Public services brought to the top

The Russian Federation took tenth place in the international rating of information technology development in the public sector GovTech Maturity Index 2022, compiled by the World Bank. The country has significantly improved its position – if, according to the results of 2020, the Russian Federation was in the list of countries with a B rating, now it is tenth in the list with the highest A-rating, which includes 68 more countries in addition to it (the rating covers 198 countries in total). The top three are South Korea, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The Russian Ministry of Economy expects that the high position of the Russian Federation will expand the opportunities for promoting its digital products and solutions to countries and regions with less developed technologies.

The Russian Federation in the rating of information technology development in the public sector GovTech Maturity Index 2022 (GTMI) of the World Bank got into the short list of countries with the highest A-rating, taking the tenth line of the list with a maturity index of 0.897 points (measures progress in the development of basic state systems, public services, institutional environment, involvement of the population in the digital environment). The assignment of countries to groups from A to D is based on their average score, the Russian Federation in all four sub-indices was in the A-rating group.

In total, the rating covers 198 countries, in the top five this year are South Korea (0.991 points), Brazil (0.975), Saudi Arabia (0.971), the United Arab Emirates (0.961) and Estonia (0.956). France (0.945 points), India (0.94), Lithuania (0.918) and Mongolia (0.907) were also ahead of the Russian Federation. According to the results of the 2020 rating, the Russian Federation was in the list of countries with a B-rating, remind the Ministry of Economy. It should be noted that in 2022, 69 countries were assigned an A rating, 46 countries received a B rating, 53 countries received a C rating, and 30 countries received a D rating. In 2022, the average GTMI score was 0.552 (in 2020 it was only 0.519). However, since then, the rating calculation methodology has been updated – now it takes into account 40 indicators (in March 2022, an online survey was launched so that rating participants could reflect the latest developments and results of their initiatives in the field of state technologies).

The Core Government Sub-Index (CGSI) is based on 17 indicators and covers key aspects of the whole-of-government approach, including the public cloud and other platforms. The Public Service Delivery Sub-Index (PSDI) uses nine metrics to measure the “maturity” of online public service portals, focusing on design and accessibility. The Digital Engagement Sub-Index (DCEI) includes six indicators and evaluates, among other things, citizen feedback mechanisms and open data. The Institutional Environment Sub-Index (GTEI) evaluates 16 indicators, including policies, institutions, laws, innovation policies, and public technology development programs. Note that the Russian Federation has the highest value for the PSDI sub-index (0.960 points), the lowest for DCEI (0.828 points).

As Kommersant was told in the Ministry of Economy, the results of the last rating raised doubts among the department. This time, many meetings and consultations were held with WB staff and management. Specialists of the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Digital Development, as well as relevant departments of other federal executive authorities analyzed the existing large digital products (including “State services”, “digital taxes”, the Unified Medical Information and Analytical System) and sent the results of this work to the World Bank. According to the Deputy Minister of Economy Vladimir Ilyichev, a high position in the GTMI rating expands the opportunities for promoting domestic digital products and solutions in countries and regions with less developed technologies – the A rating will significantly increase the ability of the Russian Federation to participate and win in procurement competitions.

Venera Petrova