Business reasearch company

Task 8 and 9: Identify institutions with a potential role of front office in getting permits and assess the information technology (IT) capacity required for a one-stop shop

The concept of One Stop Shop represents a location that offers a multitude of services to a client or a customer where they can get all they need in “one stop”. The implementation of a One Stop Shop for issuing permissive documents for businesses by a public authority consists in the implementation of a facility which is a single point of contact with the businesses with the purpose of arranging and providing public services that involve the issuing of permissive and confirmative documents such as licenses, authorizations, certificates, etc.

As the international best practices prove and modern information technologies allow, the establishment of a One Stop Shop will require the involvement of IT and communication tools that will minimize the time to access information, communicate between the state institutions and businesses and finally, minimize the effort and time to obtain permissive documents.
According to the Program on Reforming the Public Services for the period 2014-2016 approved by the Government Decision nr. 122 on 18.02.2014, the creation of one stop shop solutions falls under the public services reform initiative which has the following objectives:

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  Reduce the time needed to obtain information about the services and services;
  
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  Reduce the number of visits to institutions to receive services;
  
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  Reduce the distance to the place of supply of services;
  
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  Reduce the cost of services to beneficiaries;
  
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  Improve the quality of service;
  
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  Reduce the number of complaints.
  

Whether the interaction between the businesses and public authorities is face-to-face within a public authority or through a service delivery center, phone, email or an information system, the businesses have to benefit from public services in the most efficient, simple and quick way.

According to the Methodological Guide on Public Services Re-engineering, developed by State Chancellery to support the implementation the Program on Reforming the Public Services, the one stop shop solution will involve a „multichannel” strategy that will ensure the delivery of services in a fast, efficient and convenient manner regardless the means used to provide public services.
To achieve the objectives of the One Stop Shop, the proposed solution has to provide the following functionalities:

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  Online submission of applications for obtaining permissive documents;
  
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  Online submission of applications for obtaining documents necessary for obtaining the permissive documents;
  
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  Provide the functionality for the applicants to submit applications for all permissive documents in one place;
  
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  Attachment of electronic versions of paper based documents;
  
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  Electronic payment for the fees to obtain permissive documents;
  
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  Provide personal electronic workspace for the applicants to save the applications for permits, complementary documents and attachments in one single place;
  
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  Functionality to track the application status;
  
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  Electronic data exchange with the involved public authorities to eliminate the need to obtain confirmative documents or other certificates that are already available electronically in registries or information systems such as statutory information of the businesses available at State Registration Chamber and information about the debts to the public budget available at State Tax Service;
  
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  Electronic authentication of applicants in the One stop Shop solution and electronic signing of documents;
  
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  Automation of application processing by the responsible public authorities;
  
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  Storage and access provision to the information regarding the issued permissive documents;
  
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  Notification of the applicants and employees of the public authorities responsible for issuing permits regarding the status of applications.
  

The implementation of the One Stop Shop will require the collaboration between public authorities in order to minimize the number of visits to the state institutions performed by businesses necessary to obtain permissive documents.

The proposed One Stop Shop solution has to be implemented by an organization or several organizations that will have to carry out the following functions:

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  Coordinate the implementation of the One Stop Shop at the technical and administrative levels across all the stakeholders involved such as public institutions, state enterprises, laboratories and other organizations;
  
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  Analyze the business processes for issuing permissive documents, propose optimization recommendations and coordinate the implementation and adoption of the proposed optimizations;
  
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  Coordinate the implementation of the new business processes for issuing permits that will be introduced along with the implementation of the One Stop Shop;
  
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  Monitor the process of issuing permits within the One Stop Shop and provide assistance in complying with the new introduced procedures;
  
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  Manage the users and roles within the proposed One Stop Shop IT system in order to comply with their functions in the organization;
  
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  Provide technical and administrative support to the stakeholders of the One Stop Shop;
  
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  Provide trainings to the users of the One Stop Shop IT solution;
  
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  Manage and maintain the technical functionality of the One Stop Shop solution;
  
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  For the businesses that will continue to submit applications on paper, the organization that will provide One Stop Shop services has to have a developed network of territorial offices or subdivisions in order to minimize the costs of the businesses to visit the physical location of the organization for submitting the application.
  

