Attachment J.7_USAID Kosovo e-Governance Activity SOW.pdf

USAID/Kosovo e-Governance Activity

SECTION C – STATEMENT OF WORK

Acronym List

AIS - Agency for Information Society ARBK - Agency of Business Registry B2B – Business to Business B2C – Business to Consumer CEC - Central Election Commission CSO - Civil Society Organizations CLA - Collaborative Learning and Adapting CoP - Chief of Party CO - Contracting Officer COR - Contracting Officer’s Representative CIDR - USAID/Critical Infrastructure Digitalization and Resilience activity DEMOS - The Decentralization and Municipal Support project EU - European Union CRA - Civil Registry Agency GIZ - German Agency for International Cooperation GG - Government Gateway GoK - Government of Kosovo ICT - Information and Communication Technology IT - Information Technology KIPA - Kosovo Institute for Public Administration MIAPA - Ministry of Interior and Public Administration MLGA - Ministry of Local Government Administration MoE - Ministry of Economy MoFLT - Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers OPM – Office of the Prime Minister PPRC - Public Procurement Regulatory Commission SDC - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation UNDP - United Nations Development Program WB - World Bank

TITLE OF ACTIVITY: Kosovo e-Governance Activity

C.1 PURPOSE

USAID’s new Kosovo e-Governance activity will address long-standing challenges related to poor digital service delivery and ineffective management of digital government systems by the Government of Kosovo, by clarifying institutional roles and processes, strengthening institutional capacity to deliver services, and engaging civil society and the private sector. The activity will set a direction that will accelerate transformation into an agile digital government, which ensures that Kosovans receive high quality, efficient and accessible government services.

This activity fits into the broader efforts of USAID/Kosovo to promote more accountable and effective governance institutions. Through engaging with key government institutions, the private sector, and civil society, the new Kosovo e-Governance activity aims to contribute to Development Objective 1.1:

Citizens are better served by accountable and effective governance institutions of the 2020-2025 USAID Country Development Cooperation Strategy.

C.2 DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT AND CHALLENGE

The role of digital technology across sectors has become undeniable in recent years and it has transformed most aspects of public and private life. ‘Digital government,’ refers to the use of digital technologies as an integrated part of government strategies.1 Investments in digital government, when implemented carefully and with an understanding of the broader enabling environment, can help governments to become more coordinated, efficient, resilient, responsive, accountable, and participatory.2 However, “getting digital government right” does not encompass only the digital side, it also needs to include companion analog processes, including strengthening government institutions and democratic norms and processes.”3

Over the past few years, the Government of Kosovo’s (GoK) understanding of governance and e-Governance has improved. Citizens and government actors increasingly expect an efficient, effective, and modern approach to public administration. In addition, this transitional period in the GoK’s digitalization process has shown the need for greater transparency and accountability to the public. The growing political interest for e-Governance in Kosovo, together with the growing belief that governments should be more accessible to citizens through the internet, creates an opportunity to enhance and expand e-Governance services in Kosovo. The GoK’s exceptional interest and support for e-Government is encouraging. They are making efforts to develop and/or finalize key strategic documents addressing digital citizen services, such as the Kosovo National Development Strategy, the 2030 Kosovo Digital Agenda and the e-Government strategy. Moreover, the GoK has an incentive to digitize government services, as digitalization of the economy and administrative procedures is critical for many of the prerequisites for Kosovo’s European Union (EU) integration.

3 George Ingram and Meagan Dooley, “Digital government: Foundations for global development and democracy,” Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Digital-government.pdf

2 Ibid

1 “Digital Government Model,” USAID, https://www.usaid.gov/digital-development/digital-government-model

The high internet penetration (96.1% of households had internet access in 2021)4 and mobile device use (98% possessed a mobile phone in 2019)5 in Kosovo, serve as favorable preconditions for the widespread implementation of e-Governance measures. There has been an increase of internet usage by women from 38.7% in 2019 to 40.2% in 2020, the same occurred for men with an increase from 55.8% to 57.4%.

The most significant milestone regarding e-Governance services provided in Kosovo has been the creation of the Government Gateway (GG), the government’s interoperability platform which connects data from various Ministries6 and created conditions to initiate a citizen-facing service, the eKosova7 national portal in March 2021. Following its first year of operation, the eKosova platform offers more than 30 e-Government services which are key to the citizens of the country.

In the past, USAID has supported Kosovo’s e-solutions via transitioning to a fully electronic procurement process (including an appeals process); developing the Official Gazette, the GoK official publication of Kosovo Legislation; helping the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (MESPI) develop the Electronic Legalization Tracker to support the private property legalization process across all the municipalities; and developing the first Digital Library on wiki platform for self-reliant economic and budget forecast capacities. In addition, USAID/Kosovo supported the Kosovo Tax Administration (TAK) in automatizing risk-profiling criteria for Value Added Tax refunding, developing online forms, and providing other e-services.

