ICT Authority to Pilot Innovation to Reduce Bureaucracy

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Authority, in collaboration with the World Bank, will pilot a once-only zero-bureaucracy principle as the Government continues its thrust to improve efficiency.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister responsible for Efficiency, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Hon. Ambassador Audrey Marks, said this innovation will ensure that information provided to the Government is collected once and reused across multiple government services to reduce duplication and administrative burden.

“That is going to be big. The days of running from one office to the next, those days are numbered,” she said, during her keynote address at the media launch of the ICT Authority on Friday (April 10), held at its Old Hope Road offices.

Ambassador Marks outlined two other projects for Jamaica’s long-term digital transformation.

Building on the electronic Motor Vehicle Registration Certificate (eMVRC), she advised that the ICT Authority, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank and Co-Develop, will introduce a digital document wallet.

“This will allow citizens to securely store and share government-issued documents electronically. This wallet will reduce the need for physical documents and, again, minimise duplication while improving data integrity,” she explained.

The third development, Gov Notify, will centralise official government notifications and service updates via email, SMS and WhatsApp.

Jamaicans will receive timely reminders and alerts, including notifications about documents stored in the digital document wallet, such as expired passports, driver’s licence and motor vehicle registration.

“These are not isolated initiatives. They represent a deliberate shift towards a government that is more efficient,” Ambassador Marks said.