Telecommunications Regulatory Authority launches Government Service Bus Project

UAE, October 10, 2016- The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (TRA) executive arm for the mGovernment Program, the UAE mGovernment, in cooperation with the Prime Minister’s Office, has launched the Government Service Bus (GSB) project, which aims to provide a connecting platform for government services of federal entities over a secure electronic environment and simplify procedures, integrate government services and improve their quality.

The GSB project is one of the 22 initiatives of the UAE mGovernment, which networks a number of services for local and federal entities within an easily accessible electronic system where smooth exchange of data between these entities’ systems to serve the customer needs in obtaining the required data without having to move from one counter to another, thereby creating a one-stop-shop for government services. The project is being implemented in accordance with the directives of the UAE Government’s wise leadership and the national agenda to adopt the highest standards in digital security and safety. 

H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, said: “The launch of the GSB project is in response to the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to complete the smart transformation process and link all government services to one another as part of the government’s digital integration. In so doing, access to services becomes easier, faster and simpler – which is the essence of mGovernment – and achieve the goal of satisfaction and happiness for our customers. In the next phase, we will focus on working under the directives of our wise leadership to further incorporate connectivity, efficiency, satisfaction, quality and innovation in bringing happiness to customers.”

H.E. Hessa Essa Buhumaid, Assistant Director General for Government Services and Leadership at the Prime Minister's and Office of the Future noted that the GSB project is an important step towards customer’s happiness by facilitating services and enabling the entities to get the information and other documents via a secure database, resulting to easy and quick service.”

“This project saves the customer’s efforts and time through getting one or more services, and makes it a happy journey for the customer, which reflects positively on the government work and achieve the integrity among all entities, translate the efforts of smart transformation into reality. So all government entities should benefit from this opportunity and connect their data to this integrated system”, Buhumaid added.

Eng. Mohammed Al Zarooni, Director of TRA’s Policy and Programs Department, noted that the GSB project enhances the quality of government services and promotes the electronic linkage among agencies to facilitate and simplify procedures, thus saving time and effort for government agencies and customers alike.

Eng. Al Zarooni underscored the importance of cooperation, coordination and integration among all government entities in order to deliver the highest quality and most efficient services to the public with the goal of improving user experiences, saving their time and expediting their transactions, as well as reducing the number of customer visits to government entities.

The TRA started working on the GSB project at the end of July this year after the launch of the UAE Smart Cloud which is also a part of the UAE Government Network (FEDnet) programme. FedNet is participated in by six federal entities: the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, the Ministry of Health & Prevention, the Ministry of Community Development, the General Pension and Social Security Authority, and the Insurance Authority. 

The federal entities involved implemented the electronic linkage and service exchanges successfully during the project’s trial phase. Earlier this year, they invited local government entities to join and benefit from the services provided by the platform. The three local agencies that joined last February – the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre and the Abu Dhabi Retirement Pension & Benefits Fund – have fully cooperated with the TRA to achieve the same level of connectivity as that of the federal entities.

The project further strengthens the efficiency of independently delivering 15 government support services, and has already improved 10 key services from the federal and local entities involved. The project saves about 57.831 times of customer visits annually, reflecting the efficiency of the system. It also saves 7,460 work days for the employees involved – equivalent to the productivity of 30 employees.  

The TRA invites all government entities in the UAE to join the project and take advantage of the GSB services to improve and develop the quality of their public service and achieve happiness and better wellbeing for the community.