Last evening the much anticipated inaugural gala event was held to announce the honored winners and the distribution of awards for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment. Winners in each of the seven categories were announced at a special awards ceremony organized by the Information Technology Authority (ITA). Entries for the awards were submitted from Government departments and bodies from across the sultanate.

The prestigious award ceremony for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment was presided over by the guest of honor H.H. Sayyid Asaad Bin Tariq Bin Taimur Al Said, and held at the Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort. HE Mohammed Nasser Al Khasibi, Secretary General Ministry of National Economy and Chairman of ITA; Dr. Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA; in addition to other officials and dignitaries were also in attendance.

The Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment Services aspires to make qualitative transformation in the field of eGovernment services by honoring digital projects that deliver exceptional innovation and achievement in the field of information technology. The Award aims also to honor excellent performance, apply international standards in evaluating the degree of development in eServices, support the Digital Oman Strategy, as well as strengthen IT and telecommunications in the fields of economic, social and cultural development.

The categories of the Award include: eContent Award, eService (G2G, G2B, and G2C) Award, eReadiness Award, eProject Award and lastly, eEconomy Award, to be conferred upon government institutions whose services contribute to supporting the national economy.

Awards were awarded to government institutions that fulfilled the following requirements pertaining to each individual category as follows:

• eContent Award – awarded to the government institution with an online presence that demonstrates outstanding standards of content, design, accessibility, originality, professionalism and overall efficiency.
• eService Award – awarded to the government institution providing the highest standard and complete (end-to-end) electronic service, that focuses on improving the performance, standard of living and quality of life. Three sub-categories (G2G, G2B, and G2C) relate to the intended recipient of the eService – Government, Business, and Citizen.
• eReadiness Award – awarded to the government institution who has best complied with the e.oman Initiative and demonstrates the highest level of readiness in infrastructure and human resources development.
• eProjects Award – awarded to the government institution with the most innovative ICT project enabling eGovernment and exhibiting sustainability and potential growth.
• eEconomy Award – awarded to the government institution whose services contributed to supporting the national economy.

Projects applying for the Awards Competition were required to show how information technology (IT) has played a key role in developing the efficiency of services within such institutions and prove one or all of the following: that the use of IT improves the eServices for society; that there has been effective use of this modern technology, shedding light on the benefits of the latest technological developments; and, the project shall evaluate the potential of new innovative means in the delivery and distribution of information.

In late October, following a lengthy registration process, the Jury Process was underway with Jury members convening to deliberate all projects submitted in competition for the Award and to evaluate and shortlist them according to set criteria. The Jury Panel for Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment 2010 consisted of 13 members from leading countries in the field of international IT and eGovernment services.

In the end, 37 government institutions with a total of 83 projects in all seven categories submitted entries for the Competition. The submitted projects were of high quality and conformed to the international standards in terms of completeness and fulfillment of the conditions of the different award categories.

The winning projects and government organizations for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment are as follows:

• eContent Award – Muscat Municipality Portal
• eService Award 
o Government to Government – National Manpower Registration (NMR) – Ministry of Manpower
o Government to Business – eBuilding Permit – Muscat Municipality
o Government to Citizen - e Traffic Offence Payment – Royal Oman Police
• eReadiness Award – Ministry of Education
• eProject Award – ALSHIFA System – Ministry of Health
• eEconomy Award – Manpower IT enable Service Centers – (Sanad offices) Ministry of Manpower