E-Government in Russia: Meeting Growing Demand in the Era of Budget Constraints

Rapid improvements in access to ICT in Russia result in increased demand for e-government services. The citizens using electronic means to apply for and receive the results of public services demonstrate higher satisfaction with quality of public service delivery, compared to those who use traditional in-person application procedures. However, both statistical and sociological data analyzed in the article suggest that the share of public services actually delivered in electronic form is still low (about 3.2% of Russian citizens managed to receive the administrative public services in electronic form in 2015). To reduce the gap in e-services development with OECD countries in the current budget constraints, there is a need to reallocate ICT resources along the key priority public functions and services and to turn e-government tools from being a cost item to becoming a factor of budget savings. To achieve such results, it is expedient to introduce the practice of measuring and monitoring service delivery transaction costs and to use cost-effectiveness as one of the key factor guiding the decision-making process on ICT investments.