System Associates to become lead developer for Local Directgov
December 2005
System Associates has been appointed by London Connects to provide the internet technology behind the Local DirectGov Programme, an ambitious eGovernment programme supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which aims to increase citizen take up of local authority online services and extend their reach.
The programme is an extension to the Directgov website, and will provide an important link between central government and local services. There are 388 local authorities and 800 different services to be indexed to the Local DirectGov Programme, involving considerable cooperation and management across local Government.
The initiative is one of three projects being undertaken, as part of the Local DirectGov Programme. Other projects include the development of a tool for local authorities to support and e-enable neighbourhoods, local parishes and other community groups under the broader ENCORE project. The ODPM Home and Community Franchise is also coordinating stakeholder, marketing and communication activities to facilitate the connection of Directgov to local authority websites.
System Associates was awarded the contract to develop the collaborative infrastructure of the Local Directgov Programme as a result of the success of www.yourlondon.gov.uk, an online project designed to unify London's public services. System Associates has been lead partner for the Your London project, which is currently a finalist within two categories of the eGovernment Awards.
Brian Gordon, Technical Project Manager at London Connects comments "The aim of the programme is to remove barriers and help the citizen through the profusion of public sector services. The citizen does not need to gain an understanding of how their local authority works, instead, they can provide their query online and be automatically directed to the relevant web page or home page."
David Macken of System Associates comments "At last, we are seeing the next generation of online Government services that are providing a genuinely useful service to the citizen. Up until now, the emphasis has been on getting local authorities to achieve their eGov targets. Now that all authorities have an online presence, the bigger task of creating a more joined up eGovernment can take place."
The web interface will comprise two key elements - a public search interface from where the citizen will be directed to the relevant website or service page and a secure extranet where local authority web managers index and link new content to the site.
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