However, several problems hinder the GoK’s digital transformation.8 The challenges to advance e-Governance in Kosovo are largely related to launching service delivery and integrating government back offices. There is an evident mismatch between political priorities and the implementation of e-Governance reforms, and the challenge of meeting user expectations. Limited access to digitized data and incomplete interoperability of GoK central e-platforms hampers the capacity, accessibility, and efficiency of service delivery as well as the accountability of GoK institutions. The 2013-2020 Kosovo Digital Agenda, a policy initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development that prioritized development of a cybersecurity strategy, predicted that 40% of citizens use the internet for submitting forms online, whereas the current data shows only 5.3% of citizens use the internet for such purposes. This is a result of poor and often non-functional e-services offered to the citizens of Kosovo. Similarly, regarding the development of e-business, Kosovo has low usage of e-commerce for Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) transactions, as well as a very low online presence of businesses.9

Although the eKosova platform is becoming the main address for accessing e-Government services, many other public services are still hosted on the websites of various institutions or agencies. Some of the key institutional platforms in Kosovo that continue to provide their services online are the Tax Administration of Kosovo, the Kosovo Pension Saving Trust, and the Business Registration Agency. While there is no clear data on how many e-Government services are provided online in the country, some of these services present technical issues when trying to access them. The availability of all government

9 2021 Kosovo Digital Agenda Observatory https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bSvBWQu_heeoAHbedhvM7c4hAkxUsZBg/view?usp=sharing

8 Laura Sigelmann and Craig Jolley, “Rapid Assessment of Digital Government in Kosovo,”USAID March 2022 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jq3ebYMwEF82I6rMcfFvbjTWOWw0AHd1XH1SJCgLVeU/edit?usp=sharing

7 eKosova platform

6 Laura Sigelmann and Craig Jolley, “Rapid Assessment of Digital Government in Kosovo,” USAID March 2022 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jq3ebYMwEF82I6rMcfFvbjTWOWw0AHd1XH1SJCgLVeU/edit?usp=sharing

5 “Internet Penetration and Usage in Kosovo,” STIKK and Kantar, https://stikk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/STIKK_IK_Report_Internet_Penetration_V3-final-1.pdf

4 2022 “Country Report and Roadmap for Digital Agenda advancement in Kosovo,” Kosovo Digital Agenda Observatory, https://opendatakosovo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Kosovo-Country-Report-2022.pdf services on one platform (such as eKosova) also increases cybersecurity vulnerabilities and will require increased government cybersecurity capacities. The soon-to-be-established National Cybersecurity Agency (NCSA) is an important step by the GoK in ensuring that one agency will have oversight of the cybersecurity of government platforms. USAID, through the Critical Infrastructure Digitalization and Resilience (CIDR) activity, will support the establishment of the NCSA and subsequently through it, support the GoK in identifying and addressing cybersecurity risks and capacity gaps. Because e-Governance and cybersecurity are interrelated, USAID technical offices and activities will work closely together, including with other donors and parts of the USG, as USAID’s e-Governance and cybersecurity activities move forward.

While the GoK has or is in the process of developing a number of strategies, the institutional roles and governance processes are still unclear. Additionally, the GoK does not have a clear and complete picture of what human capacity is necessary to maintain, improve, and promote its existing e-Government platforms or develop new platforms. Finally, there is still a disparity between what is being provided and citizens’ expectations for digital government services. Limited engagement between GoK and civil society and the private sector inhibit GoK’s ability to develop quality services that meet the needs of the public.

C.3 Theory of Change/Development Hypothesis

IF institutional roles and processes are clear, actionable, and implemented, AND key institutions have the technical expertise and program management skills to develop, manage, and deliver digital government platforms and services AND civil society and the private sector are better equipped to use and monitor the quality of services and oversee and advocate for digital priorities, THEN institutions will be more efficient, transparent, accountable and responsive to citizens needs AND higher quality and more inclusive digital public services, tools, and infrastructure will be provided to the citizens AND civil society and the private sector will hold government institutions more accountable, thus collectively contributing to reduced opportunities for corruption and promoting good governance principles.

Key assumptions underlying this Theory of Change include:

● Political will in the GoK and key institutions to improve and advance provision of digital services

● GoK ensures cyber security of the digital government platforms

● Civil society actors continue to have space to voice concerns and needs.

