multimedia content developers and providers, ICT solution providers, internet service providers, ICT training institutions, software developers and ICT-ES providers: © ICT-Enabled Services or ICT-ES Sector shall mean those engaged in providing services that require the intrinsic use of ICTs including engineering or architectural design, informatics service providers, offshoring and outsourcing service provider s such as call centers, back office processing, software development, medical or legal transcription, animation, game development, and other services that require the intrinsic use of a networked information infrastructure; and () Chief Information Officer or CIO shall mean a senior officer in all national government agencies (NGAs), including constitutional offices, state universities and colleges (SUCs), government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), and government financial institutions (GFIs) responsible for the development and management of the agency's ICT systems and applications. SEC. 4. Creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DI CT). —There is hereby created the Department of Information and Communications Technology, hereinafter referred to as the Department. SEC. 5. Mandate. — The Department shall be the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the government that willplan, develop, and promote the national ICT development agenda. SEC. 6. Powers and Functions. — The Department shall exercise the following powers and functions: I. Policy and Planning (a) Formulate, recommend and implement national policies, plans, programs and guidelines that will promote the development and use of ICT with due consideration to the advantages of convergence and emerging technologies; (b) Formulate policies and initiatives, in coordination with the Department of Education (DepED), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), to develop and promote ICT in education consistent with the national goals and objectives, and responsive to the human resource needs of the ICT and ICT-ES sectors; (©) Provide an integrated framework in order to optimize all government ICT resources and networks for the identification and prioritization of all E-Government systems and applications as provided for in the E-Government Masterplan and the Philippine Development Plan (PDP); Il. Improved Public Access @) Prescribe rules and regulations for the establishment, operation and maintenance of ICT infrastructures in unserved and underserved areas, in consultation with the local government units (LGUs), civil society organizations (CSOs), private sector, and the academe; © Establish a free internet service that can be accessed in government offices and public areas using the most cost-effective telecommunications technology, through partnership with private service providers as may be necessary; II. Resource-Sharing and Capacity-Building () Harmonize and coordinate all national ICT plans and initiatives to ensure knowledge, information and resource-sharing, database-building and agency networking linkages among government agencies, consistent with E-Government objectives in particular, and national objectives in general; (g) Ensure the development and protection of integrated government ICT infrastructures and designs, taking into consideration the inventory of existing manpower, plans, programs, software, hardware, and installed systems;