“Gostech” was left without a date – Newspaper Kommersant No. 57 (7502) dated 04/04/2023

The phased transition of federal state information systems (GIS) to the single digital platform Gostekh began on April 1, 2023, for regional systems it starts on January 1, 2024. The decree issued by Vladimir Putin does not contain deadlines for completing the process. The reason is the difficulties that arose during the preparation of such a transition. These are the unavailability of GIS in terms of security, problems with funding sources, concerns about the reliability of the platform itself, as well as the resistance of a number of departments to the very idea of ​​​​Gostech as a single environment for state IT.

As Kommersant noted, only for security reasons, the transfer of GIS to Gostech will require more effort and time than expected (see more “Kommersant” dated March 31). On the one hand, the White House directs the Ministry of Digital Development to transfer as many information systems as possible to Gostech, otherwise the whole process will not make much sense. On the other hand, many questions remain unresolved (including who is responsible for the security of the systems loaded on the platform), so, taking advantage of this, the ministries protect their interests, powers and IT budgets.

Vladimir Putin, by decree of March 31 on the creation, development and operation of GIS using Gostech, fixed the dates for the start of the transition to this digital platform: April 1, 2023 – for federal information systems, January 1, 2024 – for regional ones. Recall that Gostekh is intended to become a development environment for state IT and should allow savings on the use of systems previously created by government agencies. Unlike the November draft of the Ministry of Digital Development, the final decree does not contain the end dates for the transition to Gostekh (it was assumed that it would be completed before the end of 2025 and 2026, respectively; see “Kommersant” dated November 9, 2022).

At the same time, the decree mentions certain stages of the transfer of systems lasting three years each. Which stages are involved is not specified. There is no previous mention in the decree of using the State Unified Cloud Platform (GEOP, Gosoblako) when switching to the platform.

The Ministry of Digital Development did not respond to Kommersant’s request. From the available in the decree – the criteria for the expediency of creating and developing a GIS using the platform. Among them – the reliability of the functioning of systems, accessibility for users, the degree of dependence on foreign technologies, the provision of infrastructure and the availability of budget allocations. Note that the information systems, the decision to “relocate” which is made by the head of the department, the decree also included GIS, which are objects of critical information infrastructure (CII). This includes the information systems of government agencies responsible for healthcare, science, transport, communications, energy, and the banking sector. Such autonomy, apparently, is caused by concerns about the reliability of Gostech. This is also indicated by the instruction to prescribe his responsibility in the agreement with the platform operator. The decree also obliges the government to provide money for its implementation when drafting the federal budget. Regional authorities are also encouraged to allocate funds for this when forming their budgets. The significant difference between the text of the presidential decree and the November draft of the Ministry of Digital Development speaks not only of a shift in deadlines, but also of other difficulties that have arisen. This is also a solution to questions about where to get money for the transition, and about the reliability of the platform.

In addition, according to Kommersant’s sources, a number of departments are resisting the transition.

This is confirmed by the head of the “Digital Development” direction of the TsSR Alexander Malakhov. “The resistance of a number of authorities, primarily technologically and financially strong, is natural. Especially for CII, because in which case – to answer them, and this is a personal responsibility. But all this in no way speaks about the quality of the implementation of the Gostekh components, ”says the expert.

Venera Petrova