eGovernment for Development

Success/Failure Case Study No.24

The National Data Bank Project: An Expensive Lesson for Bangladesh

Case Study Author

Anonymous

Application

As its name implies, the National Data Bank (NDB) project was planned to provide a broad range of data and information support to many levels of stakeholders both inside and outside Bangladesh. The NDB was to link twelve ministries and divisions with scope for further network connections to the planning cells of all other ministries/divisions. The network was based on ATM/Fast Ethernet protocols using fibre optic/VSAT (very small aperture terminal) connections; a client/server architecture was set out for the system; and a relational database management system plus other applications were to form the software basis for the project.

Application Description

In Bangladesh, different ministries, departments, research organisations and NGOs collect and publish statistics to meet their own requirements. The Bureau of Statistics conducts the national census and undertakes sample surveys on demographic, economic and social issues. However, it is the Statistics Division of the Planning Commission that has the overall mandate to process, publish and maintain official statistics for all sectors of the economy. The National Data Bank project was an initiative for the Statistics Division intended to help draw together and make available all possible published data for both government and public use.

Application Purpose

The NDB was intended to address shortcomings of official statistics in Bangladesh: their inconsistency, duplication, inadequacy, inaccuracy and lack of timeliness. Creation of the data bank had the following purposes:

• · To create a repository of macro-, micro- and local-level data for different socio-economic and demographic sectors required for short- and long-term planning, policy formulation and implementation of development activities.
• · To develop the NDB as an inter-ministerial IT institution that could develop and manage its relational database under a client/server environment.
• · To develop trained networking/multimedia personnel capable of linking government departments and divisional and district headquarters in phases.
• · To establish direct communication linkages with the Internet and with international data banks for exchange of information on science, industrial technology, research and development, marketing, etc.
• · To develop a gender-specific database to monitor the welfare of women at the national and local level.
• · To develop a data bank on slum dwellers, the landless, disabled and other destitute for the alleviation of poverty.
• · To develop Web sites with information of national and international importance and to promote an intranet and the Internet in data collection, data processing and data dissemination.

Stakeholders

The focal stakeholder was the Statistics Division within the Planning Commission but the network aimed to provide facilities for both input and output of statistical data to all the main organs of governnment such as the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Establishment, etc. The broad range of potential user groups meant that stakeholders were not only found throughout the public sector, but also within the private and NGO sectors in Bangladesh and overseas.

Impact: Costs and Benefits

The project framework was developed via a directive from the Ministry of Planning in 1992. The project was finally approved midway through 1994, and was scheduled to start midway through 1995. The project actually began in 1998. Annual investment costs have varied but, during key network investments in 1999/2000, c.US$440,000 was spent. In terms of impact, there has been some limited infrastructural development of the network, with a LAN (local area network) created within the Planning Commission. Beyond that, no development of the inter-Ministerial network has been observed. Even the LAN has problems, with one of the main network switches not working, and with inadequate human capacities to manage and operate the network. A few preliminary attempts were made to use the LAN, but those have been abandoned with no evident usage of the network since 2000. No database has been established, and no storage of statistical data is visible in any part of the intended project.

Evaluation: Failure or Success?

The project is a total failure.

Enablers/Critical Success Factors

None.

Constraints/Critical Failure Factors

1. Inadequate human resource practices . Those who set out the initial project framework lacked the ability to develop attainable objectives or a proper work plan. A local consultant was hired to undertake the initial feasibility study. He was not detached from the politics of the situation, which affected the way the project was designed. It is claimed that rational, depersonalised processes were not used for selection of other project personnel.
2. Lack of leadership . A lack of appropriate technical, strategic and project competencies within government undermined the project, leading to a lack of clear direction and leadership.
3. Poor government-supplier relations . The lack of capacity on the government side meant that leadership for project design and implementation fell to one of the main IT suppliers, the local agent for a major IT multinational. The agent changed the technological specification and price quotation in their proposal several times, leading to concerns about interference and self-interest from government officials in the proposal process. The agent then withdrew from the project entirely. This caused significant delays but also removed key guidance and oversight capacities from the project.

Recommendations

1. Start small . The project should have set some limited, achievable initial goals and pilot-tested the hardware, the database and the new procedures before any attempt to build up to full-scale implementation.
2. Develop project capacities . The project developed some technical skills during its lifetime, but it needed to find ways to develop project planning and management capacities within government, to enable government to give some direction to, and have some control over, the project.
3. Encourage transparency . Do whatever can be done to introduce transparency and rationality into procurement and recruitment processes. For example, it may be possible to promote use of a project Web site that gives details of project activities. Involvement of donors may introduce oversight procedures.

Further Information

n/a

Case Details

Author Data Sources/Role : Direct Role.
Outcome : Total Failure. Reform : eAdministration (Making Strategic Connections in Government).
Sector : General Services (Data and Statistics).
Region : South Asia. Start Date : 1992/1998. Submission Date : November 2002