The FASTeTEN project, in which e-Forum is a partner, has been nominated for Diskolobos 2009, an information and communication technology award given out by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in Terazije in association with JISA (the Union of ICT Societies of Serbia), CEPIS (the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies) and the European Chamber of Commerce (EEIG). The award ceremony will take place on 22 December 2009, marking the 15th Diskolobos even.

The following information about FASTeTEN will be presented through Diskolobos:

eAdministration - getting linked up

Electronic government has much to offer. Modernising administrations at many levels - European, national, regional and local - offers both greater cost efficiency in constrained times, and more user-friendly services, which can be delivered more quickly and accurately.

Consequently the European Union includes eGovernment in its i2010 strategy for the information society, and supports eGovernment research through a number of programmes. A pathway for the development of EU eGovernment policy up until 2015 was set out at the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference, in Sweden in November (see http://www.egov2009.se).

One element of improving eGovernment is sharing good practice among EU countries. The FASTeTEN project is actively engaged in this. The project is one of the last to be supported by the European Commission’s eTEN programme.

FASTeTEN is taking a French system that allows public authorities to securely exchange electronic documents, and conducting pilot projects to fit it to the institutional set-up and legislative codes in different countries. The pilot projects are taking place in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The FAST service (FAST for Fournisseur d’Accès Sécurisés Transactionnels) was developed by French public institution CDC CEE. It has been deployed among public bodies in France and allows them to exchange electronic documents that are legally-certified, have proof of sending and proof of receipt, and are timestamped and can be stored in electronic archives. The system has greatly speeded up a number of administrative procedures, which previously could only be carried out by sending to multiple departments paper documents that had to be stamped by officials at every stage. Electronic transmission of these documents translates into saved money because of the time saved processing them.

FASTeTEN first deployed the FAST services in Valencia, Spain, and in Sheffield, UK. In the former case, FAST was used to speed up exchanges of eProcurement documentation. In the latter case, FAST was used for educational services, showing the versatility of the system.

The project is now being extended, to Prato in Italy, where FAST will be used to provide electronic forms more efficiently, and to South Yorkshire in the UK, where uses are being looked at for a range of services, in particular policing and health administration.

FASTeTEN will run until mid-2010, and welcomes expressions of interest relating to potential future deployments of FAST. For more information, visit http://www.eu-fasteten.eu, or contact the project’s communications coordinator, Baudouin de Sonis, of the eGovernment association e-Forum.