Approval for further roll-out of igovt services
The Government has agreed that the roll-out of igovt services will continue over the next two years, following a review of the programme and a decision to explore options for commercial sector involvement, says Minister of Internal Affairs Nathan Guy.
The igovt logon service has been in operation since 2007 and allows people and businesses to use the same logon to access multiple online government services.
The igovt identity verification service, which will go into operation later this year, gives people an easy and secure way of verifying their identity over the Internet to a high level of confidence, similar to presenting a passport at a counter, to access a range of government services.
"The review of the business case for the two igovt services shows that the programme is still viable, and the benefits are significant," Mr Guy said.
"The benefits over the 10 years from July 2009 are estimated to be between $321 million to $727 million from an investment of $65 million for the logon service, and between $320 million and $646 million from an investment of $57 million for the identity verification service.
"The programme plan has been revised and we expect that it will manage within the existing funding until the end of 2010/2011.
"In the meantime, the Department of Internal Affairs and Treasury will look at ways of extending the igovt services to the commercial sector, either as potential users of the igovt services or as commercial partners delivering the igovt services," said Mr Guy.
"This could bring greater investment into the igovt services from commercial interests, and see more people using igovt to access a wider range of online services."
The Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Finance will report back to Cabinet on a mix of funding options before the end of this year.