The organization that will manage and implement the One Stop Shop solution has to be hierarchically equal or higher than the public authorities that issue permissive documents. This will minimize the resistance from the public authorities involved and will ensure enforcing of the new procedures for issuing permissive documents

After the analysis of international and local best practices in the area of interaction between businesses and public authorities and the recent Government’s achievement is the area of e-Government, the analysis was made to identify the potential institutions and their capacity to play the role of “front office” for receiving applications for obtaining permits. Below is the analysis of the institutions that have a potential role to act as a front-office for issuing permissive documents to the business.

1. 
   Licensing Chamber
   

According to the Law no. 451-XV from 30.07.2001 regarding the licensing of entrepreneurial activity, the Licensing Chamber is the central public authority that participates in development and implementation of the national policy in the area of licensing and has the functions of issuing licenses, manages the Licensing Electronic Registry and performs the control of fulfilling the licensing conditions by the licenses’ owners. According to the Law 451-XV, there are 50 licensed business types of activities, out of which, 33 types of activities are licensed by the Licensing Chamber.
The “One Stop Shop” principle within the Licensing Chamber was introduced through the Law no. 281 from 14.12.2007. In the Government Decision 1068 from 19.09.2008 regarding the implementation of the One Stop Shop within the Licensing Chamber, the mechanism for functioning of the One Stop Shop within the Licensing Chamber was established.
Licensing Chamber owns and manages two information systems that are used for automatization of the process for issuing licenses and providing the functionality for the businesses to apply for getting licenses online through the Government Public Services Portal.

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  The Electronic Registry of Licenses was launched in 2009. This registry is a part of the state information resources and automates the entire license life cycle starting with the application for license and ending with the issuing the license. The Electronic Registry of Licenses has a public interface that provides access to the information on existing licenses (http://www.licentiere.gov.md/licenta.php?l=ro). The Electronic Registry of Licenses is used by the employees of the Licensing Chamber and does not have the functionality of online application.
  
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  The electronic service “E-Licensing” was launched in 2013 and supports the functionality for the businesses to make license applications online. The applicants can fill in the licensee applications online through the Public Services Portal (www.servicii.gov.md), can attach the necessary documents in electronic format (scanned) and make primary validations of data about the applicant electronically through automated validation of data with information systems of other public authorities. The applicant can pay the license fee electronically as well through the E-Licensing system which is integrated with the Government Payment System M-Pay. The “E-Licensing” system is not integrated with the Electronic Registry of Licenses and therefore, the Employees of the Licensing Chamber have to manually enter the data received via E-Licensing in the Electronic Registry of Licenses.
  

Below is the public interface of the E-Licensing system for applying online for licenses.

After analyzing the feasibility to create a front-office within the Licensing chamber for issuing the permissive documents identified within the current study, the following conclusions are presented:

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  The E-Licensing system is designed for a certain number of licenses, business processes and to be used within only Licensing Chamber. It is not a scalable solution to add new permissive documents and institutions.
  
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  As is presented in the Concept of the Information System for Managing and Issuing permissive Documents, the development of the functionality to create the “Personal electronic office” of the applicant is envisaged that will store all the issued permits and attachments submitted by the economic agent. The e-Licensing does not have this functionality
  
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  The E-Licensing system does not have the functionality to provide public information regarding the issued licenses. This functionality will need to be developed for all the permissive documents that will eliminate the necessity to issue paper based permits and replace it by publishing the information online. Any public authority has to be able to access the information about the permissive document and not request the paper based format.
  
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  The E-Licensing system does not have the functionality to notify the license applicants about the status of the application and the applicants do not have the possibility to track the progress of the license application processing.
  
