The E-Administration in Tunisia

Structures of support

The National Agency for Electronic Certification:

An outline on the development of the e-administration program in Tunisia:

The development of the e-administration in Tunisia occupies a central place among the national priorities, as a fundamental pillar of the process of global and sustainable development of the country given the primordial role of the electronic administration in the improvement of the public management performance and the reinforcement of the services quality provided to the users with an aim of better serving the citizen on the one hand and of reinforcing the competitiveness of the enterprise on the other hand.

The genesis of the first core of a communicative administration

Many initiatives have been taken, since the Eighties, have resulted in the first building sites of dematerialization of the administrative processes, and this through the introduction of informatics within the public administration.

This computerization results in the creation of several applications, such as the applications relating to:

• The management of the administrative affairs of the State personnel (INSAF)
• The process of Budgetary decision-making (ADEB)
• The management of National Debt (SIADE).
• The follow-up and management of the orders for missions abroad (RACHED).
• The follow-up of governmental work (Amen).

Taking into account their horizontal aspect, these applications have been generalized in the different administrative structures, which allowed to valorize the investments which have been carried out on the matter on the one hand, and to standardize the procedures and the management methods within its structures on the other hand.

The realization of these informatics applications, during this period, allowed the genesis of the first core preparing for the development of a communicating administration.

The program of upgrade of the public administration

This period, also, has been marked by the launching of the implementation of the program of upgrade of the public administration, which includes among its principal axes, a program on informatics in the administration. This program was adopted by all the ministries within the framework of their sectoral plans aiming at:

• improving the services and reinforcing their quality,
• exchanging information by electronic way,
• sharing the data between the different public structures

After having provided the technological infrastructure supporting the administrative procedures dematerialization, the Tunisian administration is oriented towards the valorization of its achievements in opening on the Internet with the objective to provide faster, less expensive and more effective administrative services.

The presidential program "for Tunisia’s tomorrow " (2004-1999)

This strategic orientation was consecrated within the framework of the electoral program of the President of the Republic "for Tunisia's tomorrow" (1999-2004), which translated a clear political will for the development of numerous electronic services in the Tunisian administration which is in the service of the citizen and the enterprises

The presidential program (2009-2004)

• the generalization of use of several public services offered to the citizens and to the enterprises such as the tax tele-declaration, electronic treatment of the formalities of the foreign trade " the single bundle ", dematerialization of the operations relating to the civil status, online university registration, the generalization of the call centers for the provision of services of administrative orientation and information.
• the upgrade of human resources in the fields of the administration, communication and applications by mean of new training programs.

The action plan of the e- administration: 2006-2009

In order to concretize all the decisions made within the framework of the presidential program (2009-2004), many measures were taken by a restricted ministerial council constituting an action plan followed by all the public structures in order to accelerate the rhythm of development of the e-administration.

• To reinforce the e-communication and exchange within the administration at the central, regional and local level through the implementation of certain taken measures such as the installation of the inter-administrative network at the central and regional level in rationalizing and capitalizing the existing and by improving its capacity and rate, improving the connectivity of the public agents to the Internet and to allot them an electronic address, develop services of high value added like the transfer and the electronic exchange of the documents, telephony on IP, the videoconferences.
• To reinforce the development of the online services offered to the citizen and enterprises by ensuring their effectiveness such as putting online all the administrative forms while obliging the administration to accept them, putting online the specifications relating to administrative services and replacing the authorizations, development of e-procurement, the installation of a legal information system, the development of the electronic card of access to the student services for the students, the creation of a databank of enterprises.
• To reinforce the capacity of the public agents with regard to the requirements of the e-administration, and this, through the executives training in a first stage and all the public agents in a second stage on the principles of use of the ICT (passport for the information society) and by the reinforcement of the possibilities of distance training.
• Improvement of an adequate technological platform for the development of the e-administration while adopting the technological options guaranteeing the continuity of the supply of online services, and this through the generalization of the common applications to all the administration structures, the upgrade of the national and sectoral applications in order to ensure their communication between them and their integration, the installation of the unified standards relating to these different applications.

