The Implementation Secretariat would liaise with designated ICT Officers (ICTOs) and the ICT or communication departments in each ministry and agency in order to coordinate of all ICT activities. The Secretariat and the ministries and agencies must coordinate and align to avoid unnecessary duplication, limit conflict between institutions, and to ensure cost effective and timely implementation of the various activities. All Government agencies must be mandated to cooperate with the Secretariat to ensure that the objectives of the National ICT Strategy are achieved. It is expected that the Secretariat will have about 3 to 5 resources at inception and that it will be headed by the National Chief Information & Communication Technology Officer (the ‘NCIO’) who is well respected in the ICT community and across government. National Chief Information & Communication Technology Officer As the National ICT Policy and Action Plan is operationalised and moves deeper into implementation, horizontal projects across ministries and agencies come into focus. This creates the need for the NCIO who is critical for effective ICT programme management. This Officer will be responsible for common infrastructure across the public sector such as the government wide area network, the e‐Government portal, common policies and standards, horizontal business applications, e‐services, strategic outsourcing, liaising with international and regional bodies such as CARICOM, ECTEL, OECS, CTU and the ITU on ICT matters, and reporting to the Steering Committee on implementation of the National ICT Policy and Action Plan. ICT Business and Technical Association As previously mentioned, collaboration with the private sector through public private sectors partnerships (PPPs) for the implementation of the National ICT Policy and Action Plan is crucial for the effective and efficient achievement of the targeted project outcomes. The benefits offered by PPPs include: • • • • • A way forward in the context of constrained budgets A catalyst for economic growth Effective way to bridge gaps between demand and allocable resources, which allows for greater flexibility in allocating both human and financial resources The ability to share risk Results in institutional capacity building [45]