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  The functionalities necessary for establishing a One Stop Shop for issuing more permissive documents managed by several public authorities, besides the functionality for online application, requires back office functionalities that will be used by the employees of the permits’ issuing authorities to receive, store, process and register the applications, attached documents, issuing decision and storage of permits’ information in an electronic registry. The Electronic Registry of Licenses cannot be used by other public authorities because it is not a scalable and replicable solution and is designed strictly for the needs of the Licensing Chamber. The E-Licensing system cannot be used by other public authorities because of the above arguments and because it lacks the necessary back-office functionalities.
  
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  Licensing Chamber does not have the source code of the Electronic Registry of Licenses and therefore, its integration with additional modules and systems is problematic.
  
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  The E-Licensing system does not have a flexible monitoring and reporting functionality because the system is not integrated with the Registry of Licenses and cannot provide information about the status of the license application processing, issued licenses, their expiration date and other information.
  
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  For creating a One Stop Shop solution that will manage the issuing of a multitude of permissive documents issued by several public authorities that use different business processes, it is recommended to design a new system based on the Government Enterprise Content Management System (ECMP). ECMP allows the development of electronic registries and systems to issue authorizations and has a native integration with the Government electronic payment solution, interoperability platform, notification system, signing and authentication system.
  
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  Because not all the businesses will apply for obtaining permissive documents electronically, many applicants will prefer visiting the institution physically. Providing the services for issuing a large number of permissive documents, including licenses, the Licensing Chamber has only one physical office for interacting with the businesses and therefore, it will not be able to manage a higher flow of applicants. Moreover, without having territorial offices, the businesses from other regions of the country will have to perform visits to the Licensing Chamber for obtaining permits.
  

Conclusion: The Licensing Chamber cannot perform the function of front office for receiving the applications for issuing the proposed permissive documents. The Electronic Registry of Licenses cannot be used for adding new permissive documents and be used by other public authorities for managing the issuing other permissive documents. The E-Licensing system does not have the necessary functionalities for supporting the necessary processes and optimizations for issuing permissive documents issued by other public authorities.

2. 
   E-Government Center
   

"E-Government Center" is a Public Institution and the State Chancellery fulfills the functions of the Institution's Founder. The aim of the Institution is to improve the governance quality through a wide application of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

E-Government center has the following basic functions:

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  strategic planning, project management and implementation of information and communication systems for the Government;
  
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  preparation of the roadmap for ICT development in the Republic of Moldova, design of the basic infrastructure, development of qualified work force and promotion of the technological progress;
  
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  promotion of e-transformation and increase of the use of ICT by citizens.
  

E-Government Center has the following duties:

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  to implement the regulatory framework in areas within the scope of the Institution;
  
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  to design the e-Government architecture;
  
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  to participate in the development of technical standards and regulations on e-Government and their implementation;
  
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  to provide assistance for the implementation of public e-services projects;
  
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  to develop projects and terms of references on the implementation of e-services in the public administration;
  
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  to develop and manage the Government portal, the unified system of e-document flow, email system and the public keys authentication center for the public administration authorities, in line with the relevant regulatory and decision making framework;
  
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  to ensure the technical and technological maintenance of the official websites of the public administration authorities;
  
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  to provide assistance to central public authorities on the development of e-Government projects;
  
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  to analyze the state and trends in the development of the national and international e-service market and develop proposals on the enhancement of its regulatory mechanism;
  
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  to participate in the development of the system for professional training and skills enhancement in the area of public e-services;
  
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  to ensure the security of information systems and protection of the information processed by the Institution;
  
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  to cooperate with similar entities from other countries and international organizations, in line international treaties;
  
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  to develop, design and manage ICT solutions aimed at enhancing the efficiency, transparency and quality of the public authorities' processes;
  
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  to provide assistance and consultancy for the re-engineering, management and administration of work processes in the public authorities and provision of public services;
  
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  to design, implement and manage the unified e-Government information and communication infrastructure;
  
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  to design and manage, in a centralized manner, the software used by public authorities;
  
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  to develop and implement public information and awareness raising programs regarding the ICT benefits.
  

