Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia

megatsz1970@gmail.com

eGovernment Development and Malaysian eGovernment Systems

This chapter presents the current research in e-government development and online
reverse auctions system, the problem and goals of the study and the significance of the
research. An overview of Malaysias e-government initiatives and Multimedia Super
Corridor (MSC) applications, particularly ePerolehan is provided in the chapter together
with an overview of reverse auctions system and eBidding benefits. A description of the
status of eBidding usage and the transactional value are also included.

1.2

Global e-Government Use

e-Government facilitates governments to provide services to business, government

agencies and citizens by leveraging on information communication technology (ICT)
and the Internet. e-Government is referred to as public service delivery to the public,
citizens and private sector via the internet (Ahmad and Othman, 2007). e-Government
is defined as the use of Internet as venue for more efficient administration and
governance (OECD, 2003). Moon (2005) argues governments employ the system as a
strategy to response to public expectations for enhanced and better public service
delivery. The government is facing increasing expectations by the public for fast and
efficient services similar to the quality offered by the private sector. The citizens who
had experienced of the ease and flexibility of using online banking services want similar
experience in government delivery systems. As a response to public expectations, the

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

government has embarked on the development of e-government to improve service

delivery (MAMPU, 2010).

The implementation of e-government is expected to bring many advantages and

benefits to the government and the public. The governments aspirations to implement
e-government are to improve the internal operations by transforming the processes,
reduce paperwork, increase the number of services to the public and reduce the
response time (Maniam, 2008). As e-government improves, the interaction quality and
work processes within and inter-agencies, the results are in terms of speedier policy
development, better coordination and enforcement (Kaliannan et al., 2007). In addition,
e-Government provides opportunities for citizens and business communities to access
government services and enhance the transactions between business and governments
(UN, 2005).

The e-Government supports good governance, strengthens existing relationships and

builds new partnerships within civil society. e-Government facilitates the introduction of
new enhanced services to the public and increases citizen participation in the policy
making (Gupta and Jana, 2003). Siddiquee (2008) argues that by increasing
consultations and collaborations among various parties and agencies, the citizens can
enjoy better quality services and increased business efficiency.

The global governments effectiveness in delivering online services is tracked in a few

studies, for example, e-Government initiatives in 22 nations were examined in the

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

Accenture Study in 2011. The study finds that leading world governments are modifying
the traditional models of service delivery to a higher level to strengthen their
relationships with citizens (Accenture, 2011). e-Government relationships with the
stakeholders can be briefly categorized as Government-to-Citizens (G2C), Governmentto-Businesses (G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G) (Jeong, 2007).

In a Government-to-Citizens (G2C) relationship, user-friendly one-stop services centers

are employed to facilitate citizens interactions with the government. In a Governmentto-Businesses (G2B) relationship, government and the private sector communication
are improved to facilitate business transactions between parties. In a Government-toGovernment (G2G) category, collaborations between governmental agencies are
enhanced to increase data sharing and electronic transactions. MAMPU (2010)
contends that in G2G, these relationships cover more integrated agencies in terms of
collaboration between officials, departments, ministries and foreign countries.

1.3. e-Government Development

e-Government evolves through

a series of stages, from basic information,

communication feedback to conducting transactions and finally the interactive web

presence (Siau and Long, 2009). e-Government development stages can be depicted in
stages of development model as shown as Figure 1. The United Nations Five-Stage
Model (UN, 2005) summarizes the developmental stages any government may
experience as the e-government evolves. The first three stages cover automation and

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

digitization while the following stages cover government transformation, in terms of the
internal operations and citizens participation in policy-formulation and decision-making.

Figure 1. UNs 5-Stage Model of e-Government Development

iv
iii
ii
i

Source : (UN, 2005)

Various government researchers have developed numerous stage models for egovernment developments, for example, Layne and Lee, (2001) Four-Stage Model and
Moon (2002) Five-Stage Model, Layne and Lees (2001) Four-Stage Model and Moons
(2002) Five-Stage Model. These models are based on a combination of technical,
organization and managerial factors. IBM Four-Stage Model comprises automate,
enhance, integrate and on demand stage (IBM Business Consulting Services, 2003).
Belanger and Hiller (2006) Five-Stage Model considers political participation by citizens
in the highest stage by offering services such as online voting, online registration, or

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

posting comments on line. Lee (2010) study compares twelve different e-government
stage models and classify e-government stage models based on two themes: operation
and technology theme on one side and citizen services on the other. According to the
author, five distinct correlated metaphors, presenting, assimilating, reforming, morphing
and e-governance will dictate the relationship between each themes. These models
embrace the concepts of interaction, transaction, participation and involvement of the
citizen with integration, transformation and process management.

Table 1. Comparisons of Stage Models in e-Government Development

Model

Stages

UN (2005) 5-Stage Model

i. emerging web presence,

ii. enhanced web presence,
iii. interactive web presence,
iv. transactional web presence;
v. seamless integrated web presence

Layne and Lees 4-Stage

Model
(2001)

i. catalog;
ii. transaction;
iii. vertical integration;
iv. horizontal integration

Moons 5-Stage Model

(2002)

i. simple information dissemination;

ii. two-way communication;
iii. service and technical transaction;
iv. vertical and horizontal integration ;
v. political participation

IBM Study (2003)

i. automate ;
ii. integrate ;
iii. enhance ;
iv. on demand
i. web presence;
ii. interaction;
iii. transaction;
iv. transformation ;

Belanger and Hiller (2006)

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

Model

Stages
v. political participation

(Lee, 2010)

i.presenting;
ii. assimilating;
iii. reforming;
iv.morphing ;
v. e-governance

As seen in Table 1, there are leaps between each of the stages. The development
stages of e-government follow several phases from access level that allows citizens
and business access to government information; interaction level, which allows
interactions with government through email or download forms; transaction level that
allows users to conduct transactions online; and integration level, which integrates all
services in different e-government organizations and governance. Based on the models
developed by the researchers, e-government development occurs in stages from
access level to transaction and integration level and finally e-governance. Governmentto-Business (G2B) systems are grouped in the integration stages of development due
to the capabilities and services offered to the business community and citizens.

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

1.4 Malaysias e-Government Initiatives

The Government of Malaysia envisions a modern government enabled by technology

through its Vision 2020. The Government launches an ambitious e-government project
to increase the quality and public service delivery by leveraging on the capabilities
offered by Internet and multimedia technologies (Hazman et al., 2006). The eGovernment aspires to improve the ease of use, access and interaction quality with the
public and private sector by improving the process within the government. These factors
will result in speedier policy development, coordination and enforcement. Ramlah et al.,
(2007) contend the governments overall aim is to build an enabling environment to
achieve a knowledge-based economy. As such, e-government programs are introduced
to offer better services and harness the potential benefits of interactions with new IS
innovations with an increasingly well-informed population.

Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Flagship Applications were launched with egovernment as one of the key applications to spearhead the ICT industry. eGovernment application was developed with the aims to re-invent the government and
improve citizens and business interactions with the government. The overall vision is to
create an efficient administration and excellent service delivery in an enabling
environment. The aim is an enhanced collaboration between government, businesses
and citizens for the benefit of the country. The e-government aims are to re-invent

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

government and leverage the industrial capabilities of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)
by addressing the following areas (Siddiquee, 2008):

1) Improving accessibility between the stakeholders and government, that is to

enable the public, business and foreign governments have better access to
government services;
2) Enhancing public services quality;
3) Improving the processes or system work flows that are important in the
betterment of the government service deliveries;
4) Creating greater transparency and governance; and
5) Empowering government officials at the implementation level towards faster
decision-making by reducing bureaucracy in daily transactions with the public.

The Government of Malaysia has also lined up several flagship e-government projects
aimed at transformation from manual and paper-based process, standalone agencies to
a seamless and integrated government. The initiatives launched under the eGovernment Flagships since 1997 are explained as in Table 2.

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

Table 2. Modules the e-Government

No.

Projects

Characteristics

1.

Generic Office
Environment (GOE)

Provides a platform for collaboration for enhanced

communication, interactions and sharing of data for
the agencies.