C.4 STATEMENT OF WORK

a) Summary

USAID’s new Kosovo e-Governance activity will address long-standing challenges related to poor digital service delivery and ineffective management of digital government systems by the Government of Kosovo, by clarifying institutional roles and processes, strengthening institutional capacity to deliver services, and engaging civil society and the private sector, thus collectively contributing to reduced opportunities for corruption and promoting good governance principles. The activity will set a direction that will accelerate transformation into an agile digital government, which ensures that Kosovans receive high quality, efficient and accessible government services. The Kosovo e-Governance activity will focus on the following three program objectives:

1. Institutional roles and governance processes are clear, actionable, and implemented.

2. Key institutions have the technical expertise and program management skills to develop, manage, and deliver digital government platforms and services.

3. External feedback and oversight mechanisms on digital priorities and service delivery are established and used.

The activity objectives are geared towards improving and advancing existing processes and capacity at the ministry/agency level rather than developing new systems, structures, or capacities. Thus, the activity aims to increase the long-term resilience of Kosovo’s digital government systems by strengthening the existing system and embedding expertise. The activity is also designed to complement existing donor initiatives in Kosovo’s digital government ecosystem. This will support long-term sustainability of the activity’s objectives.

The digital government ecosystem in Kosovo is complex and many stakeholders are involved, including the Agency for Information Society (AIS), the Prime Minister’s office, various ministries such as the Ministry of Interior and Public Administration, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers, and Ministry of Economy, local government authorities, civil society and the private sector. AIS is mandated to draft policies related to e-Government, draft and modify the e-Government strategy , monitor the implementation of the strategy, and coordinate and respond to institutional needs for e-Government.

Each institution collects data and stores it in their systems; thus, the data is scattered across all institutions. Consequently, the responsibility for securing such data is managed by each institution. The lack of a centralized cybersecurity process for all institutions increases vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks and limits cybersecurity response capacities. However, new legislation on cybersecurity, which is currently awaiting Assembly approval, foresees centralizing the GOK’s cybersecurity mandate and response within the National Cybersecurity Agency. While this legislation is limited to cybersecurity, the Contractor must also give due consideration to information integrity and data management for effective and well-integrated information technology and digital service delivery infrastructure.

In this complex environment, the Contractor should consider activities expected to be performed, identified within all three objectives of this SOW, as only a starting place and adaptive management is expected to identify and propose additional innovative approaches, interventions, and sub-objectives to advance activity objectives throughout the activity lifecycle within the overall scope of the contract and budget.

b) Activity Objectives

The new Kosovo e-Governance activity will contribute to the following objectives and sub objectives:

Objective 1: Institutional roles and governance processes are clear, actionable, and implemented

Due to the lack of clear governance processes, ministries and agencies involved in digital government often struggle to connect their platforms and services through the interoperability platform or GG, eKosova, and the State Data Center. In order to improve the resilience and efficacy of GoK’s digital government systems, there needs to be clear and actionable institutional roles and governance processes. To meet this need, the activity will focus on developing and implementing an overarching e-Government strategy for the national digital government ecosystem, developing coordination mechanisms for ministries and agencies responsible for implementing digital government initiatives, and adopting processes, standards, and governance for AIS’s core IT systems.

The Kosovo e-Governance activity will work with the Prime Minister’s Office (OPM), the Digital Transformation Unit (DTU) and the Commission for Digital Transformation that are identified as leading bodies for overseeing and coordinating the implementation of the e-Government Strategy, per the final draft of Kosovo’s 2023-2027 e-Government Strategy. The Activity will also work with executive bodies, such as the Agency for Information Society (AIS) and national ministries and agencies that own digital data and services including, but not limited to, the Ministry for Internal Affairs and Public Administration (MIAPA), the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers (MoFLT), and the Ministry of Economy (MoE). The Contractor must adapt and take advantage of new opportunities to engage at the national level to strengthen the digital government ecosystem. The Contractor should as circumstances demand include other institutions and shift the level of support for any one of these agencies in consultation with the GoK and USAID to ensure efficacy. The Contractor must work with key agencies of Kosovo’s digital government ecosystem, through an adaptive management approach, to ensure all activities are aligned with relevant GOK strategies.

As Kosovo increasingly sees the benefits of digitalization, cyber security and information integrity measures need to keep pace. Transformation can only be achieved when built on a foundation of cybersecurity best practices; the cost of ignoring or deprioritizing cybersecurity exposes digital transformation to serious vulnerabilities. Therefore, the Kosovo e-Governance activity approach will ensure that Kosovo’s digital transformation constantly monitors and responds to evolving cybersecurity threats. This requires the creation of close coordination mechanisms, at the GoK level as well as between this activity and the mission’s other cyber and e-Governance interventions, including but not limited to the CIDR and prospective Critical Infrastructure Resilience Activities. In particular, interventions under Objective 1 of the e-Governance activity will need to consider cybersecurity threats across all phases of the digital transformation or product development lifecycle.

