The idea is to allow people living in Phuket to access government services via the Internet, at www.thaionestopservices.org.

Manoo Ordeedolchest, president of Sipa, said the pilot would run as a one-stop services centre for electronic-government public services.

The agency will initially provide five public services to end-users: utilities payment, public health, basic education, provincial labour, and Phuket immigration.

The one-stop services will allow people to deal with government agencies via the network without having to visit agency offices.

"The one-stop services utilise IT to allow government agencies to transfer information from government services to customers via Web services," said Manoo.

Sipa hopes that after it pilots the test project in Phuket, it will next expand the one-stop services to support e-government projects nationwide.

The agency will also submit an ISO Very Small Enterprise (VSE) proposal - a standard for software development designed for very small developers - to the International Standards Organisation board for approval.

ISO VSE is the best practice for very small software companies to develop software according to international standards, including the design and development process.

Manoo said the agency planned to submit the ISO VSE proposal by the end of the year and expects the ISO executive board to approve and announce the new standard to the market in the second half of 2007.

He added that before implementing the new ISO VSE standard, the agency would provide a Thai Quality System to local software companies so that they are able to develop their packages and products according to international standards and guarantee quality, including for the export market.

Sipa hopes that once local software firms enhance their development to international standards, it will enable them to develop their products and support the domestic market.

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation