Outcome-based procurement crucial for the country’s digital economy
A significant transformation in Sri Lanka’s public procurement system for the specific case of digital solutions and services is essential for advancing the country’s digital economy, according to Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy.
He emphasised the need to embrace new contracting arrangements, particularly outcome-based procurement, which shifts the buyer’s role from defining solution specifications in detail to defining problems and desired outcomes, leaving solutioning and innovation to potential partners. This approach encourages innovative companies to propose cost-effective solutions that can be assessed via trials and proof-of-concept evaluations.
Currently, Sri Lanka’s digital economy forms only 3-4 per cent of its total economy, valued at about US$3 to $4 billion. The government aims to boost this share to 15 per cent, or around $15 billion, within five years. Achieving this ambitious goal demands a fundamental shift in mindset and processes, particularly through the adoption of an outcome-based delivery model, Dr. Wijayasuriya said.
Dr. Wijayasuriya also advocated for a comprehensive strategy to build a robust digital ecosystem, emphasising the significance of shared and interoperable digital public infrastructure (DPI) as opposed to siloed systems. Key components of Sri Lanka’s Digital Public infrastructure include the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI), Multi-Modal Authentication, a National Federated Data Exchange for seamless and consent-based data sharing, and an eLocker system for managing digital credentials and certificates.
Dr. Wijayasuriya, who is also the Chairman of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), said that the ICTA is at an advanced stage of defining the National Data Exchange (NDX), with expectations to launch a pilot or sandbox within the next few months.
“The NDX is a crucial element within the DPI eco-system aimed at facilitating seamless and consent-based data sharing among government agencies and stakeholders. The NDX will enable a significant improvement in public service delivery through seamless access to relevant data required to fulfill a particular citizen request”. Furthermore, in the context of public data, the NDX coupled with a Federated Data Lake architecture will enable a consistent and well-governed shared data infrastructure, which will make datasets accessible for analysis and data-driven decision making, he added.
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