E-government: the Introduction of Electronic State Services in the Russian Federation

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The process of the informational exchange between people has existed at all times, however it had natural restrictions from century to century, since it was mainly based on sounds, gestures, facial expressions. Presently, in the century of information society, some new opportunities for informational exchange come into being. In this article, we will give consideration to the possibility of the informational exchange between an individual and the state. The period of the communication of the government institutions with individuals by means of the informational transfer with written characters have lasted for many centuries, and, in some countries of Asia - thousands of years. The century of the information technologies brought the revolutionary changes in the process of the communication of an individual with the state. Now, the state institutions are actively using new technologies and the methods of the communication and informational transfer with the citizens of the country. The citizens of the Russian Federation and the governmental bodies are on the way of permanent progress in the field of information technologies. Currently, favorable conditions and great opportunities for the development of the information society have been created in the Russian Federation. To achieve the high level of the information and telecommunication technologies development and their intensive usage by the citizens, business and public authorities, the Strategy of the information society development in the Russian Federation has been worked out [4]. The Strategy defines the aim, tasks, principles and the main directions of the state policy in the field of the usage and development of the information and telecommunication technologies, science, education and culture for the progression of the country on the way of the formation and development of the information society [4]. The modern development of the communication means demands very high standards of the public servants: when rendering public services, the government bodies administration expects from officials the ability to get adapted to the changing conditions, the speed of their reaction, the effective ICT usage in their activity and when solving administrative tasks. It is obvious, that the high qualification of public servants in the sphere of information technologies facilitates the resolution of many problems and make the work of government bodies more effective. However, it is possible to assume that the citizens could contribute themselves to such a complicated process as the receipt of the high quality services, for example, as far as possible to reduce the time of stay and number of visits of public institutions. This task can be achieved by using modern ways of communication, and, primarily, by means of the Internet. So, with the help of the Internet, the time of processing applications and addresses of the citizens are being reduced, the information is circulating quicker; the process of communication is being accelerated not only on the level of the “state-society”, but directly inside the government institutions as well. For the purpose of the acceleration and improvement of the state institutions performance, the complex of various measures can be carried out, in which the key element, is the introduction of the advanced information technologies. Currently, the multipurpose centers which provide the state and municipal services have been established and they assigned to increase convenience and to accelerate intercommunication of the citizens with the government bodies. In this case, the interdepartmental intercommunication, necessary for rendering the state service, takes place without direct participation of the citizen. However, this process can be made more effective and fast by exploiting modern technologies of communication, which have been already available to many users. The interest in the technologies of the population service coincided with the development of the Internet and the Internet, as the cheapest means of the communication with the clients, opened ample opportunities for the self-service. Such development resulted in the concept of the electronic state services which are being received by the population with the help of the Internet. According to the Acts of the Russian Federation, the State service is “the service rendered by the public authorities, public institutions and other legal entities in cases established by the legislation of the Russian Federation” [1]. Federal law No. 210-FZ dated July 27, 2010 (version of 31.12.2014) “Regarding the organization of state and municipal services provision” regulates “the relations arising in connection with providing state and municipal services, respectively, by the federal executive authorities, the bodies of the state off-budget funds, the executive state bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation, and also by the local administrations and the other local governing bodies which are carrying out executive and administrative powers” (for example, the issue of the construction license, granting an extract from the real estate register) [1]. These services are being provided according to the administrative regulations on the ground of the applicants’ requests. Besides, the same law regulates the legal relationship when rendering the services necessary or obligatory, when providing the other state service in the context of this law [1]. Such services, according to the requirements of the article 9 of the same law, can be rendered to the applicant on a paid basis as well [1]. The electronic services offer such a model of interactional organization between the authorities and the population, when the process of submitting an application and other necessary documents for receiving the service is being carried out in electronic form by means of the Internet. After the decision, has been made, the result in the form of the electronic document can be provided to the applicant [1]. The main engine of informatization in the Russian Federation is the state initiative. Here, the essential influence on the level of the usage of information and communication technologies has been exerted by the State program “Information Society (2011-2020)”, and also by some other regional and departmental programs that led the country to the notable results. According to Federal Law No. 210-FZ dated July 27, 2010 (version of 31.12.2014), “the state service is considered rendered in the electronic form, provided that, it is being offered with use of the Integrated portal for state services” [1]. The Integrated portal for state services is the federal state information system providing the access of the individuals and legal entities to various information. The Integrated portal for state services is an integral part of the infrastructure supplying data and technological interaction of the informational systems used for offering the state services in an electronic form. Since November 25th, 2009 when the Internet portal for state services started functioning in the test mode, it turned into the effective instrument of the citizens’ access to the state services in the electronic form. For the users’ convenience and information security on the Integrated portal for state services, the concept of personal account has been realized. Apart from the information about the state and municipal services, current news and some analytical materials on the state services are being published on the Integrated portal for state services. According to Deputy Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation Alexey Kozyrev, the number