Today, July 14, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the regulations* prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development(MoEPRD) for the opening of the Recovery and Resilience Facility program, which will provide support in the modernization of state administration and services, incl. in the modernization of business environment services, in increasing the efficiency and interoperability of state information and communication technology (ICT) resources, as well as in the development of the data economy, ensuring the availability and sharing of data in the national economy.
The investment program will ensure the practical implementation of the digital transformation and the achievement of the goals specified in the Digital Transformation Guidelines 2021-2027. The program will also provide municipalities with direct funding for the creation of shared digital solutions and the development of e-services, which will contribute to the digitization of municipal processes and more convenient services for citizens.
In order to prevent the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to the economy and the social sphere, as well as to stimulate the resilience of the European economy, the Recovery and Resilience Facility has been established, within the framework of which the available funding for the reform and investment direction is 128,862,000 euro. The funds of the Recovery and Resilience Facility will be invested in the digital transformation of the country by developing the necessary infrastructure, capabilities and skills, as well as improving operational efficiency, data availability and data management in the public administration, providing support for the digital transformation of companies and improving connectivity. The planned investments will also contribute directly to the achievement of the goals of the European Union's Digital Strategy.
"Digital transformation today affects all sectors of the economy and changes society's life, work and communication, so reforms are needed in the field of public and private services to stimulate their use. The motive of this investment program is to promote sustainable investments in the public sector that will ensure growth and efficiency in the long term. The pandemic and epidemiological crisis caused by Covid-19 shed light on society's ability to adapt and use digital services, as well as the ability to adapt to changing conditions in general. I believe that both society and the public sector should continue to implement digital and development-oriented changes," said Minister Artūrs Toms Plešs.
Deputy State Secretary for Digital Transformation Gatis Ozols: "This investment program will ensure the modernization and wider geographic availability of state and local government services available to citizens, as well as lay the foundation for a more economical provision of state administration information and communication technologies, which is based on sharing and centralization, in accordance with the governance reforms initiated by MoEPRD. At the same time, one of the central focuses of the program is supporting data availability and sharing in the public sector and the national economy, incl. environmental protection, public health, open science, agriculture, maritime and other industries. The digital investments included in the plan of the Latvian Recovery and Resilience Facility will strengthen the ability of public institutions and companies to provide services, as well as the ability of society to use these services remotely."
Support for the direction of reforms and investments will be provided in the form of a limited project selection, in accordance with the priority investment directions and programs included in the Annex to the Cabinet of Ministers' Regulations. The implementers of the projects will be the direct management institutions, the Central Election Commission, the Prosecutor's Office, the Riga Freeport Authority, the municipalities, which have the capacity to provide shared use solutions to municipalities, certain public capital companies that perform the task of administration, and derived public entities. A total of 128,862,000 euro will be available for several reforms. 24,437,280 euro are available for the modernization of management and the digital transformation of services, including the business environment. The funding available for the centralized creation of the administration is 70,177,920 euro. For the creation of the national federated cloud of Latvia - 14,908,000 euros. While the funding available for the promotion of data availability, sharing and analytics is 21,756,000 euro.
According to the protocol decision, by December 31, 2022, the responsible sectoral ministries must submit orders to the Cabinet of Ministers on the implementation of projects, which include a more detailed project plan.
In general, 365.2 million euro have been earmarked for Digital Transformation within the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Of these, 128.8 million are for the digital transformation of the state administration, for which MoEPRD is the responsible institution and which will be fully used for this investment program. 125 million euro are earmarked for digitalization and innovation of companies (responsible authority – the Ministry of Economy), 94.7 million euro - for the promotion of digital skills (Ministry of Education and Science), and 16.5 million euro – for the development of telecommunications network infrastructure (Ministry of Transport).
*"The 2nd component "Digital transformation" of the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility plan, 2.1. reform and investment direction "State administration, t. see digital transformation of municipalities" implementation rules"
