite many challenges such as political instability, financial crisis and power shortages, many large and ambitious projects are going on to achieve digital Bangladesh. If the government functions at the current pace, we would like to hope that within a few years the ICT sector will be the largest revenue earner for Bangladesh.
7.1 Technical architecture
Android software development is the process by which new applications are created for devices running the Android operating system. Applications are usually developed in Java (and/or Kotlin; or other such option) programming language using the Android software development kit (SDK), but other development environments are also available, some such as Kotlin support the exact same Android APIs (and bytecode), while others such as Go have restricted API access. All Java 7 language features are supported, and some Java 8 language features (and additionally some Java 9 code has been backported to work).
Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and other open source software and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars, and Android Wear for wrist watches, each with a specialized user interface. Variants of Android are also used on game consoles, digital cameras, PCs and other electronics.
Initially developed by Android Inc., which Google bought in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007, with the first commercial Android device launched in September 2008. The operating system has since gone through multiple major releases, with the current version being 8.1 "Oreo", released in December 2017.
Android has been the best-selling OS worldwide on smartphones since 2011 and on tablets since 2013. As of May 2017, it has over two billion monthly active users, the largest installed base of any operating system, and as of 2017, the Google Play store features over 3.5 million apps.
Technical Structure
|Life Cycle of Digital Prescription |
|Task Setup |
|Ministry of ICT |
|Ministry of health |
|Technical infrastructure Development |
|Develop of Health care service |
|with Digital Prescription |
|Development of central System |
|Developer |
|Installation of test an Work |
|environment of Digital |
|Prescription |
8.1 Technical support
Inspire of much talk and hyped concept there is very little which is done and which can be quoted as achievement in this area by the government bodies. Enormous amount of resources has been spent but very little change on actual health status of people have been noticed. Thus despite the availability of technical skills the gains from information technology usage has been apparent. Effective usage of technology is not purely technical. It has socio-cultural and organizational aspects which need to be recognized and carefully implemented. IT applications such as computers, networks, databases will be of very little help if they are used to just automate the existing infrastructure. To benefit from the potential of IT corresponding organizational changes should be anticipated, planned and brought about in the health departments in a systematic way.
eGovernment and digital government are terms used to describe the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve public services and to increase citizen participation in democratic government.1 eGovernment has been the dominant term used in policy-making in the European Union (EU); the term puts the emphasis on user-centric services that can be integrated to support easy and efficient use of public services by citizens and businesses. Recently however, commentators have also been talking about digital government, a concept which extends the eGovernment model by building on the notion of new services that public sector 'open data' can support, as well as the collaborative community of public authorities, businesses, citizens and civil society which can develop them. However in line with the European Commission's Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe,2 the term eGovernment will be preferred here. Different commentators have developed models of eGovernment interaction and service delivery. Some models have four different phases or types of interaction, some have five,3 but there is a large degree of agreement at least on the initial three phases: (1) informational (in which information is delivered to citizens, such as through downloading reports and brochures from websites); (2) interactional (where citizens have the ability to ask questions, make complaints or search for information sources); and (3) transactional (where users can complete online all the different steps of a complex interaction). The one or two subsequent phases may either be deemed participatory (where citizens provide input to the formulation of policies); transformational or integrated (where government's internal organisation is modified as a result of the need to deliver services in an integrated, client-centric way); or connected (combining features of both).4 In addition, eGovernment interactions are sometimes classified as government-to-citizens or G2C (such as when citizens file income tax declarations); government-to-business or G2B (such as when businesses seek permits); or government-to-government or G2G (as when different branches or levels of government exchange information).
Online base technical support
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9.1 legal supports
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States.
A number of delivery models for legal aid have emerged, including duty lawyers, community legal clinics and the payment of lawyers to deal with cases for individuals who are entitled to legal aid.
Legal aid is essential to guaranteeing equal access to justice for all, as provided for by Article 6.3 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding criminal law cases. Especially for citizens who do not have sufficient financial means, the provision of legal aid to clients by governments will increase the likelihood, within court proceedings, of being assisted by legal professionals for free (or at a lower cost) or of receiving financial aid.
10.1 environmental support
Medicine is the science and practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.
Medicine has existed for thousands of years, during most of which it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge) frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayersfor healing, or an ancient philosopher and physician would apply bloodletting according to the theories of humorism. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science (both basic and applied, under the umbrella of medical science). While stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.
Prescientific forms of medicine are now known as traditional medicine and folk medicine. They remain commonly used with or instead of scientific medicine and are thus called alternative medicine. For example, evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture is "variable and inconsistent" for any condition,[2] but is generally safe when done by an appropriately trained practitioner. In contrast, treatments outside the bounds of safety and efficacy are termed quackery.
End of submissions from Bangladesh for 2018 WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards
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monitoring
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Regulatory Policy implementation
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