Sub-objective 1.1: GoK implements e-Government strategy which defines a vision for GoK’s digital government systems

The final draft of the 2030 Kosovo Digital Agenda that is pending GoK approval, is a strategic document covering the development of Kosovo towards a digitally developed society. The 2030 Kosovo Digital Agenda is a cross-sectoral government strategy that defines the policy and priorities of Kosovo in the context of the ongoing digital transformation of the economy and society as influenced by innovative technologies and global digital trends.10 Kosovo’s imminent e-Government strategy is expected to define a vision for GoK’s digital government system and more importantly define the clear roles and responsibilities of the institutions that are directly or indirectly engaged in strengthening the digital government ecosystem in Kosovo. A first critical step in advancing a comprehensive digital governance strategy is to establish the governance and institutional structures to ensure coordination between key stakeholders to develop and implement a digital governance action plan.

Currently, AIS has the legal mandate to develop and implement all government ICT systems, including the coordination of policies and regulations related to ICT in the GoK, the implementation of e-Government strategy , the management of IT projects in the GoK, and the creation and management of the State Data Center. However, there is still a lack of clarity on the overarching strategy for the development of digital government services in Kosovo.

10 2030 Kosovo Digital Agenda of Kosovo https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CMdWjteeRG2D7Rl31mg7jgyeAWD0s_QIqVg4NmATbIs/edit?usp=sharing

Another issue is the misalignment of priorities between the AIS and its home ministry (MIAPA), which focuses largely on law enforcement. There is limited top-level political advocacy on behalf of AIS about issues which are core to AIS functionality or leadership, driving its organizational structure or strategic direction. It is unclear what the future role of the Agency will be, or their relationship to other ministries.

The Contractor must support, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Work with (in coordination with other donors engaged in the sector) the Prime Minister's Office, AIS, and other leading bodies identified in Kosovo’s 2023 - 2027 e-Government Strategy to develop and/or implement (dependent on the status of the strategy), Kosovo's e-Government strategy .

● Provide technical expertise to the GoK in developing clear governance structures and procedures that support full implementation of the e-Government strategy .

● Support GoK in creating sustainable mechanisms that are responsible for better management, coordination, and monitoring of the development of e-Governance systems.

● Support GoK in developing policies on data management (inclusive of information integrity) and necessary mechanisms to implement it.

The Contractor should develop tailored, strategic, informed, and fit for purpose activities responsive to the operational environment and the trajectory of the GoK’s strategy development process on e-Governance. As noted throughout this Scope of Work, adherence to adaptive management best practices is essential to effective contractual performance.

Sub-objective 1.2: GoK develops coordination processes for institutions responsible for implementing digital government services

The World Bank’s 2021 survey11 findings point to significant coordination challenges in the introduction of digital governance across the government in Kosovo. Many GOK heads of agencies are not convinced of the importance of the 2017 - 2021 e-Government strategy and a majority do not feel they were properly informed and consulted. Only 12% of respondents believe that their institution has the resources and the capacity to implement the draft national e-Government strategy .

The limited awareness and recognition among heads of agencies of whole-of-government initiatives to strengthen e-Governance speaks to the need for better coordination.12 National Government strategies, and the institutional mechanisms developed to support their implementation, help define a shared vision and establish the culture of coordination and inter-agency mechanisms needed to adopt a whole-of-government approach. Going forward, Kosovo needs to consider strengthening the coordination mechanisms to help define priorities and provide additional training, awareness building, communication, and management support to ensure the effective implementation of strategies for digital governance.

In the absence of coordinated leadership on digital government, ministries have developed their own systems, services, and processes. Additionally, many ministries have developed their own strategy and

12 Ibid

11WB 2021 Assessing Digital Readiness and Skills and the Organizational Climate for Innovation in the Civil Service in Kosovo.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gpesoIfJUCK3IVIDFDY_kOvESuFqoUoCiVOSK8N7ONg/edit?usp=sha ring policy. This leads to a siloed ecosystem which offers different services across different platforms. As a consequence, some ministries have developed separate IT platform connections with individual ministries and agencies to exchange data, instead of using the interoperable whole-of-government GG system. The absence of a whole of government approach undermines a cohesive digital services delivery system. Additionally, while the Kosovo IT Strategy13, which promotes development of the Kosovo IT industry and complements other Kosovo strategic plans (ex. Kosovo Digital Agenda 2030, e-Government strategy ) does call for establishing a joint working group on e-Governance and open data, this has yet to happen. There is neither an organization nor staffing structure to manage and align investments in e-Government.

For example, the Ministry of Economy is responsible for developing the 2030 Kosovo Digital Agenda, the Ministry of Finance leads many tax and finance-based services, and AIS is responsible for Kosovo’s primary national digital government systems. Even as AIS improves its process and governance, line ministries will still need to have oversight and governance processes for digital services they own. This requires development of coordination processes among Kosovo institutions (AIS, ministries, agencies, etc) that are responsible for Kosovo’s digital transformation, cybersecurity, and provision of digital services to citizens as foreseen in Kosovo’s strategic documents (2030 Kosovo’s Digital Agenda and Kosovo’s 2023 - 2027 e-Government Strategy).

