Nobody is better than us modernizing our state bodies.

Recently, Kazakhstan has been talking a lot about informatization, innovative programs and a new type of relationship between IT companies and the state customer. Only somehow I didn’t really believe that all this would change anything. Government agencies do not trust domestic IT companies, as they burned and spent billions of money on non-functioning information systems. IT companies are not enthusiastic about unrealistic deadlines and the customer who cannot formulate his tasks normally. After the video conference, it became clear that everything could change.
This post is about how the video conference went, about the pros and cons of PPP and about what gave me hope for the best.

Invitation

A few days ago a letter from the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs came to our company. NPP invited the IT community to take part in

discussing the cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan with Kazakhstani developers in the field of automation and informatization of the department

The meeting was held with the participation of the Minister of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sagadiyev E.K.

Anyone could take part in the discussion via video link. To confirm the intention of participation was necessary using Google Forms. We registered and went. After the meeting, there was an exceptionally positive impression of the Minister, so it was decided to share impressions.

Video conference

For several years, laws 1 , 2 , 3 have been developed to bring the country out of IT stagnation. A video conference with the MES RK shed light on some aspects of these laws.

The meeting was organized with the usual videoconferencing solution. All regions of Kazakhstan took part, the screen in the hall was divided into 16 small screens and one more in the center. On the agenda were 3 questions:

1. About the project "The unified system of electronic journals and diaries of students of educational organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan" Kdelіk ".
2. About the need of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan in IT systems (process automation).
3. Discussion (questions and answers).

It all started with the speech of Yerlan Kenzhegalievich. The Minister briefly spoke about the problems and tasks of the ministry and outlined the vision of the relationship between the MES RK and IT companies. All the tasks for 2017 can be found here .

In general, the meeting left a pleasant impression. There were both positive and negative points.

positive

• openness and honesty of the ministry. Maybe I'm too young and naive, but I want to believe that all this is done sincerely
• knowledge of the Minister in IT. Everything was said in the case, it was clear that he understood what he was talking about.
• good meeting organization. Those who had to be interrupted were interrupted in time. There was almost no noise and confusion. About 150 people participated.

negative

• poor preparedness of colleagues from the IT community. There was a feeling that everyone came to push themselves, or ask some tricky question, or just talk to the Minister. Almost no specifics in the questions were
• Too much attention to electronic diaries. We discussed the issue with diaries for a long time, but no clear problems or solutions were formulated. Discussion of this issue was confusing and led the discussion in a negative direction.
• executives of many IT companies have not arrived. There were far more people on the list. Apparently everyone thinks it's a waste of time.

Next, I will discuss the tasks and answers to the questions voiced by the Minister.

Cooperation with IT companies

The first thing to mention is the MES RK, which needs IT systems. It needs inexpensive, high-quality, and most importantly, domestic IT solutions. Basically, the challenges of automating internal processes and data collection. At the same time, a new type of cooperation is being considered: the rent of software (PPP) and assistance of an administrative nature.

PPP

PPP is a public-private partnership. Full details can be found in the Law on PPP . You can call this "rental" software, which allows you to distribute the risks between the customer / user and the contractor. It looks like this:

1. MES RK reports what they need, illuminates their problems
2. Business implements the decision at its own expense
3. If MES RK likes the solution, then they rent it. The key word is "If."

The Ministry does not guarantee that your product will be selected. The lease agreement will get the best product. Yerlan Kenzhegalievich especially emphasized this market aspect - they are not engaged in lobbying interests. No monopolies, everything is decided by healthy competition.

Administrative assistance

Quote from the Law on PPP :

7) advisory support of public-private partnership projects - services rendered by legal entities in support of public-private partnership projects defined by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan or local executive bodies of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital, including the development of a public-private partnership project concept, tender documentation for a public-private partnership project, a draft public-private partnership agreement VA, including consulting services in the negotiation process between the subjects of public-private partnerships;

According to the Minister, the help means such things:

1. Advisory assistance, answers to questions and help in the formulation of the problem
2. Some marketing assistance. Here it was mainly said about official letters sent to the management of organizations and potential buyers. And no one will force you to buy your product. They will simply make recommendations, help arrange meetings with management, etc. At the same time, of course, there will be no obvious advertising from the MES RK.

