Single online stop coming for government services
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is introducing a single point of entry for online services as part of the next phase of its Way Forward plan.
"The traditional methods of service delivery have become outdated, and in some cases unresponsive" to what people need, said Finance Minister Tom Osbourne who joined Premier Dwight Ball for the announcement Tuesday.
The new single sign-in site will allow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to access basically every government service — from renewing their licence or MCP card, to applying for a moose licence or business licence. Residents will be also be able to set personalized alerts about government services.
The new GovNL website will cost $8 million over five years from building to implementation, money which comes out of the Office of the Chief Information Officer budget and was part of Budget 2018.
When the site fully kicks in, an annual savings of $16 million can be expected and a current total of 65 government sites will go down to five, Ball said, which means improvements in both efficiency and privacy.
The province's 170 tech companies are ready to assist the government in moving forward with this updated government service site, Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries chair Kendra Macdonald said.
Announcement Wednesday on community organizations
Strengthening the economy in the mining and community sectors, and a new plan with the arts and culture community, are some of the other changes the province can expect in the next year as the Way Forward plan moves into its next phase, government said.
More supports for community organizations will be announced Wednesday, according to the premier.
The government said more than $105 million in annual savings from efficiencies has been found through The Way Forward since its launch in the fall of 2016.
Part of that comes from zero-based budgeting, "where you have to account for every dollar spent," Ball said.