For the implementation of the e-Government initiatives in the country, the E-Government center provides the following IT tools and shared services that can be used by public authorities for developing IT systems and electronic services:

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  Single Public Services Portal (servicii.gov.md) is the unique platform for public services provided by the authorities. The servicii.gov.md platform functions as an electronic catalogue for public services provided by the authorities dedicated to citizens and the business environment. The main purpose of this platform is to offer brief, correct, accessible and complete information on the public services available in the Republic of Moldova.
  
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  MCloud is the Government common technology platform that provides the necessary infrastructure for the public authorities. It allows the Moldovan public authorities store their applications in a single datacenter without the need to procure servers and storage and manage the risks related to data security.
  
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  MPass is the national service which allows authentication and access to digital public services. The service offers different authentication mechanisms: mobile signature, digital certificate, user name and password;
  
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  MSign allows the electronic signing of documents and forms and allows validation of the electronic signatures applied on the signed documents. The MSign service integrates the signing using the electronic tokens and mobile phones.
  
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  MPay is the government service for electronic payments, is an informational tool by which various services can be paid online. MPAY can enable payment services through multiple payment methods such as credit cards, payment terminals, e-banking and cash payments. For cash payments, people who do not have Internet access can contact the bank counters or post offices from Moldova for internet connection.
  
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  MNotify allows the submission of notifications using the electronic mail, SMS and Facebook for informing the users regarding the different events in the systems such as processing of applications, issuing documents, etc.
  
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  MLog is the centralized logging service for Business Intelligence purposes (statistics, models analysis, etc.);
  
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  MDelivery allows the submission of paper based documents and parcels using the post or delivery services;
  
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  SIGEDIA is the Public Authorities’ Document Management System;
  
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  ECMP (PGRAP) is the Enterprise Content Management System is a shared platform designed for implementation of electronic services such as online appointments, electronic registries and issuing of authorizations. It is automatically integrated with the services mentioned above and allows a rapid deployment, minimization of implementation costs and time for development of IT systems. Using ECMP, the costs for implementation of an IT system can be reduced up to by 3 times;
  

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  Government Interoperability Framework (MConnect) allows the electronic data exchange between public authorities and information systems;
  
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  Government Open Data Portal (data.gov.md) is a One Stop Shop accessing the open government data and reusable public information.
  

For the development of an ICT solution to streamline the issuing of permissive documents and licenses, in order to reduce the capital and operational costs for developing and maintaining the system, the abovementioned shared IT services provided by the E-Government center will be used.

Conclusion: Physical interaction between the businesses in the process for obtaining permissive documents will not be possible through the e-Governance Center, because the Center provides only IT supporting services to public authorities and has only one office located in the Government building. To implement the One Stop Shop for issuing permissive documents, the Center will provide the access to the Government Public Services Portal (www.servicii.gov.md) to be used as an interface for accessing the system for issuing permits. The electronic system for issuing permits that will be available through the Public Services Portal and will be integrated with the shared services mentioned above that are provided by the e-Government Center.

3. 
   Moldova Post Office (State Enterprise Posta Moldovei)
   

State Enterprise “Poșta Moldovei” was founded in 1993 and is a national operator that provides postal services. The enterprise has 1146 territorial post offices and agencies and 37 regional branches that provide postal services to citizens in 1527 localities of Moldova.

Poșta Moldovei provides the following services:

- Post services for letters;

- Post services for postal parcels;

- Rapid delivery services;

- Money transfer;

- Receiving of payments for public utilities;

- Pensions payments.

Currently the Post Office is implementing a project together with State Enterprise “Registru” for providing One Stop Shop Services for obtaining documents issued by Registru. In establishing the One Stop Shop, state enterprise “Poșta Moldovei” acts as an intermediary between the citizens and SE Registru in the process of issuing various documents. Any citizen through any territorial post office can submit an application for getting a specific document issued by Registru. Additionally citizens can pay the fees for issuing Registru documents at the territorial post offices. Due to the large network of post territorial offices, the citizens do not have to visit Registru offices for getting documents and can submit the applications in their own communities. The generic process for issuing a document using the OSS approach within the post office is the following:

1. The applicant visits the post office to apply for a document;

2. The post office specialist informs the applicant regarding the conditions for getting the requested document;

3. The applicant fills in the application for getting the documents, signs it and pays for the service;

4. The post office specialist submits the application by post to Registru.

5. Registru staff examines the application and issue the document;

6. Registru staff submits the issued document via post office to the applicant home address.
As seen from the experience in acting as an intermediary between the institution that issues documents and citizens based on the One Stop Shop principle, Poșta Moldovei can diversify its services by acting as an intermediary in the process of obtaining permissive documents for other public authorities. Additionally, to streamline the existing process within the post offices, the submission of documents to responsible public authorities can be electronic. This can be achieved by using the proposed system for issuing permissive documents that will be described further in this document.
Our team held a meeting with the Deputy Minister of ICT who is responsible for post services, Mr. Vitalie Ciolac. During the meeting, we described the objectives for optimization of processes for issuing permissive documents and potential implication of post offices to act as One Stop Shop (front office) for obtaining permissive documents. In this context, Mr. Ciolac expressed his availability to collaborate and provide the necessary support for this initiative.
For involving territorial post offices to act as a front-office for businesses for obtaining permissive documents the following resources and activities are required:

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  Providing trainings for the post offices’ staff in using the proposed IT system and requirements for application submission for permissive documents.
  
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  If needed, for some post offices, it is necessary to provide the equipment necessary for using the system such as a working station with a digital scanner to scan application attachments.
  
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  Provide Internet connection necessary to submit the application to the public authorities responsible for issuing permits.
  

Please note that working stations and Internet connection will be necessary to be provided only to the post offices that will be selected to act as a front-office and lack the necessary equipment and Internet connection.

Conclusion: Because of the presence of the post offices in all the regions of the country and already established practice to act as a front office for other institution (SE Registru) in issuing documents, Moldovan Post Office can act as a “Front Office” for issuing permissive documents.

4. 
   State Enterprise Registru
   

The State Enterprise “Centre for State Information Resources “Registru” (SE “CSIR “Registru”) is one of the leading subordinate enterprises of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication, aimed at implementation of integration processes of the state information resources. At the same time the SE “CSIR “Registru” is a unique supplier on the Republic of Moldova information technologies market, since it has the exclusive right to provide a certain number of information services and to manufacture products, including those of national significance. SE “CSIR “Registru” acts as a general contractor of the National Information System and its basic subsystems and also takes an active role in the formation of a national system of information services in Moldova, implementing the electronic services for citizens and businesses.
CSIR “Registru” has a network of 35 territorial subdivisions of the State Information Registries Department in all the regions of Moldova. Comparing to the state enterprise ”Poșta Moldovei”, the number of territorial offices of SE ”CSIR Registru” is very lower, 35 versus 1183. Therefore, for the purposes of serving as an intermediary between the businesses and public authorities in the process of obtaining permissive documents, Registru is a less attractive in terms of accessibility to permits’ applicants. Therefore, we are not considering CSIR Registru to act as a front-office institution for issuing permissive documents for other public authorities.
For the purposes of implementation of the system for issuing permissive documents, CSIR Registru will provide to the public authorities involved in issuing permits, access to the following state information resources that are managed by the enterprise:

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  State Register of Population
  
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  State Register of Legal Entities
  
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  National Geographic Information System
  
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  State Register of Vehicles
  
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  State Register of Drivers
  

The abovementioned registers shall be connected to Government Electronic Interoperability Platform (MConnect) to provide data required for issuing permits and substitute the mandatory need to present documents to other public authorities that contain information in the electronic registers such as information regarding registered companies, vehicles, company addresses, business administrators, etc.

Conclusion: State Enterprise Registru is not considered as an institution to serve as a “Front Office” because it does not have sufficient territorial offices that provide public services to citizens. Moreover, to fill the gap of insufficient territorial presence, SE Registru collaborates with the Moldova Post Office that acts as a “Front-office” for SE Registru.