The national strategy for the E- Administration development: 2010-2014

In order to develop the achievements of the e-administration and to put them within the framework of a global and evolutionary vision allowing the administration to be always in diapason with the technological changes, a project of a national strategy for the e-administration development has been launched, as of 2008, in collaboration with different ministerial structures. This strategy will include a new generation of public services which rest on the idea of integration of information systems belonging to the different administrative structures in order to avoid the citizen the burden of moving between these structures by allowing him to have the service as soon as possible.

Among the principal axes of the e-strategy, it may be mentioned:

• The implementation of a governance of the E-strategy,
• The adjustment of the legal framework in accordance with the requirements of the e- administration,
• The structuring of the information systems,
• The definition of a scheme of inter-operability;
• The generalization of the access,
• The reinforcement of the telecommunication infrastructures,
• The upgrade of the Administration equipments
• The development of human resources,
• The improvement of the internal and external communication for the popularization of the digital culture and to reinforce the use of the online services.

The institutional framework of the e- Administration

Numerous public structures have been gradually created to support the realization of the e-administration program. These structures are classified in two categories: structures of piloting and structures of technical assistance.

Structures of piloting:

The core defining the Electronic Administration piloting in Tunisia is spread out between three structures which the responsibilities are complementary as follows:

• The ministerial committee of the communicative administration: This committee has been created by decree n° 2003-1083 dated 13 May 2003 in order to see to the concretization of the general orientations in the field of the communicating administration. As such, this committee is in charge of:
  • Approving the projects of communicative administration,
  • Giving opinions about the technical, administrative and legal aspects in the field of communicative administration,
  • Adopting the adequate solutions with the difficulties encountered at the time of the realization of the communicative administration projects,
  • Studying the periodical reports relating to the follow-up of the communicative administration projects.

• The technical committee of the communicative administration: This committee has been created by the same decree creating the ministerial committee of the communicative administration (decree n° 2003-1083 dated 13 May 2003) in order to see to the examination of the projects and issues relating to the communicative administration to submit them to the ministerial committee of the communicative administration. For this reason, it is charged of:
  • Studying the proposals of the different public structures relating to the communicative administration projects and giving its opinion before submitting them to the ministerial committee of the communicative administration,
  • Approving the elaboration of the studies relating to the realization of the communicative administration projects proposed by the public structures,
  • Examining the studies results in the light of the opinions of the concerned parties before submitting them to the ministerial committee of the communicative administration for approval,
  • Studying the problems which are submitted to it by the different public structures concerned by the communicative administration projects,
  • Ensuring the follow-up of the communicative administration projects on the basis of reports established by the concerned public structures on the advancement state and submitting a periodical report to the ministerial committee of the communicative administration,
  • Inviting the specialized public structures to propose solutions to the general issues relating to the communicative administration program particularly in matter of norms, standards, technical choices and legal and administrative aspects,
  • Submitting to the ministerial committee of the communicating administration proposals relating to the requirements of the communicative administration program including the necessary studies for the encountered problems,
  • Coordinating between the different public structures concerned by common projects in the field of communicating administration.

• The e-Government unit: In order to ensure the continuity of coordination between the different public structures involved in the implementation of the projects of the electronic administration, a structure dedicated to the electronic administration program has been created in 2005 under the name of the unit of the electronic administration. This unit is charged of:
  • The coordination between the structures directly concerned by the electronic administration projects and the structures of support to its action;
  • The follow-up of the implementation of the decisions and recommendations relating to the electronic administration program,
  • The follow-up of the realization of the electronic administration projects taking into account the data and reports elaborated by the public structures,
  • The connection with the electronic administration program coordinators in the different ministries and the coordination with them concerning the electronic administration projects,
  • The elaboration for the technical committee of the communicating administration of proposals with regard to the administrative, legal and technical aspects raised through the follow-up of the electronic administration projects as well as the problems encountered,
  •  the follow-up of the international cooperation projects falling within the framework of the electronic administration program,

In order to help the unit of the electronic administration to achieve its missions of follow-up and coordination, the coordinators have been appointed by decree on the level of each ministry. These coordinators having to be attached to the minister, so that they profit from a power facilitating to them the taking of the measures necessary to the implementation of the electronic administration projects concerning them.

Structures of support

The most known services of the Electronic Administration: