The document proposes a pilot project to implement an electronic legislative consultation system (LACS) in Poland to address the lack of public involvement in developing laws. LACS would allow citizens to participate in online discussions of draft bills on the Public Information Bulletin website. The pilot would be tested at the Ministry of Interior and Administration with the goals of increasing transparency, public education around laws, and involvement in the legislative process.

1. LACS
Legislative Acts eConsulation
System
Michał Bukowski, Ministry of Interior and Administration, PL
Konrad Wałęka, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, PL
2006 National Informatization CIO Course

2. Country background

3. Capital city:
Warsaw (2.6 million)
Total population:
38.6 million
Total area:
322,500 sq km
The Republic of Poland

4. The Republic of Poland
Language: Polish
Political system: Parliamentary democracy
GDP (2005): 320 billion $
GDP growth (est. 2006): 5.2%
Average salary: 800$

5. Warsaw - Old city Krakow – King’s castle
Tatra mountains Gdynia - harbour

6. ICT status

7. Governmental Organizations on ICT
 Ministry of Interior and Administration:
(area) Informatization
 The Ministry of Transport and Construction:
(area) Telecommunication
 Agency for ICT Promotion (to be est. in 2006)

8. Polish ICT projects:
 Małopolska Gateway: first Polish e-government portal.
 IKONKA (“Small icon”): PIAPs in over 2500 libraries.
 Polish Internet Library: nearly 30 000 texts - books.
 Interkl@sa: polish education goes on-line!
 CELINA: Customs Declaration Service.
 BIP: Public Information Bulletin.
 PIONIER: Fast internet network for science (10 Gb/s).
 ePUAP: Electronic Platform for Public Services (dev't).
 STAP: Secure Network for Public Administration (dev't).

9. Percentage of households with an internet connection, 2004 & 2005
Poland – 26% in 2004, 30% in 2005
Source: 2004, Eurostat; 2005, ICT use in Poland, GUS

10. eGovernment - on-line availability of basic public services, 2004
Poland – 10%
Source: 2005, Digital Divide Forum Report - Broadband Access And Public Support In
Under-Served Areas

11. Initiation

12. Projects not chosen / Explanation:
 Broadband Access to Internet
 Electronic Platform for Public Administration Services
Chosen project:
 Legislative Acts eConsulation System (LACS)

13. Problem definition: Lack of citizens' involvement in the process of
stating a law.
Project goal: To implement Legislative Acts eConsulation System.
Lack of public electronic consultations leads to:
 low transparency of proceedings of a public administration,
 low level of society's education in the sphere of law,
 some (minor and major) errors and omissions in legislative acts,
 marginal involvement of citizens in process of creating law for their
own needs and purposes.
Subject of possibility of enacting law for particular business purposes is
covered by Act on Lobbying within the Process of Stating the Law.

14. Legal framework
 The Strategy on the development of the Information Society in Poland
for the years 2004-2006. One of the objectives: to develop broad and
valuable on-line content and services.
 The National Computerisation Plan '2006. Priority 4 “Development of
Information Society”, Objective 4 “ICT for eConsulations and
eDemocracy”.
 Act on Access to Public Information. Add-on to existing project –
Public Information Bulletin.
 Act on Lobbying within the Process of Stating the Law.
 E-Government beyond 2005. Service for citizens: BPS.C.18 Public
opinion survey.

15. Scope of project
LACS is the system for electronic consultations for
whole administration.
However it should be run in the beginning as a pilot project in one of
the government institutions. After some time there should be ex post
analysis and evaluation of the project.
Obvious choice for pilot project is the Ministry of Internal and Public
Administration of the Republic of Poland (Area: Informatization).

16. Considerations
 Q1: Why implement such a system if everybody can contact public
administration by e-mail right now?
 A1: Present: person-to-person communication, not lively discussion.
 Q2: Why not comment on every issue of public administration?
 A2: Good idea, but it's good to earn experience running LACS and then add
more and more public affairs.
 Q3: Will it possible to get political support for LACS?
 A3: Political values of “Law and Justice” party having majority in Polish
Parliament.
 Q4: In which way involve many citizens?
 A4: Through educational and politically-supported advertisement.

17. Considerations
 Q5: Are Poles ready for such internet cooperation?
 A5: Polish citizens are very fond of internet discussions and virtual cooperation.
Polish version of Wikipedia is forth biggest in the world (EN, DE, FR, PL)!

18. Analysis of current
process

19. Public Information Bulletin (PIB)
According to the Act on Access to Public Information and Act on Lobbying there is
an obligation of public administration to present:
 plan of acts to be published,
 draft copies of legislative acts
on Public Information Bulletin website.
Public Information Bulletin is system of webpages built to provide wide and free
access to public information. Every public entity is obliged to public such
information on the web.

20. Government Public Administration PIB Citizen
Half Anual Plan
Start Bill preparation
Information
Work on draft of the bill in appropriate department
Determination of conformity with polish and UE law
Financial evaluation of new act
Interdepartamental consultation
Internal consultation
Refer Bill to Parliament
Find information of new act
???
Write application
Draft of the Bill

21. Business process
reengineering

22. Draft of the Bill reengineering
Government Public Administration PIB (LACS) Citizen
Half Anual Plan
Start Bill preparation
Work on draft of the bill in appropriate department
Determination conformity with polish and UE law
Financial evaluation of new act
Interdepartamental consultation
Internal consultation
Refer Bill to Parliament
Public discussion on draft of the Bill
Find information in PIB (LACS)
Interest in this act
Registration via internet
Participation in public discussion
Information on new Bill
Conclusion on eConsultation
Information of result of eConsulationOutcome of consultation

23. System requirements
 Server for PIB plus internet DSL connection.
 LACS application (based on OpenSource technology) as part
of new PIB.
 Training for civil servants who will perform eConsultations:
• ICT training (how to use the system),
• moderating bulletin board training (social interactions).

24. Time horizon and budget for pilot project
Stage Time Budget
Software development & testing 2 months 6 500$
Setting up HW, SW, administration of LACS
system, testing
1 month 4 000$
Re-engineering of work process of civil servants 1 month 1 000$
Civil servants training (10 persons) 2 weeks 2 500$
Project webpage with tutorials 1 month 2 000$
Advertisement (public TV & radio, press,
outdoor ads)
3 months 20 000$
Start of LACS (not summing up time
above)
5 months
36 000$
Maintenance cost Time Budget
Technical administration 1 000$
Civil servants support (incl. additional training) 500$
Broadband internet connection
Monthly
500$
Maintenance of LACS Monthly 2 000$

25. Expected outcomes

26. VOI, not ROI
It's hard to say how high the cost of the bad law is...
but better legislative acts will certainly lead to the
improvement of financial condition of a state.
Project has high value in context of eGovernance
and networking.

27. Qualitative outcomes
 Transparency: Higher transparency of law creation and adoption.
Higher level of acceptability for the works of public administration.
 eDemocracy, Networking for Governance: Much higher involvement
of citizens into the described processes.
 Civil Servants' Qualifications, Networking for Governance: Pressure
on administration to prepare better legislative documents.
 ICT Literacy: Increasing of the level of ICT literacy of citizens and
civil servants.
 Internet Access: Creating demand for easier internet access (needs
advertisement in traditional media).

28. SWOT analysis
Strengths (positive internal) Weaknesses (negative internal)
• Strong legal framework (Polish and
European)
• Existing Public Information Bulletin
system
• Low level of ICT education among civil
servant
• Lack of system of citizen's digital
identification
• Poor ICT infrastructure (broadband)
Opportunities (positive external) Threats (negative external)
• VOI, ROI and qualitative outcomes
presented above
• Support of political parties
• Public service reluctance to cooperate with
citizens
• Lack of citizens' interest in process of
stating the law
• Lack of political support for eConsulations

29. Conclusion

30. Conclusion
 The LACS project could lead to change in whole process
of stating law in Republic of Poland.
 Project development and use will be beneficial to
public administration and citizens alike. Law in
Poland, and therefore - economic opportunities
and quality of life - would better be than before.

31. Thank you for your attention!
Michał Bukowski
Department of Informatization
Ministry of Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland
michal.bukowski@mswia.gov.pl
Konrad Wałęka
Department of Information Systems for Science
Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland
konrad.waleka@mnii.gov.pl

32. Q & A
Thank you !