07. MITA STRATEGY

12. Financial Statements

12.1 Board Of Members’ Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

Board Members Mr Tony Sultana - Chairman Mr Anthony Borg Ing. Saviour Baldacchino Mr Joseph Noel Agius Dr Helen Borg Muscat

Board Secretary Dr Aaron Mifsud Bonnici

Registered Address Gattard House National Road Blata l-Bajda HMR 9010 Malta

The board members of the Agency present their annual report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020.

Overview

Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) is the central driver of the Government’s information and communications technology policy, programmes and initiatives. The Agency is responsible for the delivery and management of all programmes related to the implementation of information technology and related systems in Government with the aim of enhancing public service delivery.

MITA also provides information and communications technology infrastructure services to Government. Additionally, the Agency promotes and delivers programmes aimed at enhancing ICT education and the use of ICT as a learning tool. MITA is also involved in initiatives aimed at proliferating the further application and take- up of information and communications technologies in society and economy.

Core ICT Services to Government

Throughout 2020, the provision of Core ICT Services to Government detailed by means of a contractual agreement between MITA and the Office of the Prime Minister, continued to provide the basis for the provision of the core ICT infrastructure to Government.

12.2 Projects & Programmes

Justice Domain

The modernisation process of the Justice Solutions took a major step forward in 2020 where the functionality of several Courts’ Legal Case Management (LECAM) modules was remodelled using latest technology platforms. These included the Case Management module specific for the Criminal Courts and Attorney General, the Administration a nd Acts module servicing all Courts, and the Fines and Warrants modules for the Courts’ Civil Registries. Various other additional features were incorporated in the eCourts website, such as the replacement of old eForms, simplification measures and migration of backend processes to the cloud.

During 2020, an initiative was undertaken by the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and MITA to refresh the existing National Visa System with new business processes and upgrade the technology behind the application system to make it more current and compatible with today’s client tools.

A Domestic Violence and Protection Order System was developed to allow Police Officers to be alerted about victims under a protection order issued through a Court Decree and additionally provides alerts on the perpetrators involved.

Systems were enhanced to allow Police Officers to receive real-time alerts on stolen vehicles and wanted persons, both National and European, whilst issuing traffic offence tickets.

MITA provided consultancy to the Malta Police Force on the development and maintenance of the next generation enhancements of the Schengen Information System.

INSPIRE

Key implementation activities related to the INSPIRE directive were concluded during 2020, including the upgrade of the Malta geospatial portal, migration to the new e-Forms platform, provision of geospatial datasets, compliance of spatial datasets, and the launch of a data sharing policy. Preparatory activities were performed to divest this initiative to Planning Authority.

CdB

The Common Database (CdB) was upgraded to accept and process data containing Maltese characters, shifting from using the Latin 8-character dataset to using the UTF-8-character dataset. CdB is the platform for sharing person data across government. Since not all IT systems are UTF-8 ready, CdB incorporates processes to share information to other systems either in the LATIN 8 or UTF-8 format – according to the need or requirement of the specific IT System.

Funding Programme A new web responsive businessenhance. gov.mt portal was implemented to promote EU Funds and improve communication and interaction with SMEs and other beneficiaries. Another initiative, the Single Digital Gateway was implemented to collate google analytical data from businessenhance.gov.mt and other gov.mt websites and transmits to a single European Portal for analysis.

Moreover, as part of the modernisation initiative, migration of around 40 databases to the cloud service SQL PaaS, together with other technologies and infrastructural upgrades were carried out. Social Security Consultancy services were provided to Ministry for Social Justice and Solidarity, The Family and Children’s Rights (MSFC) and Housing Authority to procure solutions that holistically consider both their business and technical requirements. These services enabled procurement requirements for a Business Intelligence Platform for MSFC, the Digitisation of the Appeal Services within the Office of the Umpire and the Licensing Unit within the Social Care Standards Authority (SCSA) and a Housing Management Solution for the Housing Authority.

Taxation

During 2020, various improvements within the CfR non-filers’ system were implemented to enhance use of information reported by various entities to work out the tax due and tax credits automatically, increasing to 80% the share of citizens not required to file an Income Tax Return.

The myTax personal portal was launched with phase one implementing a revamped online individual tax return. The new electronic return exploits the benefits of the Hybrid-cloud infrastructure and improves the experience for the user. It simplifies the filing process by using data already known by the CfR office and automates the calculation of tax and tax credits.

Improvements within the notaries’ portal were also implemented, including the submission of properties’ contracts. This service includes various in-built controls including an AI vision model to support the notary in filing the correct information. During 2020, 168 notaries used this service submitting over 3K property contracts. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementation Solution (MEIS) MITA delivered Phase 1 of the Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementation Solution to the Office of the Prime Minister. Using the latest cloud technology, the solution is used by the Public Administration who are coordinated by the OPM Implementation Division. Using a workflow approach, the system allows for the creation of measures to the assignment of a project leader, followed by regular monthly reporting which are in turn evaluated and presented to Cabinet by the Implementation Division. A traffic light system depicts the status of implementation of a particular measure. It also promotes the once only principle through the linking of measures function.

PoSeID-on platform Participation in a Horizon 2020 project ‘Protection and Control of Secured Information by Means of a Privacy Enhanced Dashboard’ is a solution aimed to safeguard the rights of data subjects while ensuring GDPR compliance. The main novelty of the tools that have been developed and delivered is the securitisation of their open architecture through Permissioned Blockchain and Smart Contracts, cloud, access management according to eIDAS and privacy management. The team successfully integrated the starting of a Business eService (operated by Business First) with the PoSeID-on pla tform achieving an open-source proof of concept. This concept has the potential to enable Maltese Citizens using eGovernment services to manage the sharing of their personal information provided to Government entities in line with GDPR.

Public Registry MITA enabled the use of Maltese diacritic letters when registering a new-born’s name and the implementation of legislation changes in Deaths and Marriages that promote equality between Genders. The modernisation of the Certifikati website was also a significant deliverable. Designed as mobile first, it integrates seamlessly with the New Public Registry System, enabling process efficiency and improving business operations. Furthermore, during 2020, MITA implemented a new register pertaining to child Foundlings, automating the process using the same principles and concepts of other Public registry modules.

Transport Malta MITA provided consultancy services for the modernisation of the Vehicle Online Registration eService to integrate seamlessly with the VERA (Vehicle Registration and Administration) system, thus, enabling data sharing between solutions. In addition, key eServices pertaining to the Learner Permit application and Test booking/ scheduling were implemented as part of the modernisation initiative within the Driving Licence domain. This upgrade facilitates the interaction between authorised eAgents and this portal, whilst also serving as a hub to integrate other eServices such as the renewal of driving licences.

The myHealth online services were enhanced to include facilities for citizens and doctors to view historical episodes of care. One service was also designed to send COVID-19 swab test results via email and SMS the moment the result is made available in the Laboratory Information System. The setting up of the necessary infrastructure for health workers, such as the Radiology Department, was done to allow them to work from home during the pandemic.

Customs

MITA collaborated with the Malta Customs and a major leading bank to deliver a High Value Online Payments’ Gateway providing the Operators with an easy and safe mechanism to transfer high value online payments to Government. This service was designed to enable other Government entities to facilitate high value payments. 2020 marked BREXIT and the work required to align the National Import and Export System (NIES) to handle declarations of goods imported and exported from and to the UK. Furthermore, the NIES was enhanced to provide an electronic gate pass on mobile devices to enable customs officers at the gate to release containers without the use of paper documents. MITA also worked on a system that will collect, declare, and directly pay the VAT to the tax authorities, rather than having the customer pay the import VAT at the time the goods are delivered to them.

Business First

The Sole Trader eForm was migrated to the Hybrid Cloud. A new service was implemented to cater for VAT re- activations, thus giving Economic operators the facility to register for VAT obligations from a single platform.

National Electronic Identity In 2020, we completed the transformation of the (eID) mechanism we had been working on for the past few years, for the eID to become a key enabler for eGovernment services and a critical core service provided by MITA. Corporate Financial Management Solution

MITA provides consultancy services to the Treasury Department on the implementation of the Corporate Financial Management Solution (CFMS) across Government. In January 2020, CFMS went into live operations in 15 pilot sites across various Ministries – Finance, Gozo, Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs, Economy, Health, Tourism and Home Affairs.

Workflow Automation Platform

MITA carried out hand-holding sessions with several public offices to support them during the building of eServices on the Workflow Automation Platform. Training at intermediate and advanced levels was also organised and attended by 40 Information Management Unit officers.

Document Registry System The Document Registry System (DocReg) web application and databases were successfully migrated onto MITA Azure Stack. A phased approach was adopted to minimise disruption to Government day to day operations, with the databases migration happening seamlessly over a weekend.

Request For Service A new self-service Request For Service (RFS) system was launched during 2020. Through this system clients can carry out automated account management, request or cancel services including email accounts, file-shares, office licences and others. The system is based on a workflow whereby services are automatically granted following the appropriate approvals. Implementation of Multi Factor Authentication

During Year 2020, the MITA Email Team coordinated the implementation of two-factor authentication on the Government Email Service. With this implementation the thousands of Government Email accounts are more secured and protected from cyberattacks. This was indeed a milestone successfully achieved and a major change which positively affected all Government users, entities, and ministries.

Embracing Cloud Technology In order to embrace the modern cloud technology landscape, it was pivotal for MITA’s Network Operations Centre to be able to not only speak a common language with stakeholders but also to fully contribute and provide direction where and necessary. To this effect, in 2020, NOC embarked on an upskilling initiative to get all its resources not only certified at a Cloud Fundamental level, but a number of resources were certified at an Azure Administrator level.

Outsourcing First Line Support During 2020 the MITA Call Centre outsourced the first line of support, a role which mainly deals with answering customer queries. This enabled some MITA personnel to be redeployed to other sections. Moreover, current MITA agents are now able to focus more on technical work and process additional requests that provide more value.

Transfer of Customer Care Function

In the second quarter of 2020 the MITA Customer Care function was transferred to the Service Management Department. The operating procedures were updated to give more immediate attention to client pain points and rectify pending issues as soon as possible. There is also focus on