E-GEORGIA Decades of Successful Transition

E-GEORGIA
Decades of Successful
Transition
E-Georgia –
Decades of Successful
Transition
Prepared and published by the Data Exchange Agency, the LEPL of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, with support from
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UK aid from the UK Government. The views expressed in the
document do not necessarily reflect those of UNDP and UK aid from the UK Government.
Foreword
Since you are holding this publication, you are on Today, we, Georgians are proud of our achievements.
the right path to learning more about Georgia, a Through a significant reform programme, we have
small country at the crossroads of East and West. improved access to public services for all citizens,
I said small, but it is a country with a long and no matter how remote the community is. Public
beautiful history, which now comprehensively financial management reforms have strengthened
combines its wisdom and historical experiences cash-flow management through comprehensive
with the technologies and modern approaches of control systems, which avoided accumulation of
the civilized world. arrears, improved external audit, and oversight - and
to paraphrase the European Parliament delegation
We have a lot to say about our country, already well- visiting in 2017 - the transparency of the Georgian
known as a cradle of wine production and viticulture eProcurement system should serve as an example
going back over 8000 years; its food, mixing for the EU Member States in this area.
European and Middle Eastern flavours; its capital,
Tbilisi, mixing Eastern and Western architectural Unnecessary bureaucracy, complicated procedures
styles - old and modern; mountains and valleys, and a subsequent lack of transparency, as well
home to forests of Nordmann firs “Christmas trees”; as unreasonable spending of taxpayers’ money,
peaks exceeding 5000 meters; modern ski resorts provided fertile ground for corruption. In addition,
and spas; remote rivers and mountain communities. corruption restricted business growth and
investment flows, which deteriorated people’s
But now we are going to tell you the story of Georgia quality of life. The Georgia of my youth suffered from
becoming a leading nation in many areas, including all these ills, but now thanks to the determination
pioneering the use of ICTs in public administration and creativity of Georgian people and the country’s
in the region. We consider eGovernance to be one of leadership, things have changed drastically. Today,
the major tools for improving public administration, in my humble opinion, Georgia represents an unique
increasing its effectiveness and efficiency, providing example of a former Soviet state that has emerged
citizens with more comfortable and accessible to conduct democratic and peaceful government
services, combating corruption, and improving the transitions and kept its feet strongly on the right
level of transparency and accountability of public track of development.
institutions.
Our journey was not easy. We faced challenges, ups
Georgia’s journey has been long. Since regaining and downs. Our journey became possible thanks to
independence in 1991, the country has experienced focusing on core enablers, like legal and regulatory
two tumultuous decades that badly affected the reforms, and on organisational and process re-
economy and strained public administration to the engineering, collaboration, and intergovernmental
verge of collapse. cooperation. These were all underpinned by
5
technology to ensure cost efficiency, productivity, We are keen to share our experience with other
quality, and effectiveness. Successive Georgian countries that are striving to modernize their
governments have had a strong mandate from voters approaches toward using ICTs in everyday life.
and entrepreneurs to transform the country. Few The Internet and information and communication
countries have successfully carried out such wide- technologies increase efficiency, reduce costs, and
ranging reforms as Georgia has in such a short term spur innovations. We believe that our experience
period. Repeated international assessments by the and best practices will help your country and
World Bank, the UN E-Government Development promote higher and more inclusive growth. We have
Index, and the Open Government Index of the already started our journey to an endless world of
World Justice Project observed sizable progress and opportunities. Our Journey has been successful and
highlighted the presence of strong political will and we would like to share the nature of our success
the propriety of government approaches – innovative with you. We welcome you to Georgia and hope our
yet unconventional methods to raise the capacity Journey will enlighten your way.
of civil servants, limit government bureaucracy and
creatively use technology to achieve tangible results. Minister of Justice of Georgia
Thea Tsulukiani
6 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Table of Contents
FOREWORD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
GEORGIAN FACTSHEET...................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION.......................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. . ...................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ENABLERS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION........................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

GOVERNANCE AND CROSS-GOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
STRATEGIES, ACTION PLANS AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
ENABLING AND FLEXIBLE LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
PHYSICAL AND ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION AND IDENTITY MANAGEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
DATA EXCHANGE INFRASTRUCTURE, OPEN DATA, AND ONCE-ONLY PRINCIPLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CYBERSECURITY, DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY............ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
UNIVERSAL SERVICE ACCESS, EFFECTIVE AND COST-EFFICIENT DELIVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SHARED SERVICE CENTRES: PUBLIC SERVICE HALLS............ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ONLINE ONE-STOP-SHOP SERVICE DELIVERY: MY.GOV.GE... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
GOVERNMENTAL COLLABORATION, CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVED SERVICE ACCESS: COMMUNITY CENTRES. . . . . . . . . . 40
ALL ON BOARD: EXPRESS COMMUNITY CENTRE BUSES FOR RURAL OUTREACH IN A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
OPEN BUDGET: IMPROVED BUDGET MONITORING FOR EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
CUTTING THE RED-TAPE FOR INCREASED GROWTH AND COST-EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

BUILDING GEORGIA: NO FRILLS EFFICIENCY FOR BUILDING PERMITS AND LEGAL COMPLIANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: SIMPLE, TRANSPARENT, COST-EFFICIENT CUSTOMS CLEARANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
GEORGIA OPEN FOR BUSINESS: TRADE FACILITATION SYSTEM FOR BACKEND EFFICIENCY AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS. . . . . . . . 49
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ONLINE: INCREASED EFFICIENCY AND COST REDUCTION, INCREASED
TRANSPARENCY AND COMPETITION................................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
FASTER, BETTER AND CHEAPER: REVENUE REFORM AND E-FILLING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: NEW TECHNOLOGY AND CONCEPTS ALREADY BEING TESTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY USE FOR LAND REGISTRY AND OWNERSHIP TITLE DEEDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
INNOVATION SERVICELAB AND PUBLIC SECTOR THINK TANK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
SMART CITY CONCEPT FOR TRANSPARENT LOCAL GOVERNMENT, IMPROVED SERVICE DELIVERY, SUSTAINABLE
AND ENERGY EFFICIENT URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
BUSINESS HOUSE - A ONE-STOP PLACE FOR ALL BUSINESS-RELATED QUERIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
COME TO GEORGIA. . . . . . ...................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Georgian Factsheet
Context matters: it can be a facilitating factor or twice as much as it exports, exposing Georgia to
a barrier to change, and is no different in Georgia. international currency fluctuations, global trade
Unfortunately, context is often used as an excuse to policies, and macroeconomic phenomena. Annual
resist changes. Some of these excuses are cultural inflation in 2018 stood at 2.8% with unemployment
uniqueness or level of wealth. Another excuse is at 11.8% in 2017.
a country’s relative geographical or population
size, whether small or large. A country’s approach With respect to good governance, Georgia has steadily
to governance and institutional frameworks, improved governance efficiency, effectiveness, and
whether federal, centralized, top-down or bottom- regulatory quality in recent years. According to the
up, has also been used to highlight why change World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators,
is not possible or why something should not be it has improved from 28.21%-point to 71.15%
attempted. The Georgian case shows how it’s in government effectiveness and 34.36%-point
possible to modernise and successfully transform to 81.25% in regulatory quality between 2000
society and the public sector, despite an adverse and 2016 (Figure 2 and Table 2). This in turn has
context, lacking capacities or financial resources, in enabled the country to strengthen its rule of law
what two decades ago was a troubled, fragmented and roll back previously rampant corruption. These
state on the verge of collapse. improvements are illustrated by both World Bank
data highlighting 20.79%-point to 81.25% increase
Located in the Caucasus region, Georgia is situated in Rule of Law and a 15.23%-point to 73.56% increase
on the border between Europe and Central Asia. in corruption control between 2000 and 2016
With a population of 3.7 million, it is essentially a (Figure 2 and Table 2), and data from Transparency
small country. Approximately 57% of Georgians International demonstrates that the level of public
live in urban areas, one-third of which live in the sector fiscal transparency has improved over the
capital Tbilisi. Despite high level of immigration, same period. Georgia has consistently performed
the population is relatively stable due to birth rates. amongst the global top-third countries since 2010
While some may consider Georgia a nation-state, and since 2014 has been ranked first amongst its
regional identity and dialects are strong and of Eastern European and Central Asian peers (Table 3).
historic, cultural, and political importance. This noteworthy progress establishes Georgia as a
regional and global leader in terms of real progress
With a GDP per capita of US$ 4,290 (GEL 10,510), made. A further achievement was its recognition by
or US$ 10,600 (GEL 25,900) in purchasing power the World Justice Project and its Rule of Law Index
parity in 2018, it is a low-medium income country. 2017-2018 as one of the top performers for Eastern
Up from US$ 1,207 (GEL 2,960), or US$ 3,100 (GEL Europe and Central Asia.
7,600) in 2004, respectively, it is not that simple.
GDP per capita has increased an impressive 45% The impact of the increased use of technologies
the mid-2000s, although at slower pace as of 2014 and reform initiatives are also reflected in UN
(Figure 1). The country imports approximately evaluations. Since 2014, the general E-Government

Development Index has placed Georgia first the E-Participation Index puts Georgia in the top-
amongst 51 medium-low income countries (Table 4). third tier globally and amongst its medium-low
In relation to technology use for public engagement, income peers (Table 5).
Table 1: Socio-economic facts (source: National Statistic Office of Georgia.

http://www.geostat.ge)
Area (sq.km) 69,700
Population (January 2017) 3,718,200
Capital city Tbilisi, population 1,114,600
GDP (2016) US$ 14,378,000,000 / GEL 35,226,100
GDP growth rate (2016) 2,8 %
GDP per capita (2016) US$ 4,080 / GEL 9,996
Inflation annual (November 2017) 6,9 %
Unemployment rate (2016) 11,8 %
Export (FOB) US$ 2,113,000,000 /GEL 5,176,850,000
Import (CIF) US$ 7,295,000,000 /GEL 17,872,750,000
Figure 1: Economic growth 2006-2016 (source: Georgia GDP per capita by World Bank
https://tradingeconomics.com/georgia/gdp-per-capita)
4500
4290.17
4084
3973.2
3851.7 4000
3633.7
3469.7
3500
3220.4 USD
2964.5
2821.1 3000
2722.2 2753.6
2391.4 2500
2000
2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
9
Figure 2: World Bank worldwide governance indicator
(source: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports)
Percentile Rank
Indicator Country Year
(0 to 100)
Government Effectiveness Georgia 2000
2005
2010
2012
2014
2016
Regulatory Quality Georgia 2000
2005
2010
2012
2014
2016
Rule of Law Georgia 2000
2005
2010
2012
2014
2016
Control of Corruption Georgia 2000
2005
2010
2012
2014
2016
0 20 40 60 80 100

Table 2: World Bank worldwide governance indicator
(source: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports)
Governance
Number of Score Percentile Rank Standard
Indicator C ountry Yea r Sources (-2.5 to +2.5) (0 to 100) Error
Regulatory Quality Georgia 2000 5 -0.39 34.36 0.28
2005 8 -0.60 28.43 0.17
2010 10 0.59 70.81 0.16
2012 12 0.69 74.41 0.16
2014 12 0.93 79.33 0.18
2016 10 1.01 81.25 0.18
Rule of Law Georgia 2000 8 -0.93 20.79 0.21
2005 11 -0.71 29.67 0.19
2010 15 -0.21 47.87 0.14
2012 17 -0.01 54.93 0.13
2014 15 0.19 64.90 0.13
2016 12 0.37 63.94 0.15
Control of Corruption Georgia 2000 5 -1.01 15.23 0.22
2005 9 -0.22 51.71 0.16
2010 13 0.01 57.14 0.14
2012 15 0.40 68.72 0.13
2014 14 0.79 76.44 0.14
2016 12 0.67 0.15
Table 3: Perceived corruption index 2008-2018 for Georgia, regional and global average of 180 countries
(source: Transparency International, 2018)
Eastern European and
Year Georgia (Score/Rank) Global average
Central Asian region
2002 2.4 (85 of 102 countries) N/A N/A
2003 1.8 (127 of 133 countries) N/A N/A
2004 2.0 (136) N/A N/A
2005 2.3 (134) N/A N/A
2006 2.8 (99) N/A N/A
2007 3.4 (79) N/A N/A
2008 3.9 (67) N/A N/A
2009 4.1 (66) N/A N/A
2010 3.8 (68) 2.92 (4) 4.0
2011 4.1 (64) 3.06 (2) 4.0
2012 52 (51) 32.79 (1) 42.51
2013 49 (55) 32.74 (2) 41.94
2014 52 (51) 33.11 (1) 42.07
2015 52 (48) 33.21 (1) 39,76
2016 57 (44) 34.32 (1) 41.99
2017 56 (46) 34.47 (1) 43.07
2018 58 (41) N/A (1) N/A
11
Table 4: UNDESA E-Government development index 2003-2018 for Georgia, regional and global average of
193 countries (source: UN E-Government Survey)
Year Georgia (Score/Rank) Western Asia region Global average
2003 0.3511 (99) 0.3533 (13) 0.3645
2004 0.3784 (94) 0.3838 (12) 0.4093
2005 0.4034 (83) 0.4110 (11) 0.4384
2008 0.4598 (90) 0.4372 (13) 0.4857
2010 0.4248 (100) 0.4330 (13) 0.4199 (13 of 51)
2012 0.5562 (72) 0.4992 (9) 0.4882 (3 of 51)
2014 0.6047 (56) 0.4950 (8) 0.4712 (1 of 51)
2016 0.6108 (61) 0.5132 (8) 0.4922 (1 of 51)
2018 0.6893 (60) 0.5997 (9) 0.5491 (1 of 51 low-mid-income)
Table 5: UNDESA e-Participation index 2003-2018 for Georgia, regional and global average of 193
countries (source: UN E-Government Survey)
Year Georgia score (Rank) Western Asia region average (Rank) Global average
2003 0.0172 (123) 0.1258 (14) 0.1500
2004 0.0164 (123) 0.1141 (15) 0.1413
2005 0.0159 (129) 0.1388 (13) 0.1527
2008 0.0454 (135) 0.2048 (15) 0.1909
2010 0.0571 (127) 0.2243 (13) 0.1908
2012 0.2105 (66) 0.2738 (8) 0.2225
2014 0.5882 (49) 0.4506 (6) 0.3947
2016 0.5593 (76) 0.5182 (10) 0.4625 (15 of 51)
2018 0.6236 (87) 0.6126 (11) 0.5654 (15 of 51 low-mid-income)

eID cardholders have access
More than
to all eGOV services, can
2 700 000 register a business online
as well sign documents with
Citizens have eID digital signature
Online transactions
increased 30% of businesses
(e.g. eAuction portal has accessed public
agencies’ portals for
7,500 visitors daily) eGOV services in 2016
Privacy and Security