2.

ePerolehan (eP)

Connects the registered suppliers and the public

sector via the internet where agencies could source
for goods and services offered by the suppliers.

3.

Project Monitoring
System (PMS)

Offers the capability for projects monitoring and

implementation with built-in knowledge depository
and management functions.

4.

Human Resource
Management
Information System
(HRMIS)
Electronic Services
(e-Services)

Facilitates government employee day to day human

resource development functions in an online
platform.

6.

Electronic Labour
Exchange (ELX)

Connects the labor market data to the public sector,

private sector and the public.

7.

E-Syariah

Reforms administrative services of the 102 Syariah

courts to increase the capabilities of the Islamic
Affairs Departments in terms of monitoring and
coordination of its branches.

5.

Provides direct transactions and communications

capabilities between the citizen, the public sector
and the service providers on an online platform.

Source: (Maniam et al., 2006)

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

Off all the above-mentioned projects, the focus of this study will be on ePerolehan,
followed by eBidding which is a reverse auction system module under ePerolehan.

1.5 Overview of ePerolehan

The Government aspires to re-invent the way in which it operates to be more

responsive to the needs of the business community and to increase transparency and
efficiency in procurement process. As a major purchaser of goods and services from
the private sector, the government needs an efficient procurement service. For example
in

2010

alone,

total

government

spending

was

RM206.2

billion

(http://www.treasury.gov.my/bajet2011/data/le/le11.html, 2012).

ePerolehan is defined as the official electronic procurement system and provides a

secure end-to-end Internet transaction process from the buyer to the sellers (MAMPU,
2009). ePerolehan aims to re-engineer and automate the traditional way of manual
procurement system by transforming the

system into an online marketplace for

suppliers and government agencies. ePerolehan promises increased value for

government spending, as well as transparency and accountability in the procurement
and sourcing processes (Kaliannan et al., 2007). ePerolehan is an innovation by reinventing government procurement processes to ensure better collaboration between
public and government for higher quality and more efficient public services. Ahmad and
Othman (2007) argue ePerolehan is an inter-organizational system (IOS) that has been

10

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

successfully deployed in the government as a venue to improve the services to the

public.

ePerolehan was launched in several phases in 1999, and thus far the application has
successfully allowed the government and suppliers to electronically conduct
procurement activities. The system allows the suppliers to offer their services, advertise,
transact and receive the payments from the departments through the web. ePerolehan
supports the entire procurement chain from submission of tender and contracts to
approval and payment including alert notifications to potential bidders. The objectives of
ePerolehan are as follows (Maniam, 2008):

1) To offer best returns for Government procurement;

2) To facilitate the suppliers to receive faster payment;
3) To enhance accountability and transparency in public sector procurement; and
4) To improve cooperation between the private sector and the public sector.

Table 3 outlines the description of the modules under ePerolehan. The following
sections will focus on electronic reverse auctions and eBidding, which is one of the
modules under ePerolehan.

11

Megat Shariffudin Zulkifli, Dr

Universiti Putra Malaysia
megatsz1970@gmail.com

Table 3. Types of Module Services Under ePerolehan

No.

Module

Services

1. Supplier registration

Register new contractors or consultants, renewal,

online updates of latest supplier information

2. Central contract

Facilitates in the requisition services from acceptance

and delivery of order to confirmation of invoice of
purchased items by the agencies.

3. Direct purchase
Performs requisition processing that starts when
(procurement value up to procuring officials choose goods or services or
RM50,000.00)
products and the cycle is complete when the supplier
receives the purchase order.
4. Quotation system
Provides quotation process for procurement from
(procurement value up to RM100, 000 to RM200,000. Invites are forwarded to
RM200,000.00)
suppliers for their replies to the requests.
5. Tender
(more than
RM200,000.00)

Performs tendering process for procurement from

RM200, 000 or higher.

6. eBidding (from RM50,000 Provides services to qualified suppliers to bid online, in

and above)
a specified pre-determined period. eBidding allows the
bidders to see their status and other bidders offers
online.

Source: (Kassim et al., 2010)

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