To accomplish this the Contractor must support, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Support the GoK and AIS in identifying and addressing issues that are hampering coordination among the institutions responsible for digital government services;

● Provide technical support to the GoK and AIS in creating sustainable mechanisms that will ensure better coordination among institutions, CSOs and private sector, a prerequisite for a successful implementation of the 2030 Kosovo Digital Agenda and Kosovo’s e-Government strategy;

● Work with the GoK in creating standards for all existing and future e-Government efforts, and systematizing the government’s digital transformation through enhanced coordination;

● Support GoK in identifying all stakeholders that need to be engaged and coordinated with (from the demand and supply side), to ensure that the e-Government strategy is fully implemented.

Sub-objective 1.3: The Agency for Information Society adopts clear processes, standards, and governance for digital government platforms and services

AIS is responsible for hosting platforms in the State Data Center, providing approval or guidance on technical systems, connecting services to eKosova, and connecting ministries to the GG. To accomplish this, AIS should have clear and standardized processes for these critical functions so that ministries can easily develop and connect new services to the GG, or host platforms in the State Data Center.

To accomplish this in a standardized and intentional manner, AIS needs a broader strategy for digitizing the GoK services. This would include developing a strategic understanding for systems that must remain in-house, systems that should be maintained by third parties, and systems that need technical experts to manage the processes, though not the technology itself. This should also include a strategy for internal feedback mechanisms.

Therefore, the Contractor must support, but is not limited to, the following activities:

13 Kosovo_IT_Strategy.pdf (rks-gov.net)

● Provide technical expertise to AIS in developing and implementing AIS internal policies and standard operating procedures, that ensure its ability to fulfill its designated role, in line with Kosovo's strategic documents, such as Kosovo’s 2023-2027 e-Government Strategy and the legislation that regulates this sector;

● Provide coaching to the AIS to determine ways of establishing clear processes, standards, and governance for the State Data Center, eKosova, and the GG (GG);

● Support AIS to develop buy-in from key stakeholders and establish internal feedback mechanisms;

● Work with the GoK to pilot updated processes in 2-3 priority use cases and adapt them as needed and accordingly before implementing them more broadly;

● Work closely with GoK and AIS stakeholders to identify which systems and processes must remain in-house, which must retain some in-house expertise, and which can be fully contracted out to local private sector companies that have the required technical capacity;

● Additionally, some IT systems that are used by certain ministries and agencies are not compatible with current AIS architecture, including hardware, software, communication, development methodologies, organizational structure, etc, used by the GoK information technology system, which limits their ability to benefit from interoperability through GG. The Contractor must support AIS to assess the existing information architecture available within those ministries and agencies (taking into account and building on available analysis and data), develop an interoperability implementation plan, and support the respective owners of the systems in implementation.

Objective 2: Key institutions have the technical expertise and program management skills to develop, manage, and deliver digital government platforms and services

Critical institutions responsible for Kosovo’s digital government such as ministries and agencies (including AIS) need the human capacity necessary to develop, maintain, and advance digital services, manage existing digital government platforms, ensure the interoperability of digital systems, and deliver quality digital government services. There are two key impediments. First, there is an IT skills deficit across GoK exacerbated by the inability of the GoK to compensate IT professionals appropriately. This leads to some agencies continuing to use systems that are non-compatible with GoK and AIS IT systems and processes.

As a result, some agencies are not able to share data with other GoK platforms through GG, while others struggle to maintain existing platforms.

Second, existing technical capacities are limited and the majority of institutions are unable to develop, manage, and deliver digital government platforms and services. Furthermore, AIS, as a key Kosovo institution responsible for managing government digitalization, lacks the human capacity to manage the lifecycle of their systems and contracts, including the GG and eKosova. This inhibits the management and advancement of existing digital infrastructure as well as the development of high-priority public services.

This Statement of Work includes a specific section below on cybersecurity considerations. This Statement of Work also includes a detailed section below on other USAID present and future activities that are distinct from, yet require coordination with, the e-Governance Activity. The distinctive lines of effort between Objective 2 of the e-Governance Activity and other USAID Activities are stated here for ease of understanding and clarity.

Complementarity with Cybersecurity Activities: Building the capacities of critical institutions responsible for developing, managing and delivering digital government platforms and services is the core of Objective 2. This digital transformation can only be achieved when building on a foundation of cybersecurity best practices. The Contractor must therefore build close coordination and cooperation mechanisms with the mission’s cybersecurity activities to ensure that all sub-objectives and activities under Objective 2 are designed to deliver secure and sustainable products and services.