5. 
   Government Public Services Portal (servicii.gov.md)
   

Servicii.gov.md is the unique platform for public services provided by the public authorities. The servicii.gov.md platform functions as an electronic catalogue for public services provided to citizens and businesses. The main purpose of this platform is to offer brief, correct, accessible and complete information on the public services available in the Republic of Moldova.
The portal contains information regarding both electronic services, as well as traditional services. The visitors can find on servicii.gov.md the description of the services and permissive documents, the set of documents required for these services, the schedule of service delivery, the costs and the duration of issuing these. They can also find contact details for more information and the forms that need to be completed in electronic format, including guidance.

The platform is divided into service categories for:

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  Citizens (information and petition, finance and taxes, special permits, etc.);
  
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  Business environment (taxes, reports, confirmative acts, permissive acts, etc.);
  
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  Visitors (Moldovan citizenship, entry and stay in the Republic of Moldova);
  
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  Life scenarios (emigration, immigration, business startup, getting business permits, real estate, a family foundation, health, studies).
  

Through this unique electronic public services counter, the citizens can benefit numerous services on-line in an easy and accessible way. They no longer have to wait in lines for hours, and instead they can easily access any information they need with a simple click. The main purpose of this platform is to offer brief, correct accessible and complete information on the public services available in the Republic of Moldova.

The single point public services platform doesn't substitute the authorities’ web pages that offer more complex information.
Currently, there are 445 services on the portal, of which 105 are e-Services (on-line services), as could be seen from the image of the portal below


The portal is integrated with the following e-Government shared services:

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  Mpass for authentication;
  
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  MSign for authentication and signing with electronic signatures;
  
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  MPay for performing electronic payments for public services;
  
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  MNotify for submitting electronic notifications to the portal users.
  

The portal is hosted in MCloud Government platform and technical maintenance is ensured by the State Enterprise “Center for Special Telecommunications” which is under the State Chancellery of Moldova.
For the purposes of implementing a system for issuing permissive documents, the portal will be used as a gateway to the system which will be accessible through the portal. To minimize the capital and operational costs, the system will use all the facilities provided by the portal.

The portal can be accessed using personal computers, tablet PCs, smartphones and any devices that have an Internet browser installed. The businesses and public authorities will have a single point of contact for dealing with permissive documents.

For those representatives of the businesses that do not have sufficient computer skills, the specialists within the public authorities that will act as a point of contact or service provider for obtaining permits, will assist the businesses to submit electronic applications through the portal.
Additionally, the portal will be accesses through the public terminals where the businesses will be able to submit application for getting permits and perform the payment for the service at the same place using the cash-in functionality of the terminals. These terminals are currently available in most of the public places all over Moldova and are provided by private companies that ensure operational maintenance upgrade and integration of the public services in the terminals.
Conclusion: The Government Public Services Portal will serve as a single electronic “Front Office” solution.

6. 
   Public Notaries and Banks
   

Banks and notaries cannot be obliged to provide the front-office services because they are entities that generate profit and adding these services to them, will lead to additional service fees. In case of modifications of procedures, forms, business processes and staff, the costs to propagate the changes throughout all the banks and notaries will be very high because of the this huge number of legal entities. In case of the Post Office, an internal regulation can be adopted throughout all the territorial post offices, but in case of notaries and banks, a government decision or law will be needed in case of new regulations appear.

Final recommendation: It is not proposed to use the Banks and Public Notaries as “Front-Office” for issuing permissive documents.

7. 
   Registration Chamber
   

Registration Chamber has one central office located in Chisinau and 10 territorial offices throughout the country. Therefore, comparing to Poșta Moldovei, the Registration Chamber is less attractive in terms of businesses access to public services. Also, the Registration Chamber staff is very narrowly specialized in performing specific functions and assigning them new tasks would require significant re-organization of the enterprise and attracting new human resources.

Final recommendation: Taking into consideration the resources available at State Registration Chamber, its functions and resources necessary to transform the Chamber into a front-office for obtaining permissive documents, it is not recommended to use the Chamber for achieving established objectives.

