10 November 2004 Media Statement

Project for improving access to online govt services

The government has approved the Initial Implementation Shared Logon project – which will enable New Zealanders to access government services online, State Services Minster Trevor Mallard announced today.

The project, run by the State Services Commission’s E-government Unit, will allow people to access government online services from agencies by using a single logon – for instance a single username / password or digital certificate.

“Single logons will make life easier for individuals and businesses. The costs of creating and maintaining a separate logon each time a new service is required will disappear. In addition, protection against emerging Internet security threats will be beefed up.

“Along with the other E-government initiatives, this project will help people to take advantage of the benefits of doing electronic transactions with government services. The Labour-led government is intent on building stronger public services, and making those services easily accessible online is part of this commitment,” Trevor Mallard said.

"The benefits will also extend to government agencies. Shared logons will lower the overall cost to government because the service will be built once and used by multiple agencies.

“Participating government agencies will be able to avoid major authentication upgrades that are designed to withstand more sophisticated security attacks. That's because these upgrades will only have to be performed once at the central service provider,” Trevor Mallard said.

A Request for Proposal will be used to select vendors to provide the software and infrastructure required for the project.

The Ministry of Economic Development will pilot the development of the Shared Logon business processes and software components. A small number of other service agencies will be included in the initial implementation.

“The Shared Logon Initial Implementation project is a significant step forward in developing an all-of-government approach to delivering services. It will increase the recognition of New Zealand as a country that is able to develop leading edge e-government initiatives,” Trevor Mallard said.

ENDS

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