Complementarity with Higher Education & Workforce Activities: Beyond USAID’s cybersecurity activities, USAID is engaged in parallel efforts that complement the Contractor’s work under Objective 2 of the e-Governance Activity. As outlined in the below section on USAID’s portfolio, the Contractor must coordinate closely with mission’s Private Sector-Led Workforce Development Activity and Private Sector Partnerships to Strengthen Higher Education Activity to address workforce development in the IT Sector.

The e-Governance activity will be responsible for identifying skill gaps and building the capacities of existing GoK IT professionals. This information will feed into relevant training and curricula to be developed as part of USAID’s higher education and workforce activities. This coordination will enable the GoK to have access to a pool of trained potential future recruits.

Complementarity with Kosovo Municipal Integrity Activity: The Contractor’s support for AIS to ensure that the IT platforms for all GoK institutions are integrated with and connected to the GG (GG) is relevant to USAID’s Kosovo Municipal Integrity activity (KMI). While the activities are distinct, the e-Governance Activity Contractor must ensure that AIS enables e-procurement platform to be interoperable, integrated with, and connected to other Government of Kosovo systems through the GG, ensuring that the e-procurement platform has access to digital data that improves transparency and accountability in the public procurement process.

It is critical that the Contractor ensures that the GoK, including AIS, own the process in order to ensure that results are sustainable in the long-term.

Sub-objective 2.1: GoK’s ability to access and retain qualified IT professionals is improved

As is the case in most public administrations globally, compensation for ICT-related expertise within Kosovo’s public sector is substantially below the prevailing rate in the private sector (same goes for the broader European labor market)14. Career development prospects are also relatively more limited in the public sector in Kosovo. There is a general deficit of IT skills throughout the GoK. Current law stipulates a salary cap for all government officials, including IT professionals. The labor market for IT experts in Kosovo is very competitive, and government salaries are much lower than those available in the private sector. In 2008, a set “allowance” was approved as an add-on to IT salaries, but it has not increased with market demand. Thus, GoK (including AIS) struggles to hire and retain IT professionals, which in turn forces some agencies to continue to use paper-based processes.

Ministries that have managed to retain IT professionals typically do so through short-term (6 month) contracts, which do not ensure sustainability of retaining IT capacities within institutions. Ministries with strong IT teams (e.g. MoF) are hesitant to share and transfer their services through the GG and to eKosova, due to the lack of IT expertise within AIS and other institutions.

Although the new, recently adopted, Law on Salaries has significantly improved the ranking of the IT professionals, it is not realistic to expect that the GoK salary is comparable to the salaries that the private

14 “Assessing Digital Readiness and Skills and the Organizational Climate for Innovation in the Civil Service”. World Bank. 2021 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gpesoIfJUCK3IVIDFDY_kOvESuFqoUoCiVOSK8N7ONg/edit?usp=sharing sector can offer. Therefore, in addition to increasing salaries there is a need for additional incentives and motivation schemes to be offered to retain GoK employees with IT skills.

The Contractor’s support must include, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Work with the GoK to develop and implement a strategy that addresses IT skills deficit and employee retention of IT professionals within government institutions;

● Support the GoK as it identifies plausible, feasible and sustainable solutions that, in addition to the level of compensation, offers incentives and other motivation schemes to GoK IT professionals (solutions can be drawn from global best practices, e.g the U.S. Digital Service,15 which addresses the issue of retaining IT skills within U.S. Government institutions, and other countries’ experiences to access and retain skilled IT staff and address the hiring deficit of institutions responsible for digital government).

● Support the GoK as it assesses the feasibility of potential solutions, between developing internal IT capacities or outsourcing (contracting out) IT services and skills, for each institution that is responsible for providing e-services.

● Identify the best and most feasible solutions to address the IT skills deficits in select GoK institutions, pilot them with 2-3 priority institutions, and adapt each solution as necessary. The proposed new solutions should be first piloted in the select institutions to measure effectiveness of the solution proposed. If the piloted solution proves effective, then the Contractor will assist the GoK to implement the solution across all GoK institutions. Following that, the Contractor must support the GoK in developing and implementing an action plan to be rolled out as the best solutions are identified for eachGoK institution.

● Support GoK in addressing obstacles, including legislative (if needed), financial, etc., to ensure that the successful pilots - or “best and most feasible solution(s) to address the IT skills deficit” are rolled-out to all GoK digital government stakeholders.

● Support the GoK in identifying the most appropriate IT training mechanisms (that includes relevant training institutions), such as the Kosovo Institute for Public Administration (KIPA), the private sector or CSOs, to ensure sustainability for advanced professional education and training for GoK IT professionals.