of users of IPSS (Integrated portal for state services) reached nearly 15 million in 2015. Thus, the portal is visited by about 200 thousand citizens daily [3]. Considering the fact that, following the results of 2013, the number of the registered users amounted to 7,1 million, it is possible to claim that the Integrated portal for state services is in great demand, and the citizens of the Russian Federation are using it with considerable enthusiasm. Judging by the results of the Integrated portal for state services performance in 2016, the number of users (at the moment more than 35 million Russians are registered on the Integrated portal for state services) has risen manifold. The users’ growth in October, 2016 only, came to 1,7 million people. For the same period, the total number of visits of the Integrated portal for state services (IPSS) and its mobile web application has reached 27.3 million. The further tendency to the users’ growth and services themselves on the portal is high enough. For example, as it was reported in “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, some discounts are planned for certain services received on the portal, since one third of the executive bodies will acquire the right to reduce the amount of such payments (duties) up to 30 percent for the citizens who submitted the applications in an electronic form [6]. It should be noted, that such large cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg, have already had their own portals for providing the state services in an electronic form for a long time, but in the list of the most developed cities in the sphere of using the state services in an electronic form, they ranked only 13th and 26th respectively. The portal is, particularly, in great demand in Primorsky Krai (15.1% of the population) which is connected with the accelerated pace of the state services transfer into an electronic version and the region’s authorities pay special attention to it [11]. The transition to the “electronic services” begins with the institutions entry into the Internet that leads to the state services’ efficiency increase. Properly performed electronic state services become open, public, users friendly, integrated and based on the principle of the partnership between the state and the citizens. The portals of the regions, such as the portal of Moscow (The Official site of the Mayor of Moscow), www.mos.ru, where the former portal of the city services is located now, pgu.mos.ru, which became the section of the site of Moscow “The Moscow services”, has united the access to many state and local municipal services. It has, undoubtedly, become possible thanks to the fulfillment the of strategy of the information society development in the Russian Federation, where under the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 697 dated September 8, 2010 regarding the uniform system of interdepartmental electronic interaction, has been realized an integrated entrance to the general access system. The Government of the Moscow Region created the similar portal of the electronic services “Portal of the State and Municipal Services of the Moscow Region” located on the web-site: “https://uslugi.mosreg.ru/”. However, unlike the Integrated portal for state services, any person can be registered on regional portals, or, one can simply use the existing account of some popular social projects, and, to use the Integrated portal for state services, it is necessary to confirm at first your identity by one of the possible options, for example, at certain reception centers the identity card has to be shown, and only after that, you will get access to the whole range of electronic state services rendered. On regional portals, where such registration is not available, but a simplified registration is used, not all services are available but only the basic ones, where the identification is not required, such as: the payment of the traffic police fines and reference services, namely, the legal entity accounting statement’s acquisition, the copies of certain documents’ receipt, etc. It should be noted, that the similar simplified registration exists on the Integrated portal for state services as well, but with such registration, without the identity confirmation, the list of the rendered services will be significantly limited. The Moscow Regional Duma adopted the law “About Single Questions of Implementation of Public Control in the Moscow Region”. This document establishes legal basis of an organization and implementation of the public control of the authorities’ activity. Its own portal on the implementation of additional means of public control has started operating in the Moscow Region. Their essence consists in receiving and considering some public suggestions, in creation of working feedback channels on the basis of the existing services and taking into account the public opinion when making decisions. The portal for problems’ discussion and generating ideas “Dobrodel” carries out this function in the Moscow Region. However, following the inspection results by November, 1 with reference to the site “natual.ru”, it became clear, that 28 municipal sites ignored the Government initiative and didn't place a constant banner of “Dobrodel”. The banner of “Dobrodel” has been put on 20 websites, but it is not very noticeable, and on the 19 sites the banner has been posted in a visible place [8]. The portal has been working rather effectively, and, the quantity of the Moscow Region citizens’ applications has been growing up.Thus, to direct a request, it is enough for any citizen to undergo simple registration procedure on the site of the project: http://vmeste.mosreg.ru or through a mobile application. The Moscow regional portal “Dobrodel” helps the authorities to enhance intercommunication with the citizens. The users have access to three sections which are divided as follows: “to express gratitude”, “to make a suggestion” or “to report about a problem”. The public control with the citizens’ involvement is functioning now, for example, on August 26, 2016 the meeting of the Board of the Legislators of the Central Federal District took place in Kaluga, where the Moscow Region Parliament was represented by the Chief of staff of Moscow Regional Duma Artur Shenkao. The participants considered the questions of the realization of the territorial subjects of the Russian Federation investment potential and the development of the regional tourism and, one of subjects, which was brought up during the meeting, was the monitoring of the right application of the federal law on the public control basis, the instruments of which, were implemented, in particular, on the “Dobrodel” portal [9]. From the mentioned above, it is possible to come to the conclusion, that the Integrated portal for state services provides single point of access for the individuals and legal entities to the list of the state services offered by the public authorities. This fact, substantially improves both the quality of the provided state services, and the speed of their realization, due to the use of the modern communication technologies.

About the authors

A V Teplov

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)

Email: teplov_av@rudn.university
Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10/2, Moscow, Russia, 117198

A S Belchenko

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)

Email: belchenko_as@rudn.university
Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10/2, Moscow, Russia, 117198

G V Kuzmina

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)

Email: kuzmina_gv@rudn.university
Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10/2, Moscow, Russia, 117198

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