Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment: registration extended

The Information Technology Authority (ITA) announced that it has extended the registration deadline for participating projects in the five categories of the competition for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment.

Accordingly, registration which was previously scheduled to close on the 30th of this month will now continue through to 7th October 2010.

The Award Committee explained that registration for the Award has been extended due to the growing number of participating projects from government institutions and their increasing requests to extend the deadline in order to complete and submit their projects in their final forms. In recognition of such interest shown by the said institutions, the ITA has decided to extend the deadline until 7 October 2010 in order to contribute to the increase of the number of competing projects in the five categories of the Award.

Through the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment Services, the ITA seeks to achieve several objectives, most notably: encourage government institutions to accelerate the pace of promoting their performance; facilitate their services through the use of digital technology; motivate governmental institutions to implement new e-projects and constantly endeavor to develop their eServices; improve the quality of their eGovernment services; simplify their procedures to affect a standard of quality and efficiency that would ensure more confidence and public contribution; and, acknowledge and reward excellence and creativity in the field of eGovernment services.

The categories of the Award include: the best eContent Award, the best eService (G2G, G2B, and G2C) Award, the best eReadiness Award, the best eProject Award and lastly, the best eEconomy Award to be conferred upon government institutions whose services contributed to supporting the national economy.
The general criteria for participating in the competition include the following:

 Participating eServices or eProducts shall be available in both English and Arabic;
 Projects shall abide by the stipulations of intellectual property rights;
 The eService or eProducts applying for the Award shall provide final solutions (i. e. enable the user to complete most of or all eTransactions online); and,
 The eService shall target government institutions, the business sector or citizens.

The Project applying for the Awards Competition shall also show how information technology (IT) has played a key role in developing the efficiency of services within such institutions and prove one or all of the following: that the use of IT improves the eServices for society; that there has been effective use of this modern technology, shedding light on the benefits of the latest technological developments; and, the project shall evaluate the potential of new innovative means in the delivery and distribution of information.

The ITA will host the Jury Session of the Competition for three days from the 17 - 19 October 2010 at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel. The independent Jury Panel will be represented by international eGovernment and IT experts who will evaluate the participating projects and approve the winners. The names of winners will be announced and awards will be distributed during the month of December.

ITA is a Public Authority created by Royal Degree 52/2006. ITA endeavours to consolidate and implement the Digital Oman strategy to transform the Sultanate of Oman into a knowledge-based economy for the achievement of social and economic benefits to Omani society. ITA's vision is 'Transforming Oman, Empowering You'.