Bahrain : The Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs, HE Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak, the Chief Executive of the Information and e-Government Authority, HE Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, and the Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Registration and Companies at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Nibras Mohammed Talib, today held a press conference on initiatives aimed to further develop government services, at Gudaibiya Palace.
HE Al Mubarak highlighted that the government, led by HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, is committed to further enhancing the quality and efficiency of its services provided to the Kingdom’s citizens and residents, in line with the vision and aspirations of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
HE Al Mubarak noted that feedback and proposals are of great importance to the government in guiding initiatives that enhance the quality of services that benefit all.
HE Al Mubarak emphasised that, to date, four initiatives have been introduced to enhance beneficiary experience and governance, that include:
1. Documentation and dissemination of government services and procedures on the e-government portal website, to ensure clarity on steps of submission.
2. The launch of the Mystery Shopper Assessment Tool to regulate staff performance, the functionality of internal procedures, and to evaluate customer experiences.
3. Employee Evaluation mechanisms, which aims to assess front office employees who are in direct contact with citizens and residents.
4. Re-engineering of a number of government services that have received frequent complaints via the Tawasul system.
Elaborating further, HE Al Qaed outlined what has been achieved thus far across the four initiatives.
HE Al Qaed noted that all government services have been documented and published on the e-government portal website, which define clear and comprehensive steps of submission, in accordance with the service level agreement that specifies the time needed for government agencies to complete the service required. In this regard, HE Al Qaed said that a committee was formed to follow-up on the implementation of the initiative and monitor all services.
HE Al Qaed emphasised that under the documentation process, all service request forms and display screens for government services on the e-government portal website have been unified, to ensure all documents needed for submission are clearly identified, and work is underway to translate all the services.
HE Al Qaed highlighted that the number of documented services increased during the period from September to December of this year, from 57% (742 documented services) to 100%, totalling 1,294 documented services.
Statistics further revealed an increase in the number of translated services during the period from September to December of this year from 27%, at a rate of 345 services, to 68% at a rate of 885 services, while work is still in progress on translating a remaining 409 services.
Furthermore, statistics indicated an increase in the number of services for which a service level agreement was set during the period from September to December of this year, from 52% at a rate of 674 services, to 97% at a rate of 1,255 services.
On the second initiative of the Mystery Shopper Assessment, HE Al Qaed explained that a committee was formed to initiate the assessment tool, with reports being submitted on a regular basis. HE Al Qaed added that the Mystery Shopper Assessment is to be re-conducted 6 months after the first operation on the services that were evaluated, to ensure the development and improvement of processes.
Discussing the third initiative on employee evaluation, HE Al Qaed noted that work is underway to develop a mechanism for evaluating front office employees who provide government services, and to develop systems for linking the services received and employee evaluation.
HE Al Qaed added that in line with the fourth initiative to re-engineer a number of services that received the most complaints from the Tawasul system, services will be re-engineered by creating a unified e-platform to provide post-construction services, developing electronic services for the unemployed, visa issuance procedures, an electronic service to issue authorization certificates necessary for government service, as well as the development of an electronic system for documenting marriage contracts, and the provision of a unified electronic service for the issuance of documents for newborns.
For his part, Mr. Talib reviewed developments on the performance of government agencies within 3 systems (Sijilat, Benayat and Tawasul) during the period from 13 September to 13 December 2021, noting its importance in the efficiency of government services to citizens and residents.
Mr. Talib indicated that the number of applications through the Kingdom’s Commercial Registration Portal (Sijilat) reached 44,070 during the mentioned period, with 99% of which were completed within the time specified in the service level agreement and 1% completed after the specified time.
Mr. Talib noted that the number of requests for building permits through the Urban Planning Services portal (Benayat) amounted to 893 requests for the same mentioned period, as various requests were answered within the time specified in the service level agreement, while one transaction exceeded the specified time. Mr. Talib added that the average number of days for issuing construction permits was 2.25 days compared to the maximum service level of 5 days.
With regards to the National Suggestion & Complaint system (Tawasul), Mr. Talib stated that the number of suggestions, inquiries and complaints through the system reached 34,964 during the mentioned period, while the percentage of override of the service level agreement registered in the system was 0.67%, noting the commitment of 36 out of 47 agencies to the level of service of 100%.
