The round table «Digital Transformation of the Government»

On April 16, 2021, the International Laboratory of Digital Transformation in Public Administration at the IPAG held a round table «Digital Transformation of Public Administration» within the framework of the XXII April International Scientific Conference of the Higher School of Economics.

The round table was attended by the invited heads of federal agencies:

–  Pugachev Pavel Sergeyevich, Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation,

–  Vladislav Fedulov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation,

–  Vitaly Sergeyevich Losev, Head of the Digital Development Department of Rostrud,

–  Vyacheslav Pinchuk, Deputy Director of the Department of Information Technologies of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation.

Within the framework of the round table there was a presentation of the report of the International Laboratory «State Digital Platforms: key features and main scenarios of development», authors: E.M. Styrin, N.E. Dmitrieva 

Report «State Digital Platforms: key features and main scenarios of development» (PDF, 879 Кб) 

Then the key issues of digitalization through platforms were discussed:

1.  Under what conditions can public-private partnerships on the platform be implemented, taking into account the existing risks and challenges at the current stage?

Deputy Minister P. Pugachev emphasized that in the field of healthcare, on the one hand, platforms that ensure the reduction of transaction costs for the participants of the platform interaction offer great opportunities, on the other hand, they form significant risks. At the same time, the formation of PPP allows the state not to duplicate the infrastructure and services created in the commercial sector. As an example of a full-fledged partnership, P. Pugachev cited the creation, together with Yandex and regional authorities, of service for citizens on Covid-19 vaccination points. At the same time, the current regulation severely restricts the ability of agencies to create effective and secure digital profiles of citizens.

V. S. Losev, Head of the Department of Rostrud, spoke about the transformation of the "Work in Russia" platform into a "digital hub," providing a convenient and multi-channel job search tool. The development follows the scenario of combining state and commercial platforms. The goal is to create greater business opportunities when using government data. At the same time, integration with commercial resources will expand opportunities for regional employment services as well. However, this will require improved regulation, protection of data, and the adoption of common standards for data transfer, including RI. The foundations for this are already being laid today, including through organizing interaction with the IS of other agencies, with World Skills, etc. In the future, the possibility of confirming information about the applicant on commercial platforms using the PDP.

V.O. Pinchuk, Deputy Director of the Department of the Russian Ministry of Labor, told about the implemented initiatives of platformization in the social sphere, highlighting the creation of a social marketplace where people with disabilities can choose technical means of rehabilitation according to a variety of parameters. An important emphasis is placed on the seamless interaction of PIS with external IS, including FIU, CMIF, SIF, medical and social expertise, and others. For the formation of new approaches, it is very important, on the one hand, to ensure the interaction of the IS, on the other hand - to ensure the reassembly of processes and change the regulator. Describing the possibilities of PPP, Pinchuk V.O. dwelled on three main areas of interaction between the state and commercial organizations: 1) if they act on behalf of a citizen; 2) providing state services, and 3) using state data to create new services. The second option is the most promising for the Ministry of Labor of Russia, especially for interaction with NPO SOs.

2.  Does the state need to regulate professional activities on industry-specific commercial platforms? If so, to what extent?

According to Pugachev P.S., regulation of platforms in healthcare by the state is critically needed. The main issue is access to state data by non-state IS, which was regulated in the federal law on telemedicine in 2017. The state has defined basic requirements for data protection and medical secrecy. If a commercial platform meets these requirements, it can be connected to the PDP.

V.S. Losev noted that technologies are currently developing faster than regulations. The main thing is to make sure that the development goes in the same direction, so the general approaches that the Russian Ministry of Digital is shaping are important. An interesting observation in our sphere is the wariness of civil servants, who are used to work in analog format. From this comes one of the most important principles of digital transformation: «when digitizing processes, you do not need to digitize paper».

In Pinchuk's opinion, the regulation of commercial platforms, except for some of the most sensitive areas, falls within the competence of the Ministry of Digital Economy of Russia. Concerning state platforms, the leading role should be played by the agency, which is both the operator and the regulator of the PDP.

3.  What are the goals, effects, and risks of applying artificial intelligence technologies to the data collected through the platform?

V.S. Losev told about two implemented projects. The first one was "Online Inspectorate of the Russian Federation", 2020 a text chat-bot was launched, now possibilities of man-machine communication are being worked out based on the 5-year project "Inspector on Duty" to advise citizens on labor legislation, which currently contains a database of more than 120 thousand questions. Last year we trained a neural network on this base and analyzed search queries on the portal. The second one is job matching by an employee. This year Rostrud plans to create a procedure for creating an effective job vacancy and an effective resume based on the available data. Based on the analysis of user activity using AI technology the user will be provided with tips on how to create and promote a resume, and in the future to increase the level of existing skills for a successful professional career. For employers will also be provided opportunities to create an attractive vacancy.

V.O. Pinchuk noted that currently, only the Russian Ministry of Finance has a special department for data analysis. The commercial sector is actively mastering AI technologies because it sees huge advantages. The public sector is in the process of understanding and evaluating the possibilities. The idea of the Russian Ministry of Labor is to create a single contact center for social support measures for citizens. This should be seen as an initial step in this direction.