ICT legal empowered
of confidential
reforms in police
information, personal
system resulted in
data is protected online –
25-30% 385
reduced bureaucracy
cases are investigated
eServices save time and

other resources and
reduce administrative 65 mln
burden for society and annual transactions of
government. e.g. total
annual saving related to
128
integrated organisations
containers management are conducted through
through TFS will be Data Exchange
GEL 4,530,000 Infrastructure
13
International recognition
2nd place 1st place 1st place 2nd place

eProcurement Budget Monitor Property Public Service
UN Public Service WSA Award 2017 Registration Hall
Award, 2012 GIFT Award 2017 World Bank, UN Public Service
2015 Award, 2012
3rd place
5th place Dealing with 9th place
Ease of Starting 1 place
st
Doing Business
OGP Award construction
Business permits Index
World Bank, 2015 2015 World Bank,
World Bank,
2015 2018
11th place 16th place 22nd place

29th place Bribery Risk to Open Budget Absence of
Open Government Businesses, Index, Corruption
Index, 2015 Trace International, International Rule of Law Index,
2014 Budget Partnership, 2015
2015
8th place in
34th place 44th place Global ranking
Rule of Law Index, Corruption and ,2nd place in
2016 Perception Index, Europe
2016 Global Cybersecurity
Index, 2017

Acknowledgement
Georgia’s Digital Journey is a selection of cases (in alphabetical order): The Data Exchange Agency;
pivotal to the country’s modernisation drive. The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Municipal
selections also represent key elements in Georgia’s Services Development Agency, National Agency
digital transformation. The cases and achievements of Public Registry, Public Services Development
are a tribute to nearly two decades of public sector Agency, Public Service Hall, Revenue Service and
reform and to the civil servants, private, non- the State Procurement Agency.
governmental, and international organisations who
have supported this effort since 2004. Special gratitude goes to the United Nations
Development Programme in Georgia project
This case selection would not have been possible “Supporting Public Administration Reform in
without the support and valuable contributions Georgia”.
from both organisations and people who provided
input and insights during its conception and Thanks also go to Christian Rupp and Morten
implementation. We would particularly like to thank Meyerhoff Nielsen for their contributions made.
15
Enablers of digital transformation
The objective of the Georgian approach to digital identities (eID) and electronic trust services (like
transformation has been two-fold: to facilitate qualified electronic signatures or eSignatures) are
economic growth and job creation supported by an essential for effective service delivery online, smart
effective and cost-efficient public sector providing contracts, and cross-border trade. Similarly, key
universally accessible services in a transparent and registries, data exchange, and reuse in line with
accountable manner. With a focus on both the digital the once-only principle make business sense due
and physical realm, the modernisation efforts have to minimised storage and system costs. They also
been underpinned by a number of key enablers. enable a more cost-efficient and less bureaucratic
business environment and support improved
Of particular importance is the governance and service quality and delivery for both businesses
intergovernmental cooperation models pursued to and citizens. In turn, these factors are underpinned
ensure effective coordination of the main initiatives, by the effective management of cybersecurity risk
therefore providing a conducive environment in and by open and transparent access to government
which cross-cutting sectorial and legislative issues decision-making information and spending, while
are solved for all of government and society. A simultaneously protecting data and individual
streamlined and technology-neutral legal and privacy.
regulatory framework has been key to ensuring
that authorities do not chase specific technologies, This approach to governance, intergovernmental
or are not limited by legal and regulatory barriers in cooperation and technology has enabled Georgia
their use of technology, reduction of administrative to improve access to services, improved the Ease of
burdens, or the value-add created by such initiatives. Doing Business – moved from 112th to 8th between
For a successful digital transformation of the 2006-2014, and changed Georgia’s image from
public sector and society at large, specific enablers “failed state” to a leading global reformer. Georgia
have been put in place. Specifically, reliable and is rated in the top-3 on cybersecurity by various
efficient identity management in both the physical indexes and is amongst the most highly rated in the
and digital world, the recognition of electronic Open Budget and Open Government Indexes.

Governance and cross-governmental cooperation
Since 2004, Georgia’s achievements in public sector modernisation
have been lauded for their ability to enhance transparency, fight Timeline:
corruption, increase the ease of doing business, and improve public ✔ 2004 – onward
service delivery to citizens. Information Communication Technology
(ICT) played an important role as an enabler of public sector reform.
The key to success has been politically motivated and driven public
sector reforms underpinned by ICT use for better service delivery,
Strategy objectives supported:
transparency, and fight against corruption since 2004. Due to the
initial lack of legislation, ICT infrastructure, standards and take- ✔ ARP
up of key enablers, Georgia ICT and public service delivery eco- ✔ E-Georgia
systems were initially fragmented which in turn has resulted in the ✔ OGP
still limited use of public and private online services, despite high ✔ SDG
internet penetration and internet usage. ✔ Anti-corruption
✔ Public Financial
Following a period of limited progress between 2013 and 2015, Management
the current strategy for 2016-2020 aims to entrench cross-
governmental collaboration, an important barrier to overcome
through a lack of an effective governance and inter-governmental
cooperation model (Figure 3).
Figure 3: eGovernance and coordination model 2018 (Adapted from Goderdzishvili & Meyerhoff Nielsen, 2017)
Government Cabinet
VISION NETWORK
i.e. cross societal
stakeholders
SPECIALISED COORDINATING AGENCY

e.g. mandate to ini ate, coordinate, monitor, enforce, adjust
CROSS-
GOVERNMENTAL
STEERING COMMITTEE
i.e. key government,
private and societal
stakeholders
Thema c Thema c
work group / work group / Thema c
network 1 network 2-n work group /
network 3-n
17
In Georgia, cooperation is seen as an enabler of improved data
collection, quality and reuse, shared infrastructure, systems, and Legal changes required:
service. It allows authorities to build upon existing infrastructure ✔ Constitution
and to optimize the value-add of earlier investments – particularly in ✔ Administrative framework
relation to electronic identity management (eID), digital signatures and freedom of information
(eSignature), and electronic services (eServices). Initially, Georgian access
success was determined by political drive and personal contacts, but ✔ Law on electronic document
currently, a more formalized approach to ICT related programmes and electronic trust services
and projects considers an IT-implementation model to effectively ✔ Document workflow
manage risk, improve benefit realization, and link individual Key systems regulations
Performance Indicators (KPI) with the eGovernment strategy and ✔ Law on Data Exchange
action plan. Agency
✔ Unified State Registry of
Georgia, like most other countries, focuses on distributed Information regulations
responsibility for ICT project implementation. What differs is the ✔ Personal data protection
role played by the specialised agencies. For instance, Data Exchange and privacy regulation
Agency (DEA) has a strong mechanism to ensure cooperation and ✔ Information and
compliance with the national eGovernment vision, established cybersecurity regulations
mandates, and standards. The Public Service Halls and Public Sector ✔ Cybercrime regulations
Development Agency focus on citizen services in the physical ✔ eProcurement regulations
realm and the continued improvement of service efficiency and ✔ eCommerce legal
effectiveness. Similarly, other specialised agencies like State ✔ Sector-specific legal
Procurement Agency and the Revenue Service are dedicated to regulations
improve respected service delivery. ✔ Electronic Communication
Act
As a rule, specialised agencies provide expertise and coordinate ✔ Interoperability Framework
holistic horizontal, and vertical issues like legal conditions and
standards on behalf of all authorities (Figure 4). “Georgia has made significant
steps in the last years with respect
For instance, for IT and technology use, the DEA is mandated by to the openness of governance.
the cabinet office of Government of Georgia and leads the Chief This concerns both the
Information Officer (CIO) council. The DEA initiates, coordinates, Government and the Parliament.
and ensures compliance with IT and technology-related issues, There are still many steps that
have to be taken but we can say
standards, etc. Similarly, the coordination mechanism helps to
that the public today can much
establish priorities, secures adequate funding of ICT projects,
more easily correlate with the
binds fragmented initiatives together and ensures compliance with
Parliament and Georgia’s success
established mandates, standards etc. The Georgian case provides in this respect is definitely worth
evidence in support of the positive role that inter-governmental mentioning.”
cooperation plays in the innovative and value-adding use of Niels Scott, UN Resident
technology in the public sector (Figure 4 and Table 6). Coordinator and UNDP Resident
Representative and UNFPA
Representative in Georgia (2018)

Figure 4: eGovernance and coordination model 2018 (Adapted from Goderdzishvili & Meyerhoff Nielsen, 2017)
Government of
Georgia (cabinet) Indirect:
Through ministers
and members in
bodies and forums
Data Exchange Agency CIO Council
(DEA)
Ministry 1 Ministry 2-n
Consulta ve
bodies /
Stakeholder Consulta ve
forums 1 bodies /
Stakeholder
forums 2-n
Table 6: eGovernance and coordination model 2018 (Adapted from Goderdzishvili & Meyerhoff Nielsen, 2017)
Co-ordination of the Wider co-ordination of

implementation of a the development of the “Within the framework of
strategy information society open governance, Georgia has
implemented a lot of reforms that
Administration of the
Government of Georgia are exemplary even for traditional
Vision
(i.e. cabinet office) European countries. However,
Civil society organisations we are not yet satisfied with the
Administration of the achievements, and Georgia will
Government of Georgia continue to implement innovative
Strategy
Data Exchange Agency (i.e. projects that provide more
specialised agency)
transparency and accountability
Data Exchange Agency, of the government.”
Implementation
Data Exchange Agency Communication Regulatory Thea Tsulukiani, Minister of
of action plans
Body
Justice (2018)
Daily Individual Ministries and
implementation responsible field agencies
and everyday Thematic workgroups /
work networks
19
Strategies, action plans and key performance indicators
Since the beginning of the millennium, Georgia’s achievements
in public sector modernisation have been lauded for their ability Timeline:
to increase transparency, fight corruption, ease the way of ✔ 2004-onwards
doing business, and improve public service delivery to citizens.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) played an important
role as an enabler of public sector reform. The focus has been on
✔ PAR Programme
four grand challenges: (1) developing better public service; (2)
✔ OGP
better integrating the public sector and improving its resilience; ✔ SDG
(3) effectively managing public resources; and (4) continuing ✔ E-Georgia
improvements in accountability and transparency. ✔ Anti-corruption
✔ Public Finance
To this effect, six cross-governmental focus areas are at play in post- Management
2014 Georgia: policy planning; public service and human resource
management; service delivery; public finance management; and
local self-government (Figure 5). Legal changes required:
✔ General Administrative
Figure 5: Georgia’s six cross-governmental focus areas, 2014 Code of Georgia –
Georgian law defining
onwards (Source: Public Administration Reform Programme, 2018)
rules, principles and
legal authorities of all
administrative agencies
Public Administration Reform of Georgia in Georgia adopted in
1999 and systematically
amended in the period of
2001-2018;
Services Delivery
Policy Planning
Accountability
✔ Local Self-Government
Public finance
Public service
Management
Government
Local self-
and HRM
Code – New Organic

Law of Georgia on legal
foundations and rules for
the operation of municipal
government structures
adopted in 2014;
✔ New Georgian Law on
“Public Service” adopted
The Public Administration Reform (PAR) programme acts as an in 2015 which dramatically
umbrella, consolidating various government strategies. Examples shifted the principles
include the strategies and action plans for anti-corruption and public and operation of the
finance management, E-Georgia, Open Government Partnership public sector and the
performance of public
(OGP) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) initiatives.
services.
These strategies complement one another in their objectives and
initiatives (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Georgia’s Public Administration Reform Programme and
five key complimentary strategies and initiatives, 2014 onwards. “We learn a lot from Georgia
about how to do that [open
Public Administration government] well and again
Reform Programme
Initiatives
I want to congratulate the
Government of Georgia and
Public Finance Minister Tsulukiani for her
Management Open Government
Initiatives Partnership Initiatives personal leadership and making
this happen in this magnificent
city. Thank you on a job well
Anti-Corruption Sustainable
Initiatives Development Goals done.”
and Initiatives Scott Brison, President of the
Treasury Board and Minister of
The key to Georgia’s success has been politically motivated, driven Digital Government of Canada
public sector reforms underpinned by ICT use for better service (2018)
delivery, transparency, and a fight against corruption during the
2004-2012 period. Early success in relation to administrative reform, “Georgia was the first country
government transparency, service delivery and anti-corruption in Eastern Europe, which I
is largely enabled by politically-driven and socially-supported visited in 2000. Since then many
initiatives. The limited linkage between vision, strategy, action things have changed. You faced
plans and measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPI) resulted in challenges with all due respect.
a period of limited progress between 2013 and 2015. Due to the Many things have improved. In
initial lack of legislation, ICT infrastructure, standards and take- the streets of Tbilisi, I see the
up of key enablers, Georgia’s ICT and public service delivery eco- faces of people, and they have
systems were initially fragmented which in turn has resulted in a different look than before.
the still limited use of public and private online services, despite There is something much more
high internet penetration and internet usage. In short, Georgian positive in their appearance. You
success was due to the political drive and personal contacts, but have just celebrated the 100th
currently, a more formalized approach to ICT related programmes anniversary of Independence, and
and projects considers an IT-implementation model to effectively it’s definitely worth mentioning
manage risk, improve benefit realization, and link individual KPIs to what significant progress you
those of the national vision and the different strategy and action have achieved in this short
plan underpinning it. period of time. I would like to
emphasize the importance of
Since 2016, strategies have entrenched cross-governmental open governance. This is, in fact,
collaboration to address the initial lack of an effective governance public governance, as the civil
and inter-governmental cooperation model. In Georgia, cooperation sector is engaged in this process
is a seen as an enabler of improved data collection, quality and together with the government.”
reuse, shared infrastructure, systems and services. It allows Brock Bierman, Assistant
authorities to build upon existing infrastructure and enablers to Administrator for USAID’s
optimize the value-add of earlier investments – as illustrated in Bureau for Europe and Eurasia
relation to electronic identity management, digital signatures, and (2018)
analogue and digital service delivery. Similarly, the links between
the national vision (in the PAR), specific strategies, underpinned by
action plans, and key initiatives with measurable KPIs, are important
for successful and cost-efficient delivery (Figure 7).
21
Figure 7: Key elements to ensure success (Adapted from Meyerhoff Nielsen, 2018).
GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE
DECISIONS AND
i.e. agreement on mandates, responsibili es and decision making structures in
MONITORING
rela on to the strategy, ac on plan, individual projects etc.
STRATEGY
i.e. what is the strategic focus areas, individual objec ves and measurable goals
and meframe. should be underpinned by an ac on plan
THE STRATEGY,
ACTION PLAN
INITIATIVES AND
i.e. underpins the strategy with individual focus areas (programs) , the IMPLEMENTATION,
individual objec ves and measurable goals INCL. DAILY
DECISIONS
PROJECTS
i.e. the individual ini a ves, their objec ve, how they fit within the ac on plan
focus areas (program) and support the strategic objec ves. incl. individual
objec ves, budget and meline
E-Georgia – Technology as an enabler whole-of-government and joint-up approaches to

Over time Georgia has followed a similar public sector innovation and technology investment.
trajectory as many other countries (Table 7): The The E-Georgia strategy is part of the Public
first phase focused on infrastructure, backend Administration Reform Roadmap 2020, which is an
systems and databases, and digital literacy. The “umbrella” framework that also includes the OGP,
second phase concentrated on consolidation and SDG, Anti-corruption, Public Finance Management
increased formalisation of governance and inter- System Reform, Regional Development, Civil
governmental cooperation, to improve the benefit Service Reform, and eGovernment directions and
of realisation of ICT investments with a focus on action plans.
Table 7: eGovernment in Georgia, 2004-2018 (Adapted from Goderdzishvili & Meyerhoff Nielsen, 2017)
2004-2014 ICT While no national eGovernment strategy or action plan in the period was active, individual initiatives in
use in the public line ministries were implemented. As part of a general drive for public sector reform, increased access to
section public services, transparency, and an anti-corruption drive, ICT use was initially focused on the creation
of basic information systems, digitalizing internal information resources, automating information flows,
creating data centres, and connecting national authorities with their regional offices.
2014-2018 The first formal eGovernment strategy and action plan was approved in 2014 with the aim of making
Digital Georgia Georgia’s public sector more efficient and effective, offering integrated, secure, and high-quality eSer-
– eGovernment vices, to improve usage and participation, and enabling ICT-driven sustainable economic growth.
strategy and
action plan The strategy focuses on 11 thematic directions (i.e. eServices, eParticipation and Open Government,
eHealth, Public Finance Management System, eBusiness, making Georgia a regional ICT-Hub, infrastruc-
ture, cybersecurity; skills development and e-Inclusion) grouped into service areas, future excellence,
ICT enablers, as well as horizontal measures such as enabling frameworks, governance, and awareness.
The strategy has success criteria and is underpinned by an action plan with associated KPIs.

Open Government Partnership – for accountable and
transparent government
Georgia has been a member of the OGP since Sustainable Development Goals – for
July 2011. Three action plans have subsequently equitable and sustainable growth and
been launched (Table 6). All combine the national development
focus and the OGP focus of improved public Adopted in September 2015, the Sustainable
services, increasing public integrity, more efficient Development Goals aim to end poverty, protect the
management of public resources, and the creation planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new
of safer communities. As evident from the OGP sustainable development agenda. Each goal has
activities and commitments, there are close specific targets to be achieved by 2030. For 2016-
links between E-Georgia (Table 1) and SDGs for 2018, the Government of Georgia is committing its
inequalities (SDG 6), universal access to services resources to incorporate all 17 SDGs (Figure 8) into
and jobs (SDG 10), new forms of innovation (SDG existing strategies and initiatives. Working closely
9), and partnerships (SDG 16) for universal and with both the private sector and civil society, the
transparent service delivery (SDG8). Similarly, SDG commitment compliments both the PAR and
smart sustainable development and planning for the OGP commitments, and is underpinned by the
equitable development and job creation (SDG 1, 9) E-Georgia, anti-corruption, and public financial
are facilitated by these inter-linkages and management strategies.
commitments to the SDG agenda.
23
Figure 8: UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030
Specifically, Georgia’s modernisation drive and and sustainable economic growth, employment
use of technology highlight that ICT-enabled cost and decent work for all (SDG 8, 16); third, an
and burden reduction in public service delivery ICT-enabled public sector is an essential part of
can support the 2030 Agenda in a number of ways: a resilient infrastructure, which can promote
first, cost savings and productivity growth within sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
the public sector may release resources to promote in the private sector and civil society (SDG 9) for
other development goals (SDG 8) like healthcare smart, responsible and sustainable growth and
(SDG 3), education (SDG 4), and utilities (SDG 6, consumption (SDG 11, 12). These, in turn, facilitate
7); second, the efficient and effective use of ICT the reduction of poverty and inequalities (SDG 1, 2,
in the back-office combined with administrative 5, 10) and support the environmental and climate
burden reduction help to promote just, inclusive, goals (SDG 7, 13, 14, 15).
Video: OGP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE5Krlv7Yy8

Enabling and flexible legal and regulatory framework
At the beginning of the 21st century, Georgia was on the verge of
collapsing and becoming a failed state! There was a lack of legal Timeline:
guarantees, lack of compliance with regulations, and the rule of ✔ 2004 – onwards
law could be circumvented through bribes and contacts. A lack of
inter-governmental coordination was serious barrier for enforcing Strategy objectives supported:
of national standards for e.g. Interoperability (IOP), reuse of data, ✔ ARP 2004-2020
usability requirements in eServices etc. It has also led to a lack of ✔ E-Georgia Strategy 2014-
transparency in project plans, objectives, budgets, and activities. 2018
Ineffective, overlapping and redundant investments resulted ✔ OGP action plan 2012-
from a weakened governance model, as did unclear mandates, 2020
✔ SDG 2030
responsibilities, and a general lack of knowledge sharing and low
exploitation of available skills.
Legal changes required:
✔ Constitution
Since 2004, various governments have focused on increasing public
✔ Administrative framework
sector transparency, accountability, productivity, and service
and freedom of
delivery. Successive governments have utilized modernisation
information access
and reform programs aimed at promoting domestic growth ✔ Law on electronic
and attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The legislative document and electronic
framework is an essential component in this regard. Table 8 gives trust services
an overview of the key legislation at play in relation to Georgia’s ✔ Document workflow
four grand challenges, reform programme, and technology use. It systems regulations
includes all sectors of the economy and is related to all areas of ✔ Law on Data Exchange
public administration. Agency
✔ Unified State Registry of
The key tools have been to increase the transparency of regulatory Information regulations
procedures, streamline legal requirements, reduce administrative ✔ Personal data protection
burdens on citizens and businesses, and build a better business and privacy regulation
climate in the country. ✔ Information and
cybersecurity regulations
As a result, during the period 2004-2009, Georgia abolished close ✔ Cybercrime regulations
to 90% of all pre-existing licenses and permits, reduced more than ✔ eProcurement regulations
300 licenses to 41, streamlined over 600 permits to a mere 53, ✔ eCommerce legal
and introduced a risk management approach saving businesses ✔ Sector-specific legal
roughly US$ 90 million (GEL 202.5 million) annually from reduced regulations
administrative burdens. As an additional benefit from the legislative ✔ Electronic Communication
reform programme, leading up to 2009, Georgia increased nominal Act
✔ Interoperability
GDP per capita by 65%, GDP by 67.6%, tax revenue by 121%, and
Framework
exports by 31%.
With IT and technology serving as key enablers of the Georgian

reform programme, the success of eGovernment strategies and
processes are dependent on the government’s role in ensuring
25
a proper legal framework for their operation. As a rule of thumb,
if something is not authorized, it is illegal. The lack of legal equivalence “We’ve gathered here to
between digital and paper processes can impede the value-add use of ICT. celebrate this historic moment
for Georgia as well as for
The key enablers of technology use were legal reforms. There is Europe. Georgia has made
no “eGovernance” umbrella legislation in Georgia, but rather a great progress in recent years.
sectoral focus. Amendments in dozens of laws have been made to The EU and Georgia concluded
allow for both administrative burden reduction in the analogue for negotiations and agreed on
the increased use of technology and digitally-enabled public service a deep and comprehensive
delivery (Table 8). free trade agreement. The
EU Association Agreement
Key experiences include not differentiating between the analogue was signed on 2014 June 27
and digital realms. This allows for a more streamlined legal and and Austria strongly supports
regulatory framework and limits the “e” specific legislation in order Georgia’s decision and we are
to avoid the creation of excessive legal and regulatory exemptions ready to continue in advising
on specific issues, sectors, and end-users. This therefore entrenches your transformation process.”
Karlheinz Kopf, Second
key eGovernance and technology-enabling principles in the primary
President of the Austrian
legislation in order to avoid frequent change. By establishing a flexible
National Council
provision in sub-normative acts, they are easier to change if new
2013-2017 (2014)
technologies emerge and require modifications. Modern legislation
needs innovative lawyers and a legal team capable of assessing and
amending legal regimes to enable ICT use and digital transformation.
Establishing technology and standard neutral principles is essential
to ensure flexibility over time. Rather than reinventing legislation,
international legal standards have been used or adapted (Table 8).
As a result, access to the internet and online content without

censorship, blocking, or filtering is a constitutional right in Georgia.
A legal and regulatory framework enabling online identification,
signature, online service production, and delivery has been put in place.
The physical and digital worlds are equated and use global standards
for transparency, privacy, and data protection. Government entities
are required to use electronic gateways in communication internally,
between authorities, and with citizens and businesses. Standards for
Interoperability, data standards and exchange, and cybersecurity
are aligned to international standards; for instance, Georgia has
incorporated the European Union legal acquis communautaire into
the national legal system. It was also the first country outside Europe
to adopt the EU eIDAS regulation for the cross-border recognition
of electronic identities and signatures, as well as the Information
Security legislation establishing a computer emergency response
team (CERT) which will cooperate closely with European and global
counterparts with regards to critical infrastructure.

Table 8: Georgian legal and regulatory framework, key laws and regulations enabling administrative
reform and public sector use of IT and technology, 2004-2018
Constitution Adopted in 1995 and amended in 2018, the Georgian Constitution guarantees the right to free and
unrestricted usage of internet and free access to internet; access to information including online
resources; freedom of expression; protection of privacy and personal data (including in online me-
dia); prohibition of censorship including on social networks, online media, and other platforms, etc.
Administrative Approved in 1999 and systematically updated and amended since 2001, the framework establishes
framework the general rules on document workflow in the eChancellery and automated case management sys-
tems, the use of IT systems in the public sector, the right to electronic communication, the rule to
store and issue any documents in electronic form, as well as the right to access information under
the Freedom of Information Access (FOIA).
Law on Electronic Adopted in 2017, it established the recognition of the validity of the online and digital documents
Document and and qualified electronic trust services in compliance with the EU eIDAS regulation.
Electronic Trust Services
Document workflow Adopted in 2012, this set of sub-laws establishes the legality of certain document workflow systems
systems regulations within government administration in accordance with relevant standards and policies.
Law on Data Adopted in 2009, the legislation defines authorities and legal norms for data exchange infrastruc-
Exchange Agency ture, eGovernance and information, and cybersecurity.
Unified State Registry Adopted in 2012, the regulation establishes a unified state registry of registers (RoR) i.e. a single cat-
of Information alogue of public sector registers, databases, services, and information systems within public sector.
Personal Data Adopted in 2011 to ensure the protection of human rights and freedoms, the regulations guarantee
Protection and the right to privacy during the personal data processing both in private and public entities with
Privacy enforcement mechanisms of independent authority – the Personal Data Protection Inspector. Was
amended in 2018 (came into force in 2019) to ensure compliance with EU General Data Protection
Regulation.
Information and Adopted in 2012, it provides the central legal framework for enforcing the information security of
cybersecurity government and private sector players defined as critical infrastructures, through the adoption of
regulations internal policies, minimum standards, asset management, auditing, penetration testing, CERT oper-
ations, assignment of personnel, and training.
Cybercrime Adopted in 2010, the Georgian legal framework on cybercrime covers all offences against confiden-
regulations tiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems, as well as computer-related offences
and content-related offences, as required by the Convention on Cybercrime. Georgian cybercrime
legislation is in line with the principles and rules of the Budapest Convention both in its substantive
and procedural aspects.
eProcurement Built on procurement legislation adopted in 2005 and amended in 2010, the legislation ensures that
legislation online tendering is the only possible channel for public procurement. It allows for a fully digital pro-
curement life-cycle from tendering to bidding, awarding, contracting and invoicing.
eCommerce Since 2000, there has been a civil code, commercial norms and related sector-specific legal provi-
legislation sions to establish a clear and reliable foundation for the commercial sector to make eCommerce
deals. This includes not only contractual legal terms applicable to online trading, but also data pro-
tection and security, the rights on intellectual property, consumer protection regulations, electronic
communication regulations, and eMoney and eSignature features.
Sector-specific legal Adopted between 2005 and 2010, these regulations cover core registers incl.: civil registry, business
regulations registry, property registry, eTax and customs, eHealth, eEducation, eNotary services, eEnforcement,
criminal case management system, etc. Amendments were implemented in all fields of laws and
sub-normative acts (2005-2015) to enable the establishment of basic registries, sectoral eGover-
nance initiatives, and eServices.
Electronic Adopted in 2005, it establishes the rights and obligations of all users of electronic communications,
Communication Act including those of Internet Service Providers.
Interoperability Launched in 2013 and elaborated in 2016, the Georgian Interoperability Framework sets policies,
Framework principles and standards for information systems to be interoperable between each other as a man-
datory requirement to be considered by government agencies.
Video legal/cyber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8G0idmxDSE

27
Physical and electronic identification and identity
management
Effective identity management for both individuals and
organisations is an essential component of any efficient and Timeline:
effective state. Not knowing how many people to cater to results ✔ 2008-2018.
in the haphazard planning of services and infrastructure with
some areas potentially being underserviced while others are more Strategy objectives supported:
privileged. Some may avoid taxes; others may not be able to gain ✔ PAR Programme
access to services or make fraudulent claims – people may even be ✔ OGP
✔ SDG
able to vote twice or vote for people long deceased. According to
✔ E-Georgia
the UN, more than two billion people have no formal identity and
✔ Anti-corruption
a quarter have no access to social security globally. In Georgia, all
people and organisations have a unique identity both in the physical
and digital world.
✔ New legal framework
allowing for electronic
Whether a physical or digital identity is required, successful identity identification and signature
management in Georgia is based on the population and business (approved in 2008, updated
registers. All individuals, whether a citizen or not, and all public, in 2017)
private and non-governmental entities have a unique identification
number. Identities are managed at birth, death or border entry, or “As for digital technology,
at the creation, change or closure of an organisation. All are legally this is a very important
mandatory. Physical identification documents include ID-cards, direction. Naturally, without
drivers’ licenses and passports. Electronic identities and signatures the development of digital
for citizens are largely based on chip-enabled ID-cards and used in technologies, we will find it hard
combination with card-readers. Companies, authorities and other to maintain the proportions
organisations mostly use tokens. of the costs I mentioned. By
the way, even today, a very
For identity management, the population and company registries important initiative will be
form the core of the Georgian approach. All individual and discussed at the government
organisations have a unique identifier which is centrally stored but session - an electronic signature.
managed in partnership with trusted public sector partners such This reform is important to
as municipalities and hospitals, thereby ensuring data quality. Like make business procedures more
other emerging economies, Georgia suffered in the early 2000s efficient and shorter in time, with
from a lack of proper identity management that led to errors, costly as little bureaucracy as possible.”
bureaucratic processes, problems in service access, identity theft, Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime
Minister of Georgia (2018)
and even corruption. To ensure that all individuals and organisational
entities are included in the Civil Registry (i.e. population database)
and the Business Registry (i.e. business and organisational
database), government agencies and trusted partners always check
and update core data. For instance, the Express Community Centres
managed to identify and register the remaining 25,000 Georgians
living in very remote mountain areas in partnership with local banks.

Electronic trust services in Georgia consist of three To minimise administrative burdens, Georgia is
elements: a citizen’s identification and signature the first country outside Europe that has aligned
(qualified electronic identification and signature), its legislation to the European Union eIDAS
and a private or non-profit organisations’ regulations, technical, and security standards. This
allows for cross-border recognition of electronic
identification (qualified electronic seal and
identities and signatures, allowing for Georgian
timestamp components). Collectively, these
to become compatible and interoperable with all
elements act as a digital identity and signature for
European Union, European Economic Area and
any legal person or entity operating in Georgia. other associated countries.
Legally, only the highest and most secure versions
of such services are regulated by law, which is the In terms of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Georgia
qualified electronic signatures, seals, and time is using a decentralised model. This means that part
stamps. In practice, two levels of security are of the security solution is literally in the pocket of an
applied: One for online identification based on login individual, embedded on chip of a physical ID-card.
and password, and more advanced measures for The PKI model and infrastructure is interoperable
with other technical solutions such as mobile sim-
signatures based on three-factor authentication.
card, mobile apps, or even SMS code or physical
Combined, these three elements act as key enablers
code cards.
for secure electronic transactions in Georgia.
As a result, all Georgian citizens, residents,
While not a member of the European Union, Georgia employees, public, private, and non-profit
nevertheless decided to align its legislation to EU organisations can identify themselves online and sign
eIDAS regulations for cross-border recognition documents digitally. The estimated time for digitally
of electronic identities and signatures. More signing and transferring an electronic document
importantly, EU technical standards are used in takes approximately 10-20 minutes depending on the
the Georgian solution, ensuring compatibility with nature of the document. To date, 59.5% of Georgians
have ID-cards enabled for electronic identification
all European Union, European Economic Area, and
and digital signatures (Table 9).
associated countries.
Table 9: eID and eSignature usage, 2012-2018
Category 2012 2015 2018
593 369 1 426 160 774 942

Electronic IDs issued (nominal and % of eligible population)
(12.8%) (30.5%) (59.5%)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW_ZMqMgEMM
29
Data exchange infrastructure, open data,
and once-only principle
By 2010, it was realised that the uncoordinated approach to IT
investment in Georgia had led to multiple systems storing similar Timeline:
data. To minimise the cost of data storage, mistakes in policy making ✔ Phase 1: 2010-2012.
✔ Phase 2: 2012-2013.
and errors in public service delivery, the Georgian Government
✔ Phase 3: 2014.
Gateway (G3) data exchange infrastructure was established.
The G3 infrastructure integrates existing information resources and ✔ PAR Programme
granted standardized access to services. G3 is a set of apparatus- ✔ OGP
software platform, which creates a unified, but geographically ✔ SDG
distributed information system of connected databases. G3 uses ✔ E-Georgia
off-the-shelf Microsoft Technology, and the Data Exchange Agency ✔ Anti-corruption
connects government agencies, businesses, and organisations ✔ Public Finance
into a single network – thus creating an electronic service bus for Management
data exchange (Figure 9). Subjects in the system are capable of
exchanging information in a proper and safe manner in line with Legal changes required:
both national and international standards for interoperability, ✔ New legal framework
allowing Data Exchange
privacy, data protection and cybersecurity. By adding an adaptor to
Agency to operate Data
an existing system, different systems and databases are connected
Exchange Infrastructure
with minimal effort and cost through the G3 data exchange
and manage open data
infrastructure. The concept allows for the integration of different portal was adopted in 2010;
technologies and a centralised back-up check to ensure compliance ✔ New amendments are
with standard and regulations. initiated in administrative
legislation to create a
Figure 9: Georgian Government Gateway (G3)
foundation for open data
(Source: Data Exchange Agency, 2018)
portal, standards, and data
publication mechanisms in
2019.
Agency 2
Agency 1 G3 Agency 3
Agency N

As a result, G3 today facilitates, unifies and simplifies
communications between public and private sector systems “Data exchange infrastructure
and reuse of data across authorities and service areas, while assumes the creation of a
maintaining a high level of privacy and data protection. G3 unified flexible platform
simplifies and standardizes eService integration through the use of enabling easy and smooth
common communication and data exchange standards. It minimises data exchange between
integration and development costs in the medium to long term, multitudes of organisations.
This platform greatly reduces
and lowers maintenance and support costs. By reusing data on a
development costs and serves
once-only principle, errors are reduced, and the costs of duplicate
as the foundation for different
storage are minimised.
inter-organisational information
systems. As the decision was
The national open data portal - data.gov.ge - contains nearly 500 finalized to create a unified
datasets from more than 20 different authorities and is part of platform for the integration of
the Georgian Open Government Partnership action plan for 2012- different information systems, a
2013. All data is available for reuse, linkage or redistribution for tender was officially announced,
commercial or non-commercial purposes. All data is available in where many of the world’s top
machine-readable formats, e.g. XML and CSV, with URLs available IT corporations participated.
for automatic imports and updates. It aims to increase transparency, By the decision of the Georgian
civic engagement with government, and promote new start-ups. As government, HP and Microsoft
a result, in 2015, Georgia was ranked 16th of 102 counties on the corporations were selected as
winners.” Microsoft (2015)
Open Budget Index and categorised as “substantially transparent” in
relation to government budgets and spending. Notably, it was ranked
as 1st in the region and 29th globally on the Open Government Index
of the World Justice Project, and consistently ranked in the top-25 on
the United Nations E-Participation Index in 2012.
Video:
G3: https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/microsoft-government-gateway-enabled-data-exchange-age,
https://youtu.be/b-ngCvDug0U,
Budget Monitoring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYDBNbIf6-Y,
OGP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE5Krlv7Yy8
31
Cybersecurity, data protection and privacy
In 2008, public and private sector websites and systems came under
a large-scale cyberattack. The attack was a combination of denial Timeline:
of service (DOS) and defamation of websites and their content that ✔ Phase 1: 2011-2014.
were used by the perpetrators. While impossible to estimate the ✔ Phase 2: 2014-2018.
total cost of lost public trust in technology, the attack may explain
the relatively low enthusiasm for public sector eServices and online
✔ PAR Programme
banking solutions.
✔ E-Georgia
Cybersecurity has subsequently been a key priority for the Georgian Legal changes required:
Government through a multi-pronged approach. First, raising ✔ Personal Data Protection
the awareness of citizens, businesses, and government officials Act (approved in 2011,
ensures that common sense principles are applied when using the updated in 2014).
Internet to avoid the loss of private data, viruses, phishing emails, ✔ Law on Information Security
etc. As a priority, the Institute of the Personal Data Protection and legislation establishing
Inspector was established in 2013 to ensure data processing is in CERT and regulating
compliance with the Law on Personal Data Protection, which in compliance with national
turn is compliant with the European Union General Data Protection cybersecurity standards
Regulation (GDPR). The second priority is information security (approved in 2012, updated
in 2014)
of critical infrastructure including physical infrastructure, assets
✔ Government decree on
management, and appropriate policies in line with ISO27000. The
critical information system
third priority is the creation of CERT.GOV.GE to help maintain a
subjects (current list
high level of cybersecurity and ensure the actual participation of approved in 2014)
public and private sector customers in the process of cyber incident
management. The main function of CERT.GOV.GE (Figure 10) is to
offer consultancy regarding cyber incidents, monitor the cyber
environment in public and private sectors, register and analyse
existing and potential cyber threats, and provide recommendations
on how to eliminate and avoid them. As an entity, CERT.GOV.GE
is a cornerstone of the Georgian Information Security Forum and
actively involved in international cyber and information security
awareness activities. Furthermore, CERT.GOV.GE is an active
member of all major international organisations present in the
cybersecurity industry and is authorized to use the CERT Trade
Mark. Other activities include: IP address monitoring service portal;
incident handling and penetration test; NetFlow sensors and
website intrusion detection (i.e. threat factor); blacklist service and
Safe DNS Georgia; training on cyber incident management; Check
My IP; and CheckNet.

Figure 10: CERT.GOV.GE core functions (Source: Data Exchange Agency, 2018)
al
informa
systems
Hos subject
Providers Banks
Private Interna
Sector CERT’s
Government Internet
Sector
CERT.GOV.GE Service
Providers
As a result, Georgia has actively minimised the been ranked 9th in Europe and 18th globally in the
relative impact of cyberattacks on both public and Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2018, while in
private entities, and raised awareness amongst 2017, the International Telecommunication Union
citizens and micro- and small enterprises on ranked Georgia 8th of 165 countries globally for its
how to avoid cybercrime. Currently, Georgia has cybersecurity preparedness (Figure 11).
Figure 11: ITU Global Cybersecurity Index, 2017 (Source: ITU, 2017)
ITU Global Cybersecurity Index 2017 Europe #2

European Ranking Worldwide #8
Estonia #1 Georgia #2
France #3 Norway #4
Overall Score 0.82

Legal 0.91
Georgia is in TOP TEN Technical 0.77
Organizational 0.82
most committed countries Capacity Building 0.90
in the world Cooperation 0.70
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8G0idmxDSE
33
Universal service access, effective
and cost-efficient delivery
The dual objective of the Georgian approach to and rural areas. The use of technologies has allowed
public sector service delivery has been to ensure for cost efficiency and process and organisational
universal and effective access to services while reengineering, and improved oversight and training
increasing cost-efficiency and reducing the risk of are close to eliminating corruption.
corruption in the public sector. With a focus on both
digital and physical access, red-tape has been cut The Georgian approach to service delivery consists of
by streamlined regulation and legal frameworks, several individual elements, depending on the level
and simplified and automated processes reduce of government (e.g. national or local), geographical
the operating cost of government. Technology location (e.g. urban, village or remote), and citizen
has underpinned back-end processes and shared or business orientation.
service centres have been developed in both urban

Pursuant to the principles of “one-stop-shops”, centre operated by the Public Service Halls, or the
“once only” and “digital by default”, Georgia focuses national portal - My.gov.ge. To ensure transparency
on physical and digital service delivery channels and citizen engagement, the budget monitoring
as complimentary access points. Of the many initiative helps to increase accountability of
initiatives, four stand out for their complementary government spending to the taxpayer and also
nature, socio-economic outcomes, and impact. provides the public sector with an effective tool
The Public Service Hall project was initiated in to ensure the prioritisation of proper spending on
2011, the Community Centre project in 2012, the a daily and annual basis. The mixed approach has
Express Community Centres project in 2015, the enabled Georgia to improve access to services and
Business House project in 2016 and a single portal its ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index; its
for online services in 2013. All Georgians have score increased from 112th to 8th between 2006 and
easy access to at least one of the 22 Public Service 2014, highlighting Georgia’s transformation from a
Halls, the 61 Community Centres, the 71 Express “failed state” image to a global reformer.
Community Centres, the centralised and shared call
Shared service centres: Public service halls

In 2011 Georgia developed the Public Service Hall concept to
increase the ease of accessing public sector services for citizens Timeline:
and businesses, and to improve service quality, government ✔ Phase 1: 2011-2012.
✔ Phase 2: 2013-2018.
effectiveness and productivity while decreasing the risk and actual
level of corruption. The drive for improved service delivery and
cost-efficiency has been, and continues to be, an integral part of
✔ PAR Programme
Georgian reform and modernisation efforts since 2004. ✔ OGP
✔ SDG
As a concept, Public Service Halls are physical one-stop-shops for ✔ E-Georgia
all government services. Traditionally, local and regional authorities ✔ Anti-corruption
are small and have limited human capacities, financial resources, ✔ Public Finance Management
and economies of scale. With the majority of high-volume and
high-frequency services provided by national authorities, these Legal changes required:
were an obvious initial focus. Public Service Halls are based on a ✔ New legal framework
shared front-end, shared service centre model. It consists of simple allowing for shared services
and complex service counters (with electronic payment options), centres (physical, paper
and telephone) to handle
payment counters for cash payment, and floorwalkers that guide
service requests and
clients to the appropriate service counters or assist first time users
delivery (approved in 2012,
at the self-service kiosks with the My.gov.ge service portfolio
updated in 2015)
preloaded. Commercial ATMs are also available. An average Public ✔ New regulation mandating
Service Hall is staffed with 33 counter staff, 3 payments counter shared service centres and
staff, 5 floorwalkers, IT equipment and telephones for 40 staff, 3 PSH as the responsible
self-service kiosks, and waiting and children’s play areas. authority for the national
35
Underpinned by integrated IT systems, the separation of front-and
backend, service requests, payment (Figure 12), and staff training one-stop-shop includes
and monitoring has increased productivity levels and helped the requirement of all
eliminate the risk of bribes. Public Service Halls are established in authorities to link or
integrate their service
urban areas with more than 20.000 inhabitants.
systems to the service
centres (approved in 2012)
Figure 12: Core process concept behind public service delivery and
production for improved access, productivity and anti-corruption
elimination (Source: Public Service Hall, 2018) “Public Service Hall, this is a
testament to the positive changes
that Georgia has made for the
Applica Applica
last 20 years” – Hillary Clinton
Back (US Secretary of State 2014)
Customer
Office
“To obtain a passport, citizens
had to go to one public office,
Document Document
only to be sent to another to
get proof of residency before
returning to the first office to
As a result, 22 Public Service Halls have become operational
stand in line for hours and to
between 2012 and 2017, with an additional six opening in 2018.
bribe some official just to do his
Service availability has increased from an initial 200 offerings to or her job!” Fighting Corruption
over 400 services in 2018. Average waiting times across the 400+ in Public Services:
service offers have decreased from 12 minutes to 7 minutes in Chronicling Georgia’s Reforms
2018 (Table 10). Pilots are often run in the larger Public Service (World Bank, 2012)
Halls in Tbilisi and Batumi, including Drive Through for picking up
e.g. ID-cards, passports, licenses, or the Service Café for expedited
service requests. Corruption and bribery formerly associated with
public service delivery has been eliminated between 2004 and
2011, in large part due to the process reengineering, training, and
monitoring introduced with the Public Service Hall concept. In 2013
customer satisfaction (TRI*M index1 ) reached 90%, which is higher
than the world benchmark average for the private sector.
1
http://www.tnsglobal.com/what-we-do/by-expertise/customer-strategies/trim-customer-relationship-assessment

Table 10: Public Service Halls, visitor and service numbers, 2012-2018
Category 2012 2015 2018
Number of Public Service Halls 8 16 22 end year
Daily visits (average) 15,000 19,000 20, 000
Annual visits 4,000,000 5,000,000 6,000,000
Average number of annual visits
500,000 321,500 315,800
for an average Public Service Hall
Average waiting time (of all ser-
12 min. 10 min. 7 min.
vices in minutes)
Number of services available 200 300 400
ID Card ID Card ID Card
Passport Passport Passport
Top-5 services Birth Registration Birth Registration Property Registration
Property Registration Property Registration Business Registration
Marriage Registration Business registration Birth Registration
19% 27% 20%
17% 17% 19%
12% 13% 9%
11% 12% 18%
8% 4% 5%
Online one-stop-shop service delivery: My.gov.ge
37
In 2000, most government authorities had their own websites with
information and services for citizens and businesses. An estimated Timeline:
150 different websites made it difficult for citizens to identify the ✔ Phase 1: 2012-2013.
relevant authority and service. As a result, authorities were unable ✔ Phase 2 update: 2014-2015
✔ Phase 3 update: 2018
to optimise the benefits and investments in both front- and backend
✔ PAR Programme
IT solutions, leading to lower than expected return on investments
and lower level of productivity gains than envisioned.
✔ OGP
✔ SDG
Between 2012 and 2018, the My.gov.ge portal was developed as ✔ E-Georgia
a single national one-stop-shop for government service offers ✔ Anti-corruption
online. The objective was three-fold: To establish an online national ✔ Public Finance Management
“shopping centre” consisting of all government services offered
online; to successfully reach all citizens and businesses using the Legal changes required:
internet and with eID; and to improve the value added by government ✔ A new legal framework
investments in IT front and backend service production and delivery allowing the usage of
systems. The portal focuses on high-volume, high frequency service electronic case management
areas (Table 11). Built according to international standards for systems, the processing of
online service requests and
web-accessibility (WCAG 2.0 AA), it is fully accessible to the visually
delivery by government
impaired. The portal was built reusing critical components like the
agencies (approved in 2012,
national data distribution infrastructure, payment components,
updated in 2017)
logins for unique and secure login, and single-sign-on capabilities ✔ A new legal framework
between the portal and other government sites and services, etc. allowing online identification
Services are managed in the national Repository of Services and and signature (approved in
Register of Registers databases. The portal lives up to current 2008, updated in 2017)
international and national cybersecurity, data protection, and ✔ A new regulation mandating
privacy standards and has an average uptime of 99.9%. My.gov.ge and DEA as the
responsible authority for
the national one-stop-shop
Table 11: My.gov.ge services (selected), 2018 portal (approved in 2010)
✔ A new regulation obliging
Services available (selected)
all government agencies
Citizens Legal entities to create new services
personal information (personal info; address change; business registra- also in digital format and
tax due; crossing border; apostil; participation of a per- tion, changes and
son in documents; repeated biometrical passport closure integrating them into
renewal of regis- the one-stop-shop portal
family
tration (initiated in 2019)
application for
health
licenses
social service --
property property
starting a business --
payments payments
penalties penalties
education --

As a result, the number of online services available on My.gov.ge
has increased from 30 in 2012 to 120 in 2018. The number of “I am glad that I see Georgia on
average visitors in an hour has increased from 5 in 2012 to 20 in the way to improving democracy
2018. My.gov.ge is the online service platform for 250 Georgian and economic conditions. I think
you have made great progress
authorities at national, regional, and local levels. While the financial
in the last ten years.” - Angela
benefit and cost savings are difficult to estimate, the costs of
Merkel, German Chancellor
processing and delivering an online service is estimated to be 1.5
(2018)
times cheaper on average than a physical service request handled
by the Public Service Hall, that is US$ 6 to US$ 4 cheaper (GEL 15 to “Why visiting E-Georgia?
GEL 10). The user satisfaction rate is very high, and it was the most Because Georgian government is
popular Georgian public portal in 2016. serving the people.” - Tanzania
Delegation (2017)
To encourage use of the service, national campaigns are run,
floorwalkers at Public Service Halls, Community Centres and Express
Service Centres channel digitally literate users to My.gov.ge, and
self-service kiosks have the portal service portfolio preloaded. As
a financial incentive, service fees are discounted by up to 50% if
requests are made online rather than by phone or in person.
Table 12: My.gov.ge, visitor and service numbers, degree of digitisation for selected services, 2013-2018
Category 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Number of services available 30 35 47 52 61 120
Information on citizen’s participation

13% 12% 23% 28% 26% 19%
in civil acts
Information on tax liabilities 23% 20% 17% 15% 13% 12%
Property registry information 21% 17% 16% 14% 14% 12%
Information on border crossing 21% 18% 14% 12% 11% 10%
Information from car/vehicle registry 9.5% 14% 12% 10% 10% 8.6%
eCommunication with public entities 0.4% 1% 1.3% 2.7% 8.1% 19%
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAi9iwYb1Ho
39
Governmental collaboration, capacity development,
and improved service access: Community Centres
In 2011, Georgia developed the Community Centre concept. Built

on the Public Service Hall approach, its aim is to increase the Timeline:
ease of accessing public sector citizen and business services in ✔ Phase 1: 2011-2014
municipalities, improve service quality, government effectiveness ✔ Phase 2: 2014-2016
and productivity, and decrease the level of corruption. The drive ✔ Phase 3: 2016-2017
for improved service delivery and cost-efficiency has been, and ✔ Phase 4: 2017-2020
continues to be, an integral part of the Georgian reform and
modernisation efforts since 2004.
✔ PAR Programme
✔ OGP
Like the Public Service Halls, Community Centres are physical
✔ SDG
one-stop-shops for over 200 of the most frequently requested ✔ E-Georgia
government services, 15 of the most frequently requested ✔ Anti-corruption
municipality services and a number of private telecom and banking ✔ Public Finance Management

services of the 83 municipalities. The vast majority is small with
limited human capacities, financial resources, and economies of Legal changes required:
scale. To assist local authorities, the 15 most requested services
allowing for shared services
were initially redesigned and supported by IT systems. This initial
centres (physical, paper
pilot led to the development of the Municipal Management
and telephone) to handle
System (MMS). The MMS currently consists of four modules for service requests and
the municipalities: social and healthcare services; construction and delivery (approved in 2012,
architectural planning services; municipal property management; updated in 2015)
and a special service for highland and mountain communities. As a
result, the main service areas are 100% IT supported, and ministries
and national databases are in line with the national cybersecurity
and technical standards. Municipality services have been redesigned
in line with the Public Service Hall standard, separating front- and
backend, and service requests and payment (Figure 13). Together
with staff training and monitoring, municipality skills and capacity
levels have increased and productivity is improved which has helped
to eliminate the risk of bribes. Community Centres are established
in municipalities, and generally, the largest town not serviced by a
Public Service Hall.
Figure 13: Core process concept behind public service delivery and production for improved access,
productivity and anti-corruption elimination (Source: Public Service Hall, 2018)
Applica Applica
Back
Customer
Office
Document Document
Community Centres consist of simple and complex Box. At a minimum, an average Community Centre
service counters (with electronic payment options), is equipped with computers, laptops, printers,
payment counters for the cash payment floor, scanners, fingerprint scanners, and cameras for
and walkers who guide clients to the appropriate identity documents, as well as 15 full-time staff
service counters or assist first time users at the self- and waiting and children’s play area. On average, a
service kiosks with the preloaded My.gov.ge service Community Centre is staffed with 5 counter staff, 1
portfolio. To address the digital divide, the local payment counter staff, and 1 floorwalker.
population can access the internet, computers, and
video conference equipment for free at Community As a result, 55 municipalities currently have
Centres, as well as the commercial ATM and Pay Community Centres with the remaining to be
41
launched by 2020. MMS is operational in 50 days in 2018 (Table 13). The back office is 100%
municipalities with the rest coming online before digital, leading to substantial productivity gains.
2020. Approximately 1.000 staff has been trained The risk of corruption and bribery associated with
and run the 47 current Community Centres. Service public service delivery has been eliminated between
availability has increased dramatically from 3 2004 and 2015, due in large part to the process
services in 2012 to over 200 services in 2018. The reengineering, training, and monitoring introduced
average service processing times across the 15 with the Public Service Hall and Community Centre
most popular services offered has come down from concepts.
between 30-90 days in 2012 to an average of 15.2
Table 13: Community Centre, visitor and service numbers, 2012-2018
Category 2012 2015 2018

Number of Community Centres 3 27 64
Establishing costs (US$ average for a single Community Centre) 299,575.58 436,288.20 585,724.27
Annual operation costs (US$ for an average Community Centre) 1,810,073 1,810,073 1,810,073
Daily visits (average) 40 75 85
Annual visits 3,627 80,798 153,193
Average number of daily visits for an average Community Centre 440 700 750
Average waiting time (of all services in minutes) 3-5 min. 3-5 min. 3-5 min.
Number of services available 200 200+ 200+
Top-5 services
ID cards 50% 48% 47%
Passport 20% 21% 23%
Land registration 22% 24% 25%
Social subsidies 5% 4% 3%
Archive services 3% 3% 2%
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdHreGlphyI

All on board: Express Community Centre busses for
rural outreach in a public-private partnership
In 2015 Georgia developed the Express Service Centre initiative.
Built on the Public Service Hall and Community Centre concepts, it Timeline:
aims to address the digital divide and ensure that remote locations ✔ Phase 1: 2015-2017
can access public and commercial banking services. Express Service Development and roll-out
✔ Phase 2: 2017-onwards Fully
Centres service remote and rural areas, as well as communities with
operational
less than 2.000 inhabitants and over 20km (by road) away from the
nearest Public Service Hall or Community Centre. The drive for
improved service delivery and cost-efficiency to these areas has ✔ PAR Programme
been, and continues to be, an integral part of Georgian reform and ✔ OGP
modernisation efforts since 2014. ✔ SDG
✔ E-Georgia
Unlike the Public Service Halls and Community Centres, Express ✔ Anti-corruption
Service Centres are physical one-stop-shop vehicles. The Express ✔ Public Finance Management
Service Centres provide access to a limited number of the most
frequently used services on the national and municipal levels. Legal changes required:
Through a public-private partnership, they also provide commercial ✔ New regulation mandating
and retail banking services to remote communities. shared service centres
and Express Service
Centre staff to act on
An average Express Service Centre vehicle is, at a minimum,
behalf of authorities
equipped with a computer, a laptop, a printer, a scanner, fingerprint
incl. the requirement of
scanners, and a camera for identity documents. It is operated by an all authorities to link or
average of 2 full-time staff per vehicle, of which one will act as the integrate their service
driver. systems to the service
centres (approved in 2012,
All services are 100% IT supported and linked to ministries and updated in 2015)
national databases in line with the national cybersecurity and
technical standards. “Community and Express Centres
enable local populations to
Currently, 71 Express Service Centres vehicles are operating access more than 200 public and
throughout Georgia (i.e. the full intended capacity) and 142 staff private services without leaving
their villages. A community
has been trained. From June 2015 to August 2017, the Express
centre is a space equipped with
Community Centres served approximately 1000 villages throughout
modern infrastructure and
Georgia. Services delivered by the express vehicles were fully
technology. Centres are staffed
compliant with international safety standards, and carried the same with employees, recruited on a
legal weight as those delivered by the Public Service Halls and competitive basis among the local
Community Centres. As a result, residents of most remote areas population and trained to provide
were able to interact easily with the Government and receive up to the central government and
200 of the most commonly requested public services locally (almost
43
the same service selection as provided by Community Centres),
without needing to travel to the municipal service centre or a larger private sector services. Moreover,
regional town with a Public Service Hall or Community Centre. On a modern digital library, free
average, a single Express Community Centre serves around 500 Internet service, computers and
customers per month. During the initial two years of operation, conference call equipment are
available to local population.
the Express Community Centres helped ensure that all Georgian
Centres also offer a space for
citizens – particularly in rural and remote areas – were provided free
fostering civic engagement
ID-cards that are quality checked in the national population registry.
activities on the ground.” – Irakli
The backend is 100% digital, ensuring substantial productivity gains. Gvenetadze (eGovernment
The risk of corruption and bribery associated with public service expert).
delivery has been eliminated between 2004 and 2018, due in part
to the process reengineering, training, and monitoring introduced
by the Public Service Hall, Community Centre and Express Service
Centre concepts.
Open budget: Improved budget monitoring for

efficiency and transparency
In 2004 Georgia was a low income country. Public authorities were
notoriously late in delivering payments, civil servants’ pay was Timeline:
comparatively below than that of the private sector, and salaries ✔ Implementation: 2016-2018.
were rarely paid on time. Retaining qualified staff was difficult and
associated with a high risk of corruption, as civil servants were easily
✔ PAR Programme
tempted to ask for or accept bribes. The lack of qualified staff, in
✔ OGP
turn, was a source of inefficiency, arbitrarily applied regulations,
✔ SDG
and lack of transparency. ✔ E-Georgia
✔ Anti-corruption
National and public resources are not unlimited, and it is important
to maximise the value created by public spending. Effective Legal changes required:
budget management is essential for any organisation, including Law of Georgia on State Audit
the individual government authorities and the public sector as a Office mandating State Audit
whole. The “household” budget of a country requires continuous Office to monitor budget
monitoring to ensure efficient planning and resource allocation to spending.
maximise the efficient and effective use of taxpayers’ money.
Launched in 2016, the Budget Monitoring initiative aims to

increase government transparency by actively engaging citizens
in government spending. The engagement not only holds public
authorities accountable, but also enables interested parties to

provide input on prioritisation and spending. As a result, the Budget
Monitoring initiative empowers anyone to autonomously audit and “We learn a lot from Georgia
verify government budget priorities, allocations, and spending. about how to do that [open
All data is available in downloadable and machine-readable government] well and again
formats. The Budget Monitoring portal contains easily interpreted I want to congratulate the
Government of Georgia and
information and financial information. It also provides a number of
Minister Tsulukiani for her
easy-to-use data visualisation tools.
personal leadership and making
this happen in this magnificent
As a result of the Budget Monitoring and a host of other strategic city. Thank you on a job well
initiatives, public salary wages are competitive, and staff is done.” - Scott Brison, President
regularly paid on time. Authorities are able to attract and retain of the Treasury Board and
competent staff, increasing overall competency and productivity Minister of Digital Government
in the government. A continued focus on transparency and public of Canada (2018)
engagement through initiatives like Budget Monitoring ensures
that Georgia will retain its position as one of the most transparent
countries in the region, and amongst low and medium countries
globally – an achievement illustrated by Georgia’s impressive
rating of 1st amongst its Eastern European and Central Asia peers
on Transparency International’s perceived levels of corruption
index, and 3rd of the 20 (out of 51) low-medium countries on the UN
E-Government Development Index since 2014.
45
Cutting the red-tape for increased
growth and cost-effective
administration
The dual objective of Georgian administrative over 50 to a mere 4 for both imports and exports,
burden reduction is to minimise the cost of business and cut clearance processes from over 50 days to 15
operations and to increase the cost-efficiency of days or less. Supported by trade facilitation system
the public sector. for backend efficiency and increased customs
clearance, the initiative has not only made things
This goal requires the continued and active easier and cheaper, but has also eased the cost
evaluation of processes and regulations to cut of doing business through saving three to four
red-tape through streamlining regulatory and working days on documentation requirements –
legal frameworks and simplifying and automating the equivalent of reducing the costs of clearing a
processes. Reducing operating costs for the
container from US$ 1,370 (GEL 3360) in 2007 to US$
government, businesses, and citizens is the primary
383 (GEL 940) for exports and US$396 (GEL 970) for
benefit. Additionally, cost efficiency leads to
imports in 2017. Furthermore, another initiative led
international competitiveness and helps to attract
to increased efficiency and transparency in public
foreign direct investments, which, in turn, increase
procurement by decreasing the time for fulfilling
job creation and overall growth.
procurement documentation from 3-5 working days
Of the many initiatives, several stand out as to an average of 10 minutes. Similarly, the online tax
notable. The first initiative, no frills efficiency for declarations initiative has cut the necessary time
building permits and legal compliance, reduced the for processing the declarations from 3 days to a
number of required procedures from 29 to 11 and mere 30 minutes. In terms of cutting administrative
decreased processing time from 283 days to a mere burdens, Georgia has regulated 47 different areas of
63 on average. The second, a simple, transparent business since 2004, making it one of few countries
and cost-efficient customs clearance initiative, to consistently rank in the top 20 economies of the
lowered the number of documents and forms from World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

Building Georgia: No frills efficiency for building
permits and legal compliance
In 2005 it took 29 individual steps, involving nine different public
agencies, and an average of 282 days to obtain a building permit. Timeline:
The excessive complexity and cost meant that less than 45% of new ✔ Phase 1: 2005-2006.
constructions complied with national minimum standards. ✔ Phase 2 update: 2006-2014

Between 2006 and 2014, the construction permit initiative was
✔ PAR Programme
streamlined. First, a new Construction Code was introduced,
✔ SDG
eliminating all unnecessary requirements. In addition, a new legal ✔ Public Finance Management
framework simplified regulations. Finally, a risk-based approach,
underpinned by end-to-end IT systems support and algorithms, Legal changes required:
reduced the processing time for simple projects while allowing for ✔ New Georgian Construction
regulatory supervision of complex and high-risk projects. Code (approved in 2000,
updated in 2005-2007)
Subsequently, the number of procedures has been reduced from 29 ✔ Government Resolutions
to 11, the processing time from 282 to 63, and the cost to businesses on Construction Permit
and individuals from an estimated 144.6% of GDP per capita to a Issuance Procedure and
mere 21.6% for complex construction projects. Permit Terms adopted in
2006;
Today, Georgia is ranked in the top-30 globally for ease of applying
allowing for public services
for construction permits. In fact, between 2006 and 2014, Georgia’s
halls and community centres
reform on burden reduction resulted in the country overtaking to receive applications on
150 peers globally, improving from a 152nd position to 29th. In this behalf of mandated and
period, construction increased over fivefold from 0.5 million m2 in responsible authorities
2004 to 2.4 million m2 in 2008 – with similarly rapid growth taking (approved in 2012).
place since 2017.
“Prior to the reforms, many
Table 14: World Bank Doing Business Survey construction data reports have outlined that
about Georgia 2006-2018 obtaining constriction permits
was extremely difficult and an
DB DB DB DB DB DB unorganised process opening
Category
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2018 up the way to corruption and
unlawful engagement. I am glad
Dealing with Construction
Permits (rank)
152 42 11 10 7 29 that the wave of reforms has
directly targeted this particular
Procedures (no.) 29 17 12 12 10 11 issue. Over the past years,
thanks to numerous efforts,
Time (days) 282 137 113 113 98 63
Georgia’s construction industry
Cost (% of warehouse value) 1 1 0,7 0,7 0,8 0,3
is growing very rapidly and one
47
of the main contributors to that
is an eased and well-organised
process of obtaining construction
permits. It can now even be done
online, ensuring the process is
transparent, free of bureaucracy
and corruption.” - Christian Rupp
(Spokesperson of the Federal
Platform “Digital Austria” in the
Austrian Chancellery)
Open for business: Simple, transparent,

cost-efficient customs clearance
In 2005, customs administration was arbitrary and inconsistent.
Moreover, the non-transparent process was incompliant with the Timeline: 2005-2010
World Trade Organisation’s customs valuation rules, requiring up
to 23 different documents and permits and often associated with Strategy objectives supported:
✔ PAR Programme
bribes. All imports and exports were inspected physically, leading
✔ SDG
to a bloated and costly customs administration. Additionally,
✔ Anti-corruption
importers rarely knew what documents would be required, or what
✔ Public Finance Management
permits, fees, taxes and duties were payable. High costs led to
higher consumer prices and business operation costs in Georgia. Legal changes required:
✔ New Law on State Revenue
Between 2005 and 2010, customs clearance has been significantly Service merging previous
streamlined. First, institutional reforms unified different tax, agencies into one (approved
customs, and financial control and compliance mechanisms into in 2010).
a single State Revenue Service, serving customers as a one-stop- ✔ New tax code streamlining
shop. Second, liberal tax policy was established with standard existing taxes, duties and
customs fees of 0%, 5% or 12% are applied. Imported goods are fees (approved in 2010).
no longer the subject to customs fees and enjoy Value Added Tax
“I am glad that I see Georgia on
(VAT) exemption status. Export and import permits are applied to
the way to improving … economic
only a limited number of special categories of goods and products
conditions. I think you have made
where risks are considered high, such as certain food stuffs and
great progress in the last ten
chemicals. Third, legal and regulatory reform reduced the required years.” - Angela Merkel, German
documentation and certification to four items (invoice, bill of Chancellor (2018)
lading, waybill and delivery order for export) or International Road
Transport (TIR) carnet for import. Fourth, all processing is supported
by an end-to-end Trade Facilitating System (TFS) allowing for the
application of automated risk assessment and data analytics, as

well as the automation of processes and online container has been reduced from US$ 1,370 (GEL
data transfer between the State Revenue Service, 3,360) in 2007 to US$ 383 (GEL 940) for exports and
importers, exports and logistical firms operating at US$ 396 (GEL 970) for imports.
Georgian land borders, sea and airports.
Consequently, Georgia is ranked today amongst
As a result, the number of procedures has been cut the top-60 globally for ease of clearing customs.
from 14 to four for imports and from 15 to four for In Europe and Central Asia region, Georgia is in the
exports. Processing time has decreased from over leading position, while holding 16th place in the
50 days to a mere 14 for more complicated cargos. trading across borders component.
Furthermore, the cost of clearing an average
Table 15: World Bank Doing Business Survey export/import data about Georgia 2006-2017
Category DB 2006 DB 2007 DB 2008 DB 2009 DB 2010 DB 2016 DB 2017

Trading Across Borders (rank) 149 95 64 81 30 62 54
Documents to export (no.) 9 8 8 8 4 4 4
Time to export (days) 54 13 12 12 10 14 14
Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,370 1,105 1,380 1,270 - 383
Documents to import (no.) 15 11 7 7 4 4 4
Time to import (days) 52 15 14 14 13 15 15
Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,370 1,105 1,340 1,250 - 396
Georgia open for business: Trade facilitation system

for backend efficiency and ease of doing business
Before 2012, importers, exporters and their logistical partners had
to physically handle multiple types of shipping documents and deal Timeline: 2012-2016.
with multiple government authorities or private entities involved Strategy objectives supported:
in international trade. Data had to be submitted multiple times: ✔ PAR Programme
Monday-Friday between 10:00 and 18:00 only. The high costs to ✔ SDG
both, taxpayers and businesses, resulted in higher consumer prices. ✔ E-Georgia
✔ Anti-corruption
Building on past regulatory change and the successful experience ✔ Public Finance Management
of the customs administration, the Trade Facilitation System (TFS)
was developed by the Data Exchange Agency in partnership with ✔ New Law on State Revenue
the Revenue Service of Ministry of Finance and rolled-out in 2016. Service State Revenue
Bringing together all stakeholders involved in international trade, Service merging previous
the TFS is a single window operating 24/7. The TFS streamlines agencies into one (approved
business operations by allowing businesses direct digital in 2010).
communication, which removes the need for time-consuming
49
paperwork and physical visits to multiple government agencies. By
sharing information on a secure platform, TFS follows a once-only ✔ New tax code streamlining
existing taxes, duties and
data sharing principle that connects businesses (freight companies,
fees (approve 2010).
insurance firms, banks, etc.), private sector entities (ports, shipping
lines, terminals, and warehouses) with relevant government
“This platform enables companies
institutions (customs, railway). to exchange information
electronically, without paper. As a
As a result, the number of procedures has therefore been cut from result, the TFS will substitute one
9 to 2 with traders saving between three and four full workdays million paper documents annually
in document preparation and document flow process. The cost and thanks to that businesses
of clearing an average container has also been reduced from US$ have the potential to save about
1,370 (GEL 3,360) in 2007 to US$ 383 (GEL 940) for exports and US$ GEL 9 million (US$ 3.67 million)
396 (GEL 970) for imports. every year.” - Thea Tsulukiani
Georgia’s Minister of Justice,
In 2016 alone, 0.3 million containers were shipped and one million (2016)
paper documents were substituted during container handling
through IT-enabled process reengineering and administrative
burden reduction, saving up to US$ 1.85 million (GEL 4.53 million).
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hiVklutrGk&feature=youtu.be
Public procurement online: Increased efficiency and cost

reduction, increased transparency and competition
In 2009, public procurement in Georgia was labelled “high-risk”
Timeline: 2009-2010.
and “the most corrupted public system” by the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Until 2010, public Strategy objectives supported:
procurement was paper-based, lacked transparency, often ✔ PAR Programme
✔ E-Georgia
geographically biased, and restricted competition. The costs of
✔ Anti-corruption
participating in public procurement were high and government data
✔ Public Finance Management
often unreliable. An estimated 3-5 working days were required to
just fill out documentation. A minimum of five physical visits to the Legal changes required:
Procuring Entity are required, and qualification documents were ✔ Legal and regulatory
required by all tenderers from three different government bodies reform simplifying public
procurement processes
on average. In addition, a US$ 120 (GEL 200) fee had to be paid to
(approved in 2012 and
access tender documentation and terms of reference.
updated annually)
In 2010, the State Procurement Agency (SPA) launched the Unified “eProcurement system
Electronic System of State Procurement (UESSP), available at implemented in Georgia may
https://procurement.gov.ge. The UESSP allows for a fully digital serve as a good example for
Asia and other Pacific countries.
procurement process from announcement to successful contracting.

All stakeholders, whether public, private, or non-governmental,
Georgian Procurement System
have full and equal access to the system, therefore increasing is recognized as one of the
overall transparency. Functionality is embedded to identify and best worldwide.” – Asian
prevent errors, and automate the ranking of received bids. A Dispute Development Bank Report
Resolution Board was established to ensure fast conflict resolution (2011).
and full transparency. As a result, US$ 0.42 billion (GEL 1.7 billion), “The EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
equivalent to 11% of the value contracted between 2010 and 2016, welcomes Georgia’s new
has been saved. No physical visits are required to public entities, and procurement system, Georgia
should also serve as an example
qualification documents are only required if a tender is successful.
for the EU Member States in this
A US$ 20 (GEL 50) fee is mandatory for submitting a tender but no area.” – European Parliament
fees are payable for accessing tender documentation or terms of Committee on International
reference. Ultimately, it takes an estimated 10 minutes to complete Trade Report (2012)
the required information and a single visit to sign a contract, unless The introduction of eProcurement
done with the national digital signature. is a good example of how strong
political will and commitment
Currently, the UESSP has close to 35,000 registered suppliers can be critical in the context of
reforming public procurement
participating in public tenders; this figure includes over 1,400 – Andro Nozadze, The Story
foreign companies from more than 70 countries (Figure 14). behind Georgia’s eProcurement,
The World Bank (2015)
Figure 14: Growth in participating companies (bidders) and the number of appeals annually (eAppeals),
2013-2017 (source: State Procurement Agency, 2017)
40000 34879 2000

30704
1573
30000 25045 1492 1500
19911
20000 15625 1017 1000
10000 572 500

325
0 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
# of bidders # of e-appeals
51
The UESSP has been recognised internationally as Framework 2012, and 2nd place in the category
a best practice including: Best performance out of “Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public
19 Easter European and Central Asian countries in Service” (471 applications were evaluated at UNPSA
the Corruption Perception Index 2015; 1st amongst from more than 70 countries) in the 2012 United
26 countries implementing eProcurement in the Nations (UN) Public Service Awards.2
EBRD’s National Public Procurement Regulatory
Faster, better and cheaper: Revenue reform

and eFilling
In 2004, average Georgian business took 448 hours to comply with
legally required tax returns and declarations. Timeline:
✔ Phase 1 reform: 2005-2009.
Between 2005 and 2011, the Ministry of Finance and the Revenue ✔ Phase 2 eFiling system:
2011
Service carried out comprehensive tax reforms. By simplifying the
taxcode, the objective was to formalise the shadow economy, reduce
administrative burdens, thereby improving business operations and
✔ PAR Programme
tax collection efficiency with increased revenue and decreased ✔ OGP
government cost. A good illustration of success was the fact that ✔ SDG
the PEFA 2013 assessment report assigned an A score to Georgia ✔ E-Georgia
with regard to the Clarity and comprehensiveness of tax liabilities, ✔ Anti-corruption
noting that “the Tax Code unifies tax and customs legislation and ✔ Public Finance Management
is aligned with EU standards. The Code is clear, comprehensive
and covers all major taxes. Enhancement of IT platform for tax Legal changes required:
compliance and introduction of other safeguards (procedural ✔ New taxcode amended in
manuals, tax ombudsmen, personal tax agent) for taxpayers 2011
significantly reduced the discretionary power of tax authorities” ✔ New legal framework for
mandatory online filing
(PEFA assessment of Georgia Report 2013 p. 44).
(approved in 2011).
To further ease business operations and optimise back-office tax

“One of the most vivid examples
collection efficiencies, the Revenue Service established a secure, of Georgia’s reforms is that the
two-way electronic communication system for tax compliance. The country has completely changed
eFilling system includes all income, corporate, customs, waybills, its approach toward tax filing.
value added tax, licenses, permits and online invoicing services. The way taxes were filed in the
The eSolutions is applied to each interaction between taxpayer past was inflexible combining into
itself a bunch of various forms
and tax administration starting from registration and ending with
that were changed from time
complaints in order to improve access and transparency for the to time, thus putting taxpayers
individual business and citizen.
2
United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It
rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public
administration in countries worldwide.

As a result, entities with an annual turnover exceeding € 85,000
in an uncomfortable situation.
(GEL 200,000) were required to do online filing in 2009. In 2012,
Thanks to the reforms, the process
this requirement was expanded to all entities, with the closing of turned out to be 100% electronic,
the paper channel. The combination of the reform programme and which saves time and reduces
a channel shift from paper to online declarations has led to a 30.5% the possibility of errors along
drop in the time used annually by the average business to comply with eliminating any chance of
with their legal obligations, from 287 hours in 2009 to 269 hours in misconduct. Taxpayers are now
able to file their taxes online even
2016 (Figure 15).
from their offices or residences.
“- Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen
(Academic Fellow at UNU-EGOV)
Figure 15: Tax related burden reduction, 2004-2016 (source: World Bank Doing Business Report, 2017)
Georgia’s legal obliga

paying taxes
448
448
362
269
220
2004 2009 2014 2016 2018
TIME (HOURS PER YEAR)
The GRS is currently handling over 130,000 taxpayer electronic invoices (eInvoice) and roughly 1,200,000
requests for information and assistance annually, in waybills monthly through the Electronic Filing
addition to 180,000 declarations, close to 600,000 (eFiling) system (Figure 16).
53
Figure 16: Paper vs online tax declarations, 2007-2016 (source: GRS)
14,0
12,0
E-Declarations Hard Copy Declarations
10,0
8,0
13
5
6,0
11
10
14,0 1
2,0 4.3
3.5 3.8 3.6
3.1 2.8 2.6
0,0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018
The combined initiative has helped Georgia to rank innovate as the main achievements and strengths
among the top-10 countries globally in regards to of the Revenue Service (Georgia TADAT assessment
ease of doing business and in 16th place for the Report 2016, p.7).
“Paying Taxes” indicator.
In addition to the reduction of the number and
Georgia’s success regarding eTax administration rates of taxes, the conducted reforms were
has also been internationally recognised by the accompanied by a significant and constant increases
TADAT assessment, which highlights the extensive in government tax and customs revenue, which
use of modern IT applications and willingness to illustrates the success of the reform.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRC5Bz7yLVc

Digital transformation:
New technology and concepts
already being tested
New ideas, concepts, and technologies emerge over and community planning and development. Smart
time. On the verge of a new industrial revolution, the city and community initiatives build on Public
speed of technological change is rapidly increasing. Service Halls, Community Centre and My.gov.ge
Georgia’s governance and intergovernmental initiatives to reuse key enablers and standards,
cooperation models, as well as legal and regulatory such as data exchange and identity management
framework, are constantly being tested and proving
infrastructure as well as regulatory, data,
their worth.
interoperability, cybersecurity, privacy and data
New technologies are already being tested in protection standards. Similarly, local authorities
the Georgian context with phenomena such as are minimising congestion, improving air quality
blockchain technology, which is being used for land and increasing mobility of urban populations to
registry and the confirmation of ownership title achieve the UN SDGs. Smart lighting and traffic
deeds. Larger municipalities, like Tbilisi, Batumi and solutions not only help to minimise the socio-
Kutaisi, are applying smart concepts to improve economic and environmental impact of congestion,
access to on- and offline public services to increase but also reduce the number of vehicles associated
transparency, civic engagement in decision making, with economic growth and wealth. Furthermore,
55
smart and sustainable building standards lower the concept are being combined with administrative
environmental footprint of buildings and are actively burden reduction and reapplied in an innovative
applied while protecting the architectural heritage manner for one-stop-shop business services to
of Georgian towns and cities. Lastly, the experiences further improve Georgian competitiveness and
of the shared service centre and My.gov.ge facilitate job creation and growth.
Blockchain technology use for land registry and

ownership title deeds
The Georgian property registration system is internationally recognized as fast, transparent, reliable and
user-friendly. The World Bank Doing Business Survey ranked Georgia 1st of 196 countries between 2011
and 2014 for registering a property or change of ownership. To maintain this competitive advantage, the
Georgian National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) in mid-2017 pioneered the use of blockchain technology
in the property registration and land certification processes.
The combination of new technology and innovative new processes guarantees the authenticity, security,
and the non-repudiation of property title documents. The blockchain-based property title document enjoys
a legal presumption of truth. Particularly important is the link between the existing property registry,
cadastral information, and the right of the NAPR to issue the initial “genesis block,” thereby ensuring the
uniqueness of each property registration. The exclusive right of NAPR to issue the initial “block” is required
to ensure trust in the blockchain certification and to guarantee its legal authenticity, especially as the
subsequent storage is distributed. The blockchain technology, in turn, guarantees transparency, increase
reliability, improve regulation and minimise the administrative cost of property transactions in Georgia. This
subsequently boosts economic growth and further sustainable development by minimising the need for the
physical transactions and associated transport.
Launched in 2017, the blockchain-facilitated process improvements

“This important project will
are estimated to lead to a 95% reduction of property registration
show that governments that
costs for property owners once the “smart contract” element of
transfer their property registries
the pilot project is introduced.
to a blockchain-based system
can establish a more transparent
In 2018, no other public authority in Georgia or in the Caucasus
and well-recorded system that
and Central Asia region has applied blockchain technology to their
ultimately benefits the people and
daily operations. Based on the initial results and success of the
advances economic opportunity
NAPR blockchain project, it will act as a pilot for the Government
for all.” - Hernando de Soto,
of Georgia with blockchain-based smart contracts. Similarly, using
renowned economist and founder
blockchain technology in order to improve notary services is being
and president of the Institute for
explored.
Liberty and Democracy
(Source: https://exonum.com/napr, 2016)

Innovation ServiceLab and public sector Think Tank
Founded in 2014 by the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA), with support from the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), the ServiceLab serves as an incubator of ideas for a more efficient and
effective public sector. Transforming public services to meet the true expectations of citizens and to create
public value is indisputably a challenge, but the PSDA has taken the lead by establishing the first regional
government innovation lab. The ServiceLab is tasked to rethink public services production and delivery
across all levels of government. As a shared innovation lab, resource centre, and think tank, the ServiceLab
studies citizens’ service needs, public sector business requirements, and new technologies and concepts.
The ServiceLab collects user feedback and develops and tests prototypes using the user-centric design
thinking processes and other innovative service development methodologies. All products and services are
designed with “minimum cost, maximum impact” idea in mind.
The ServiceLab promotes new ways of thinking and focuses on embedding a culture of innovation across
the public sector through training and sharing innovative methodologies in policy planning, service design,
production, and delivery. Additionally, the ServiceLab partners with various public, private, and civil society
stakeholders, providing them with capacity building trainings and workshops – on design thinking, foresight,
reverse engineering or innovation tools and methodologies – necessary to design citizen-centric public
services, policies and strategies, and implement them effectively. Since 2014, the ServiceLab held workshops
and stakeholder facilitation meetings using innovative methodologies to foster better relationships
between citizens, civil society, public, and private organisations. Meeting all requirements of the OECD
Observatory for Public Sector Innovation (OPSI), the ServiceLab is cited as an international showcase on
OECD official portal (https://www.oecd.org/governance/observatory-public-sector-innovation/innovations/
page/servicelabinnovativeservicelaboratory.htm).
As a result of the ServiceLab:

the new 112 Emergency Services for deaf and hearing impaired “The ongoing reform is an
were redesigned in 2015, which was awarded the “Best Innovative important step towards building a
Service” title in 2016, among 82 countries by the European strong, professional and impartial
Emergency Number Association (EENA); the 112 Emergency civil service in Georgia. Innovative
Service concept was replicated to 31 other services, and now approaches contribute to the
hearing-impaired individuals can access these services without reform process and benefit both
leaving their home; the “IdeaBox” concept was introduced in 2014 public servants and citizens of
in order to identify potential pilot projects, including adapting the Georgia.” - Natia Natsvlishvili,
community centre website to the needs of the visually impaired, UNDP Deputy Resident
the use of voice recognition for online text search and service Representative a.i. in Georgia
delivery, and a focus on back office paper reduction in line with (Source: June 2017)
the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals.
Video Links for ServiceLab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylp7jwYVYE0
57
Smart City Concept for transparent local government,
improved service delivery, and sustainable and energy
efficient urban development and mobility
In 2016, Tbilisi City Hall signed a memorandum Regarding sustainable and energy efficient urban
of understanding with the World Council on City development, the Tbilisi Green Street initiative
Data (WCCD) for cooperation on granting Tbilisi focuses on the promotion and rollout of green
ISO 37120 Certificate and consequently, a “smart infrastructure, the renovation of historical facades
city” status. As a smart city, Tbilisi prioritises an and buildings, energy efficiency, walkways, solar
open and transparent local government, improved powered street lighting, solar power system
municipality service delivery, and energy efficient charging stations for electric vehicles, and water
urban development and transportation. These sensor fountains. Sensors monitor both noise
and air pollution, and smart waste containers are
priorities are in line with national policy priorities,
currently being installed to cut waste removal costs
the eGovernment Strategy of 2014-2018, the Open
by half. Municipal kindergartens were completely
Government Partnership strategy, and the UN
rebuilt in line with the city’s energy saving
Sustainable Development Goals.
concept. Furthermore, a water heating system
with solar power and roof integration is being
To increase openness and transparency, the promoted, as are green rooves, solar atmospheric
Tbilisi municipality has drawn up a local action water collection systems and sewage systems for
plan and launched the my.tbilisi.gov.ge portal secondary water usage. Annual CO2 emissions are
for improved service access and communication therefore predicted to decrease from 160 tons per
with local citizens and businesses. Developed by annum currently to 40 tons per annum in 2020, and
the non-governmental and non-profit Municipal electricity consumption will be reduced by 575,727
Services Development Agency (MSDA) in line with kWh annually.
W3C standards for web-accessibility, the portal
is responsive and can be used on any device. All To minimise traffic congestion and reduce CO2
services are also integrated into the national emissions, mobile traffic applications have been
My.gov.ge portal. Fourteen key high-frequency, developed using installed sensors from pollution
high-volume service areas have streamlined online monitoring programme and open data from
access, including: fully digital solutions for the sale the data.gov.ge portal. The application tackles
of municipality property via online auctions and congestion by providing travellers with alternative
routes and modes of transport. The maps interactive
construction permits; online fora and petitions for
are based on live data streaming from existing
new ideas to the mayor through a city debate forum;
sensors, including the ever-growing number of
full access to municipality budgets, expenditures,
“smart traffic lights”. As a result, traffic jams in 2017
audits and plans; fix my street solutions; and various
were reduced by 20%. For the promotion of public
interactive maps and downloadable data. Similarly, transport, routes and timelines for metro, buses
QR libraries have been implemented to provide free and minibuses (“Marshrutkas”) are available via an
eBooks from public Wi-Fi hotspots including city app and website solutions. Electronic boards at
squares, parks, metro and bus stations. Tourism is bus stops display live traffic information, including
promoted through the Tbilisi Loves You mobile app arrival times of specific buses and “Marshrutkas” in
and website. both Georgian and English.

Business House - a one-stop place for all
business-related queries
Global economic competition, especially for foreign confidentiality and privacy, decentralised databases
investment, has put an added emphasis on an with rigorous data access rights are implemented.
efficient and effective business environment, and
a supportive but non-bureaucratic public sector. The existing G3 data exchange infrastructure and
The Business House (BH) is part of the Georgia the eID and eSignature components have been
Government’s four-point reform agenda aimed reused for the BH concept and act both as a secure
at improving national economic performance, backbone for data sharing as well as identification
attracting foreign investment, and further for user access rights and authentication. Similarly,
improving the ease of doing business. The objective document workflow solutions will be reused to
is to simplify or eliminate administrative burdens, ensure secure communication and improved back
which make it cumbersome to run a business, and office productivity between the Ministry of Finance,
to further reduce the number of days required for Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs and
authorities to provide a service and the associated Tbilisi Municipality and Revenue Service.
service fees.
As a public-public partnership, the Data Exchange
Building on the experiences of the Public Service Agency is responsible for software development,
Halls, the BH concept unifies over 600 government enabling operators to retrieve data from different
services which entrepreneurs and companies have registries while they continue to work in their own
to navigate in their business operations. Once system instead of working in the different systems
operational, any entrepreneur or legal entity can of service suppliers. The BH is developed by the
visit a BH or My.gov.ge for online self-service. Ministry of Finance but is managed and operated
by the newly created Legal Entity of Public Law
With a whole-of-business approach, the BH under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable
concept applies the once-only concept. This Development.
results in minimised input from entrepreneurs
while maximising the cost efficiency of the public “This is a revolutionary project that will significantly
sector through improved data sharing, increased change the landscape for state-business relations.” -
automation, minimised IT investment, and reduced Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Georgia’s former Prime Minister
errors due to incorrect or outdated data. To ensure (Government Press Office, September, 2016)
59
Come to Georgia
We hope that you have been inspired by our Georgian For specific assistance, we offer a range of services.
Journey. If you have any questions regarding the We are also happy to help you organise a visit to
presented cases, please visit! Georgia to hear more and speak directly with some
of the many colleagues who worked to make our
We are happy to assist with more details on specific vision a reality and continue to make our journey
or general questions. Whether you have conceptual, possible.
technical, organisational or legal issues, we stand by
to welcome you.
Table 16: Range of Offered Services
Thematic area/ Service types Consultancy Technical Legal Training Lab
Enablers of Digital Transformation

Governance, cooperation and partnership models X X
Strategy, action plan, risk management and monitoring
X X
development and assessment
Legal and regulatory review and redesign X X X
Identity management (physical and digital) X X X
Core registry design and models, data modelling,
X X X X
Interoperability, data exchange infrastructure
Cybersecurity, data protection and privacy X X X X X
Public Service Delivery and Administrative Burden Reduction
Public service delivery design and innovation (analogue and
X X X X X
digital) incl. process and organisational re-engineering,
Shared service models and concepts including organisational and
X X X X
business models
Legal and regulatory review and redesign X X X
Transparency and Engagement X X X
Engagement models, tools and solutions
Open data models, tools and solutions X X X X X
Innovation X X X X X
New Technology (e.g. blockchain) and concepts (e.g. smart
X X X
concepts, Internet of Things)

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E-GEORGIA

6 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

ENABLERS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION........................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

UNIVERSAL SERVICE ACCESS, EFFECTIVE AND COST-EFFICIENT DELIVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

CUTTING THE RED-TAPE FOR INCREASED GROWTH AND COST-EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: NEW TECHNOLOGY AND CONCEPTS ALREADY BEING TESTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

COME TO GEORGIA. . . . . . ...................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

8 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Table 1: Socio-economic facts (source: National Statistic Office of Georgia.

Area (sq.km) 69,700

Population (January 2017) 3,718,200

Capital city Tbilisi, population 1,114,600

GDP (2016) US$ 14,378,000,000 / GEL 35,226,100

GDP growth rate (2016) 2,8 %

GDP per capita (2016) US$ 4,080 / GEL 9,996

Inflation annual (November 2017) 6,9 %

Unemployment rate (2016) 11,8 %

Export (FOB) US$ 2,113,000,000 /GEL 5,176,850,000

Import (CIF) US$ 7,295,000,000 /GEL 17,872,750,000

10 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Year Georgia (Score/Rank) Western Asia region Global average

2003 0.3511 (99) 0.3533 (13) 0.3645

2004 0.3784 (94) 0.3838 (12) 0.4093

2005 0.4034 (83) 0.4110 (11) 0.4384

2008 0.4598 (90) 0.4372 (13) 0.4857

2010 0.4248 (100) 0.4330 (13) 0.4199 (13 of 51)

2012 0.5562 (72) 0.4992 (9) 0.4882 (3 of 51)

2014 0.6047 (56) 0.4950 (8) 0.4712 (1 of 51)

2016 0.6108 (61) 0.5132 (8) 0.4922 (1 of 51)

2018 0.6893 (60) 0.5997 (9) 0.5491 (1 of 51 low-mid-income)

2003 0.0172 (123) 0.1258 (14) 0.1500

2004 0.0164 (123) 0.1141 (15) 0.1413

2005 0.0159 (129) 0.1388 (13) 0.1527

2008 0.0454 (135) 0.2048 (15) 0.1909

2010 0.0571 (127) 0.2243 (13) 0.1908

2012 0.2105 (66) 0.2738 (8) 0.2225

2014 0.5882 (49) 0.4506 (6) 0.3947

2016 0.5593 (76) 0.5182 (10) 0.4625 (15 of 51)

2018 0.6236 (87) 0.6126 (11) 0.5654 (15 of 51 low-mid-income)

12 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Privacy and Security

eServices save time and

2nd place 1st place 1st place 2nd place

11th place 16th place 22nd place

14 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

16 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

SPECIALISED COORDINATING AGENCY

18 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Ministry 1 Ministry 2-n

Co-ordination of the Wider co-ordination of

Code – New Organic

20 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

E-Georgia – Technology as an enabler whole-of-government and joint-up approaches to

22 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Video: OGP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE5Krlv7Yy8

24 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

With IT and technology serving as key enablers of the Georgian

As a result, access to the internet and online content without

26 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Video legal/cyber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8G0idmxDSE

28 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

Table 9: eID and eSignature usage, 2012-2018

Category 2012 2015 2018

593 369 1 426 160 774 942

30 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

32 E-Georgia – Decades of Successful Transition

ITU Global Cybersecurity Index 2017 Europe #2