To fight red tape, DTI set to implement Project One
The Department of Trade and Industry-Competitiveness Bureau is set to implement Project One, described as “drastic solution to fight government red tape.”
DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said this as the bureau serves as temporary secretariat of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), following the enactment of Republic Act 11032 known as the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, Project One is designed to develop solutions to improve business registration in the Philippines.
Lopez explained that the main objective of the project is to improve ease of doing business by streamlining the business registration process in the country, one that is focused on creating a pleasant customer experience (easy, not cumbersome nor confusing), addresses bureaucratic singularity (whole of government, one door policy) and promotes governance (data sharing, data accuracy, access to data, privacy issues).
New Zealand’s Creative HQ won the bid to support the country’s efforts aimed at significantly improving the EODB rankings of the Philippines and general ease of doing business for business owners, entrepreneurs and investors. New Zealand presents an attractive partner to the Philippines as NZ ranks 1st in the World Bank Doing Business survey and the Starting a Business indicator of the WB DB 2018 survey.
Project One shall make use of a modern innovation format (“Design Sprints workshops”, a method developed by Google Ventures to solve specific business problems and validate potential solutions in just five days.)
The three workshops shall cover three Design Sprints from July to October this year.
Design Sprint 1 (July 23 – 27, 2018) shall create a “Wikipedia” of LGU registration process. DILG and DICT to collate and publish the most up to date processes for LGUs in one place. This will increase inter-agency collaboration, and provide highly useful information to business and investors, and increase transparency of LGU related information online.
This concept follows the desire expressed by the Philippine Government to create “one portal” for all business-related information held by Government.
Design Sprint 2 (September 3-7, 2018) shall develop the implementation framework for a Philippine Business Number to provide a single, unique identifier that can be used by businesses when transacting with any government agency. This concept follows the desire expressed by the Philippine Government to use “one number” for all government transactions.
Design Sprint 3 (October 1-5, 2018) shall develop a prototype for an end to end registration application that allows business owners to complete their business registration on one website / application.
This was viewed as the ultimate leadership challenge as this is an excellent opportunity for the Philippines to become one of the first countries to adopt a business registration process that can be completed (end to end) on a mobile phone. This concept follows the desire expressed by the Philippine Government to use “one form, one portal” for all business to government transactions.
"With the passage of the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Delivery Services Act, DTI’s efforts at pursuing reforms will be further strengthened. The law mandates all government agencies including LGUs to automate business registration procedures, and we are glad that it will be the first time that our government will use the Design Sprints, as innovation” Lopez said.
Last year, the New Zealand government provided assistance by conducting a scoping mission to identify hurdles in business registration and showcase New Zealand’s expertise in EODB.
“We are ready to initiate online application, One Form, One Number, One Portal for business registration, and we could realize this by putting technology to work. We do not just automate the process but transform the way government is doing business,” Lopez added.