The eCabinet system is in operation across all Government Departments and Ministers' Offices and at Government meetings. Work on it began in 2002 and it was implemented on a phased basis between 2004 and 2007 at a cost of some €5m. A breakdown of the costs, including licensing, maintenance, etc. per year, to date in 2010, will be forwarded to the Deputy shortly.
The system electronically supports and enables the administrative processes associated with the preparation and conduct of Government business and the dissemination of Government decisions, and replaces the former paper-based system which involved manual management and distribution of Government memoranda and decisions. Users at all levels get information more quickly, have more time to reflect on issues and can more readily contribute to proposals under development. Ministers and senior officials have information about items as they are placed on the Cabinet agenda, with access to the memoranda immediately.
The main development partner for the project was the In.vision Research Corporation Inc. (which was bought over by Quark Systems Ltd. in 2008). In.vision were the proprietors of an XML toolset that was selected for drawdown use by the public service in a public tender competition run by the LGCSB (Local Government Computer Services Board) in consultation with CMOD in the Department of Finance, and the drawdown facility was availed of by my Department for the eCabinet project which is built using the selected toolset. A small number of additional service providers were also contracted to build the infrastructure and to provide security for the system, using open and restricted (where necessary for security reasons) tendering procedures. These included Fujitsu Services, Bic Systems (Ireland) Ltd, LAN Communications and Entropy.
The system is kept under review and hardware and software upgrades are being implemented during 2010.
There are over 6,000 registered users of the system, between Ministers, Ministers of State and civil servants, with different levels of access rights depending on their responsibilities. All Ministers make use of the eCabinet system and it is and has been available at all meetings held in the Council Chamber in Government Buildings, which account for the vast majority of Cabinet meetings (for cost and security reasons the system functionality is only available for Cabinet meetings at the Cabinet table in the Council Chamber).