KATHMANDU, June 26: The government is preparing to establish a dedicated software development center under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a move aimed at reducing billions of rupees spent annually on software purchased from private companies.
The proposed Software Development and Operation Center will develop and operate software for government offices across the country, replacing the current practice of outsourcing such services.
A senior PMO official said preparations are underway to establish the new office, which is expected to begin operations from mid-July.
Post of Additional Secretary removed from PMO
Currently, government agencies spend more than Rs 20 billion every year purchasing software from private companies. The PMO estimates that the cost could drop to around Rs 2 billion if the government develops software internally.
The PMO is preparing a separate working procedure for the formation and operation of the center. The draft has already been prepared and is expected to be approved soon, according to officials.
An official from Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s Secretariat said the center will function under the E-Governance Board, which is under the PMO. The government renamed the Electronic Governance Commission as the E-Governance Board about a year ago.
According to PMO sources, the center will be located at the Postal Training Center near the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction in Babarmahal, Kathmandu. Officials said the center will hire IT professionals on a contractual basis.
An official at the E-Governance Board said the initiative will allow the government to develop software at less than half the cost currently paid to private companies.
The move is part of the government’s 100-point governance reform agenda introduced after Shah became prime minister. The agenda includes several IT-focused reforms under digital governance, data governance, and communication.
Point 36 of the reform agenda proposes establishing a “National Integrated Digital Governance Platform” to transform public service delivery into a fully digital, one-stop, and interconnected system.
The plan includes adopting the “once-only principle,” under which citizens would not have to repeatedly submit the same information to different government agencies, while government services, data, and systems would be integrated through a national data exchange platform.
