The Bulgaria eGov Project aimed to improve digital skills in the public sector through specialized training and certification programs. Over 60,000 civil servants were trained in IT skills and over 30,000 were certified in computer literacy using the ITcard system. The ITcard provided an objective measurement of training, statistical analysis of results, and an internationally recognized certification to encourage continued skills development among public employees. Technical implementation was led by local partners while project management was coordinated between state agencies, NGOs, and ESI to promote public-private collaboration in expanding e-government services and digital inclusion.

1. Bulgaria eGov Project:
Digital skills in the public sector
George BRASHNAROV
Chairman of the Board / ESI Center Eastern Europe
Member of the Board / QLab Moldova
May 18, 2011
Chisinau, Moldova

2. Bulgaria
Bulgaria is situated in the
South-East part of Europe
Area: 110,993.6 km2.
Population: 7.97 million
Capital City: Sofia
Official language: Bulgarian
Currency: Lev (BGN)
EU Member State since 1.01.2007

3. DEVELOPMENT OF e-GOVERNMENT
• 2002 - preparatory stage
• 2003 - 2005 - experimental stage
• 2005 - 2008 - real stage of dynamic development
Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform
• 2009 - …. – next stage of development
Ministry of Transport and IT&C / Council for Administrative reforms

4. Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform
Strategies and plans:
• E-Government Strategy – 2002
• Human Resources Management in the State Administration Strategy
2006 – 2013
• Plan for the Implementation of the Human Resources Management Strategy
• Strategy for Modernization of the Public Administration - from Accession to Integration
• Strategy for Training the Employees of the Administration

5. Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform
…. many projects linked to e-Government, including
Training in IT in the administration and in the
implementation and use of the services of e-government
• Specialized training at high professional level of the IT
specialists in the administration for the implementation and
use of the services of e-government;
• Drawing up of programs for mass training in computer
literacy of the employees of the state administration.
• Programs for certification of the computer literacy
level of the employees of the state administration.
As result more than 60 000 civil servants were trained in IT
and more than 30 000 were certified against ITCard by ESI

6. Why Certification is needed ?
 As independent objective Content
measurement to the training process
 As powerful statistical tool Improvement
Training
measures
 As instrument for continues
improvement of the training content
 As internationally recognized reward
and active encouragement to the civil Statistics Certification
servants : added value for their CV

7. How ITcard supports the process ?
Fully automized registration, group management and internet based test
system – www.ITcard.org

8. How ITcard supports the process ?
Business layer – www.myITcard.org

9. How ITcard supports the process ?
Statistics
Успешни тестове Статистика
Общ брой Среден резултат
Проект Явили се Неявили се
регистрации (%) на явилите се
% Y N успешни % от всички неуспешни %
MDAAR 10 000 6 072 60.72% 5 779 293 3 928 5 779 57.79% 4 221 42.21% 75.98%
UNDP Rev 3 11 000 9 013 81.94% 8 842 171 1 987 8 842 80.38% 2 158 19.62% 81.70%
UNDP Rev 4 10 000 8 713 87.13% 8 195 518 1 287 8 195 81.95% 1 805 18.05% 78.74%
Total 31 000 23 798 76.77% 22 816 982 7 202 22 816 73.60% 8 184 26.40% 78.81%

10. How ITcard supports the process ?
Continuos improvement 12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
Total certifications
-
11,000
10,000 Present
12,000 10,000 MDAAR
UNDP Rev 3
8,842 UNDP Rev 4
10,000 8,195
8,000 5,779
6,000
4,221
4,000
2,158 Total certifications
2,000 1,805
Succesuful tests
-
Failed
MDAAR
UNDP Rev 3
UNDP Rev 4

11. ITcard in Bulgaria ?
Wining points
• The only independent computer knowledge certificate - ESI
• Localized in Bulgarian, English and special BG-ENG version
• Flexibility - Local content and local technical support
• Fully online registration (www.myITcard.org), management and test system
• Business model / Pricing policy
• Wide network of more than 400 centers
– iCenters project under UNDP framework
– JOBS business center network
– Schools, private centers and many others….

12. Bulgaria ITcard Project:
Who did what ?
Technical implementation:
ESI@Net partner – Nemetschek OOD Bulgaria
Test centers:
iCenters Network – over 160 telecenters under
UNDP project framework
Project Management:
UNDP
Coordination:
ESI@Center Eastern Europe – the first success
case of PPP between State Agency for ICT,
Bulgarian Association of Software companies
(BASSCOM) and ESI

13. Bulgaria ITcard Project:
Current stage and future
Thank you !
www.ITcard.org