8. 
   Other public authorities that issue permissive documents for businesses
   

After the analysis of the potential solutions for establishing standardized One Stop Shop procedures for issuing permissive documents, including the implementation of an IT system for issuing permissive documents, it becomes obvious that the public authorities that currently issue permissive documents will continue to have the functions of receiving applications for permissive documents. It is proposed to change the approach for interacting with the businesses which is possible by implementing the use of the information system for issuing permissive documents. Every public authority that issue permits including the institutions that will serve as an intermediary between the businesses and public authorities will use a single system for issuing permits. This will be the same system that will be available to the businesses through the Public Services Portal, public terminals and mobile devices. The innovativeness that will optimize the permitting process consists in the change of the approach for receiving and accepting applications for getting permits. When a business representative will visit the public authority for getting a permit that requires many other documents to be attached to the application, the specialist from the authority will provide assistance to the business to obtain the necessary documents for the permit directly from other public authorities. The same approach will also be valid for the applications submitted through the portal. If the applicant will miss a document from the list of documents necessary to be attached to the application, the system will automatically generate applications to request the missing documents form other authorities, providing the possibility to pay the fees electronically and putting the initial application in ”draft” status until all the documents necessary for application are collected. The conceptual presentation of the system for issuing permissive documents, its basic functions and scenarios are presented in Annex 5.


Conclusion: The public authorities that are currently issuing permissive documents will continue to receive applications from the businesses that visit their offices. In order to optimize the processes for issuing the permits, the employees of the public authorities will use the same system for issuing permissive documents that will be available through the Public Services Portal and will be used by the Post Office Staff. Thus, all the stakeholders involved in issuing permissive documents will be using one single IT system.

9. 
   Local Public Authorities
   

With the support of USAID Local Government Support Project, in four public authorities in different regions of Moldova, Citizen Information and Service Centers (CISC) were established. The CISCs are serving as One Stop Shops for obtaining an average of 20 types of local services. Additionally, each CISCs is equipped with a workstation and scanner in order to provide access to citizens to apply for obtaining public services provided by central public authorities through the Public Services Portal. The CISC operators are providing assistance and support to the citizens that want to obtain public services through the Public Services Portal.
Conclusion: The local public authorities can serve as “Front-Office” when the information system for issuing permissive documents is implemented and available through the Public Services Portal.
Recommended institutional set-up
As seen from the above analysis of the potential institutions for providing “Front office” and providing One Stop Shop Services, the following institutional setup is recommended:

1. 
   Government Public Services Portal (servicii.gov.md) will serve as the single online front office that will be used by the businesses to apply for obtaining any permissive document. The businesses will be able to access the Portal for submitting the applications, monitor status of their application, pay the permit fee and apply for other documents necessary for submission of applications. The Portal will be accessed through various devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones and through public terminals for performing limited functionalities that do not require authentication and attachment of documents.
   
2. 
   State Enterprise “Center for Special Telecommunications” will host the One Stop Shop system and will ensure the technical and technological functionality of the IT solution. The IT solution will be hosted in the Government Cloud System (MCloud) and access will be provided to all the public authorities involved.
   
3. 
   E-Government center will ensure the integration of the One Stop Shop IT solution into the Government Public Services Portal.
   
4. 
   State Enterprise “Posta Moldovei” (Moldova Post Office) is proposed to provide the services for receiving applications for obtaining permits and submitting the applications to the public authorities responsible for issuing permits.
   
5. 
   State Chancellery will establish a separate department responsible for implementation and monitoring the functionality of the One Stop Shop solution. It will serve as maintenance, development and coordination body, having direct contacts with all issuing bodies, which are part of this system.
   
6. 
   Local public administrations and public authorities involved in issuing permits will also provide “front office” services by offering support to the applicants in filling in the applications using the Government Public Services Portal and will receive the applications for permissive documents that they are responsible for issuing. Local governments shall become an important resource. An example is recently established Information and Service Provisions Centers, with support of USAID/LGSP project in Taraclia, Orhei and Sangerei towns are expected to help citizens and businesses to apply for local and central public administration services (including permits).