EGRIP has two main components, cross-sectoral e-government interventions and sectoral egovernment. project will also explore the measures to ensure self financing so as to avoid escalating costs. 3.5.1 3.5.3 E-Government Pitfalls There are well identified pitfalls that must be avoided in developing and executing an egovernment agenda which must be considered in designing a way forward. It is well acknowledged that the adoption of technologies without developing the necessary human skills and capacities to manage, integrate and maintain them is not sustainable. Further, the centralized use of technologies by national government departments without ensuring that the benefits of technology are also derived by associated or intermediary institutions, such as local government, Parliament, and civil society, will create unbalanced institutions. And finally, the failure to link better governance to broader and more inclusive democracy which gives voice to those who cannot afford technologies, but have needs and ideas to express, will create negative challenges for citizenry. The horizontal e-government interventions include: Policy and strategy implementation Legal and regulatory framework implementation ICT standards and total cost of ownership optimisation Regional e-government institutional framework strengthening Automated registries and multi-purpose ID systems It is important to encompass the EGRIP initiatives in moving forward with the ICT agenda. 3.5.2 The vertical e-government interventions include: E-government in public financial management E-government in tax administration E-government in customs Electronic government procurement E-government in Health, Postal, Roads and other sectors The e-Grip project has a well defined set of deliverables, a major outcome of which is the establishment of a team of technical expertise who can serve the sub-region in maintaining and continually upgrading the e-government systems critical infrastructure and applications. The 3.5.4 e-Government Integration Success The focus has often been on using technology to build front-end visibility with the citizen. While this can potentially create a superior citizen experience, this is only possible if the backend technology enables the electronic completion of the service or information request. Otherwise, the end-to-end experience for the citizen will be St. Vincent & the Grenadines National ICT Strategy and Action Plan P a g e | 52 poor. In this context, the end-to-end quality of the infrastructure must be continuously managed and strengthened to ensure maximum citizen care. And appropriate governance frameworks must be put in place. Government accounts for fifty percent or more of ICT use. In SVG, it is the only entity that has the potential to support the development of a thriving ICT industry. SVG Government is also well positioned to be the catalyst for developing ICT careers to attract and retain people in the sector for the longer term, and therefore creating a sustainable ICT resource pool. The need to centralise ICT resources must therefore be investigated in greater detail. There is a need to determine the business case for outsourcing defined ICT activities to a Regional OECS Team or to the ICT community through Public-PrivatePartnerships. The use of cloud computing technology needs to be investigated as a mechanism to ensure full e-government integration in a viable manner. Figure 15 on the following page summarises the key issues and barriers that need to be addressed in moving e-government forward in SVG.