Sub-objective 2.2: AIS’s capacity to manage, deliver, and ensure the interoperability of digital government platforms and services is improved

As the core agency with the mandate to manage GoK’s digital government systems, AIS must have the human capacity necessary to manage, deliver, and ensure the interoperability of digital government platforms and services. While GG was set up by a vendor, AIS does not have a contract for its maintenance. Additionally, eKosova has promised many services, but many of them are not fully functional.

Currently, it’s unclear which of AIS’s core systems should be maintained fully or partially in-house, or which should be fully contracted out. Determining which systems require in-house technical expertise and thus what technical and management skills are needed is key for AIS success in fulfilling its mandate.

15 U.S. Digital Service: https://www.usds.gov/how-we-work

Whereas Sub-objective 1.3 above addresses the policy level (adopting clear processes, standards, and governance), the below requirements under Sub-objective 2.2 are focused on increasing AIS capacities to implement the policies.

The Contractor’s support must include, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Support AIS to identify core areas where it needs to build its human capacity and to identify what services and capacities should be contracted out (partially or fully) to local tech companies;

● Provide technical expertise to AIS to increase its staffing capacities to be able to manage, deliver and ensure interoperability of government platforms and services;

● Support AIS to ensure that it has the necessary capabilities to manage data (inclusive of information integrity) and ensure its integrity throughout its lifecycle, from acquisition to disposition.

● Support AIS to develop/revise its Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) if necessary, to ensure that AIS is able to fulfill its assigned roles and responsibilities.

● The Contractor must work with AIS and provide technical assistance to the KIPA to build capacity as a respected IT training institution that provides training programs which are frequent, sustainable, and can be scaled to other ministries.

It is possible that–upon implementation–there will be opportunities to coordinate across sub-objectives

2.1 and 2.2 to avoid duplication or ensure economies of scale.

Sub-objective 2.3: Electronic platforms that deliver high-priority public services are identified and improved

The Government of Kosovo has made progress toward digitizing their services and operations.

Unfortunately, these efforts are uncoordinated and siloed. Various donor projects are working to make government data open and readily available to citizens, but so far, few ministries have released their data. The data platforms that have been made public are not interoperable, further promoting data silos.16 Over 700 services are provided across government to businesses and citizens at central and local levels. Out of these, an overwhelming number – over 90% - are not provided as online services as most institutions do not yet have the necessary infrastructure, systems, and skills. As reported by AIS, most of the public institutions in the country have their own databases of electronic records, and use these databases to provide online services, but resist data sharing via GG. Examples include: Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK); Kosovo Business Registration Agency (KBRA); Kosovo Pension Saving (KPST); and the Electronic System of Non-Governmental Organizations (ESNGOs).

Furthermore, some GoK agencies lack the technical capacity to reconfigure their legacy systems to work with the GG, or their digitized data do not adhere to the standards required for sharing through the GG or eKosova platform. One of the most striking examples of this was the Central Election Commission (CEC), which relies heavily on the Civil Registry Agency for data on registered voters. They also rely on data from the Kosovo Judicial Council (to check candidate eligibility) and the Kosovo Cadastral Agency (to assign voters to the correct polling site). Because their systems are not connected to GG, they are unable to automatically receive data from other agencies or share data with external stakeholders (including political parties). Instead, they receive and disseminate data on CD-ROMs - a slow, labor-intensive

16 Digital Development in the Western Balkans: Kosovo Feb 13, 2020 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQeBVuZbmbfx0BbAF6aD7FutYr2eDXDVKSfQtOcJONE/edit?usp=sharing approach that creates major security vulnerabilities. While CEC was an informative case study, interviewees suggested that there are many more GoK agencies that connect with other parts of the government though channels other than GG.17

Recent analysis has shown that IT Departments in most line ministries and agencies are small, providing ICT services and maintaining back-end systems in a dispersed and siloed ICT structure. Among other things, this capacity configuration presents significant challenges for the coordination and management of the complex transition to e-services and interoperability.

eKosova reportedly offers 90+ services, but many are not fully functional and often citizens must complete paper processes alongside the digital ones. The EU is currently supporting GoK in implementing the law on e-identification18 that will enable secure mobile e-signature, which supports the development of secure online services. This creates an opportunity to identify and improve high-priority service delivery platforms.

The target of the e-Governance activity, under this sub-objective, will be the select institutions (GoK ministries and or agencies), responsible for producing priority citizen-facing e-services, to support them in improving the quality, data management and the ability to link them through an improved interoperability platform and the eKosova platform.

The Contractor’s support must include, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Support GoK and AIS to develop and use participatory methods to identify a list of priority citizen-facing e-services. This line of effort must be accomplished in close collaboration with Objective 3’s work with CSOs and the private sector on the identification of high priority digital services responsive to citizen and business needs.