Data

I did not find confirmation of this fact in the Law on PPP , but this point should be highlighted. According to the Minister, all developed systems as well as their data should be located in the server JSC "NIT". It sounds rather strange, it seems that the performer himself will not be able to use the collected data. For example, for marketing research and mining knowledge. Nevertheless, the minor task of developing an API for public access to impersonal data was voiced.

Financing and payment

MES RK is ready to support IT companies, but not with finances and not lobbying. If your project is deemed useful and they want to use it, a kind of "rent" or availability fee will be paid.

Quote from the Law on PPP :

2. Sources of reimbursement of expenses of subjects of public-private partnership and income generation by subjects of public-private partnership are:

• the sale of goods, works and services during the operation of a public-private partnership facility;
• subsidies from the state in cases established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• compensation of investment costs of the public-private partnership project;
• compensation of the operating costs of the public-private partnership project;
• remuneration for managing state-private partnerships, as well as rent for using public-private partnerships;
• access fee.

The pros and cons of PPP

It can be seen that PPP is convenient mainly for the state itself. The program removes almost all risks from the customer, shifting them to the business. Business leaders need to first independently attract money, and only then engage in sales, marketing and implementation. This increases competition and is good for all of us, and it should be.

On the other hand, all this is only on paper. While there are no procedures, a uniform technique and competent experts. It is not clear who and how will evaluate the technical tasks and projects. All this leaves room for cheating and lobbying. In addition, nothing prevents colleagues from neighboring countries from entering with ready-made solutions and getting their own piece of cake.

Tasks for the IT community

I will highlight only those tasks that seemed interesting and those that the Minister highlighted:

1. The task of collecting data. Any method of collecting data from absolutely any business processes of the MES RK is welcomed. The more data the better.
2. The system of aggregation of data from the accounting system (for example, 1C) in schools. In essence, this also applies to the task of data collection.
3. Liquidation of paper reporting completed by secondary school teachers
4. The task of pentesting, ensuring the security of information systems and data
5. Digitization of books and translation of texts between three languages: Kazakh, Russian and English
6. The body of the Kazakh language. The topic of frequency analysis of the Kazakh language was raised. For example, this is required to create a new method of teaching the Kazakh language.
7. Data Analysis Solutions
8. Tasks of integration between existing information systems
9. Behavioral analysis of students. Apparently inspired by blue whales

The minister particularly highlighted one issue - the issue of automating data collection.

What does all of this mean

The gap between the IT companies and the state led to stagnation. Developed information systems like a fifth wheel cart. Instead of the vaunted automation and optimization, officials have to do manual paperwork and, moreover, clog the useless data into useless systems.

The current time requires managers to optimize internal processes and maximize resource efficiency. Most likely all normal leaders are now thinking about this. MES RK sees a solution in business process automation, data collection and analytics. This is good for the IT industry, we have a lot of work :-). The only problem is that no one has money.

No one wants to risk ordering the development of new software, since there is no trust in our IT industry. We are used to the fact that the state has a lot of money, money was allocated to the right and left. Nobody watched the quality of implementation. The result was a vicious circle: the IT community is not enthusiastic about the state customer, because they "do not know what they want." Officials do not trust the IT community, as we all do "through one place."

However, recent events in Kazakhstan show that officials are aware of the existence of a gap between the IT community and the customer represented by state bodies. Leaders such as Sagadiyev can become the driving force behind the development of new relations between the IT industry and the state.

I want to believe that the time of real market relations is coming, the time when we will make truly high-quality software, and the heads of state bodies and private companies realize the importance and usefulness of IT systems. Managers will begin to trust us, domestic IT companies, and stop buying foreign software. We must and will compete with our neighboring countries for the quality and price of sales.

Conclusion

Compatriots, design and implement high-quality software, including for the state customer. Nobody is better than us modernizing our state bodies.