● In consultation with USAID, identify select services from the list of priority services, for which the Contractor must increase capacities of AIS and/or the relevant ministry to develop or improve;

● The list of priority services should be made available to AIS and other donors for future strategic planning support;

● Support AIS and the select ministries/agencies to develop capacities for ensuring quality and capacities for data management (including information integrity) of the digital services produced and link those services through the interoperability platform in order to ensure data exchange between all institutions and the eKosova platform.

● Support AIS and other key institutions that are responsible for provision of e-services to develop and adopt internal feedback mechanisms on digital priorities and service delivery.

Objective 3: External feedback and oversight mechanisms on digital priorities and service delivery are established and used

Digital government is designed to adopt and use technologies to create public value. One of the key components of a successful digital government is an engaged civil society. Citizen involvement and trust is critical at all stages of digital government initiatives, through transparent and inclusive implementation

18 Law no. 08/l-022 on Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Transactions https://gzk.rks-gov.net/ActDocumentDetail.aspx?ActID=51618

17 Laura Sigelmann and Craig Jolley, “Rapid Assessment of Digital Government in Kosovo,”USAID March 2022 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jq3ebYMwEF82I6rMcfFvbjTWOWw0AHd1XH1SJCgLVeU/edit?usp=sharing that considers the views and concerns of key stakeholders. Equitable access to platforms is foundational to successful digital engagement strategies. The engagement of youth, women, and marginalized or underrepresented groups in digitization initiatives is key to addressing the digital divide.

Kosovo CSOs and the private sector have an important role in establishing an oversight mechanism to assure that the digital services are effective, of high quality, and follow rules and regulations properly.

Oversight mechanisms are crucial in ensuring accountability, quality control, adherence to laws and regulations, controlling unfair treatment, corruption, illegal and unethical behavior. Civil society has a key role in monitoring access and quality of digital government services, in order to maintain the efficacy and accountability of Kosovo’s digital government system. The private sector’s involvement is equally important, as private sector partners are often critical for developing effective digital systems. These need to align with the USAID-endorsed Principles for Digital Development (‘Digital Principles’), “Design with the User” and “Be Collaborative.”

The Contractor must work with, at a minimum, key institutions, local citizen groups, local Kosovar CSOs, local media outlets, individual businesses, Chambers of Commerce, and the Kosovo diaspora which typically are involved directly or indirectly in the area of digital government. They should all be involved and be a part of the external feedback mechanisms on digital priorities, service delivery, and public-private dialogue.

Sub-objective 3.1: Civil Society is equipped with tools for advocacy & efficacy in securing, monitoring & assessing the quality & responsiveness of priority e-Government services

Effective digital services must be aligned with the needs of citizens and businesses. E-government services must be informed by citizen demands and regularly monitored and assessed by citizens and civil society.

Citizens, businesses, and the public have greater access to digital government services than ever before due to the continued digitalization of the government. However, the selection of the digital services already available was not informed by participatory processes. These digital services are the result of decisions taken by government institutions on specific services in most cases without significant citizen involvement. In addition, existing digital services face continuous problems with respect to access and the quality of services offered. The partnership among government institutions, CSOs, and citizen groups, in implementation of the Kosovo Digital Agenda as well as the e-Government strategy is still nascent. There is a limited number of CSOs focused on digital government, but the majority of them are focused on service provision only. The role of CSOs in monitoring digital government is still limited and not completely defined. Civil society needs mechanisms to monitor, oversee and provide feedback on the quality of services currently provided by GoK.

The Contractor will strengthen the capacities of CSOs to monitor the accessibility, and the quality of, digital government services provided. At the same time, the Contractor must support the creation of the partnership between GoK institutions and CSOs to foster a culture of digitizing government services in a participatory manner.

The Contractor’s support must include, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Provide support to increase the capacities of CSOs and citizen groups to engage more effectively in monitoring digital government services and generate support to increase citizens' access to digital services.

● Propose and support mechanisms by which the public and civil society can provide feedback to the government on access to and quality of service provision as well as become a promoter of digital services at all levels.

● The Contractor must identify and propose new modalities and approaches to further enhance the role and effectiveness of CSOs in becoming an important partner in implementation of the Kosovo Digital Agenda, especially in the area of e-services.

● The Contractor must actively pursue continuing partnerships between appropriate government entities and CSOs beyond the life of this activity that will enhance sustainability of Kosovo digital government implementation in a participatory manner.

Sub-objective 3.2: Civil Society effectively advocates for & monitors digital services

Building upon newfound organizational strengths and capacities, civil society organizations leverage their skills and tools to advocate for and monitor digital services.

The priorities expressed by government agencies and officials are often not informed by the priorities of the general public. It is critical that there are mechanisms in place for civil society to advocate for their concerns, priorities, and needs to the government and build a culture of accountability in support of Kosovo's digital government efforts. This includes priorities related to the gender digital divide and other divides.

The Contractor must support, but is not limited to, the following activities:

● Provide…