Digital government can be pivotal in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policy design and implementation. However, sound governance frameworks and adequate institutional arrangements are required to reap the full benefits of digital technologies, promote systemic change and make the government digital by design. As the use of digital technologies becomes mainstreamed in all policy areas, effective implementation requires the participation of a variety of actors. This entails strong leadership; alignment between planning, policy formulation and implementation; as well as desirable levels of continuity and coherence in the digital government agenda. Therefore, the institutional set-up in charge of digital government should be able to count on a clear mandate and be supported by the necessary governance framework providing powers, institutional mechanisms, policy levers and resources, to be able to lead the definition of a vision, steer and co-ordinate actions in line with the strategic objectives, and hold the various actors accountable for results. These conditions can facilitate the integration of digital government in broader public sector reform agendas and synergies with other cross-cutting policy areas, such as public sector innovation, open government and administrative simplification.

Budgetary constraints and rising citizens’ expectations are leading the government of Chile to seek ways to become more productive, efficient and effective. Digital technologies can have a substantial impact on government’s capacity to effectively design and implement policies, and to be transparent and accountable in delivering outcomes and outputs. Not only can they enhance civil servants’ productivity, but they can significantly change how governments plan and deliver services, making them more user-driven, more convenient to access and tailored to needs, e.g. designed according to users’ needs. Through the improvement of data management and processing, digital technologies can help turn data into opportunities producing knowledge for evidence-based policy making, effective monitoring of implementation and scaling up of “what works”. However, reaping the full benefits of digital technologies requires a solid governance framework to spur a coherent approach across the public sector, the capacity to be rigorous and clear in taking up new opportunities, and effective coordination to avoid the duplication of efforts, achieve systemic change and build a government that is digital by design.

The government of Chile faces rising citizen expectations of government performance in a context of increasing budgetary pressures. This context should lead public authorities to find smarter organisational arrangements and better use of technology as a driver of efficient and effective policy design and implementation. The strategic use of digital technologies provides governments with the opportunity to enhance the productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of government operations and improve public sector intelligence while opening up decision-making processes, bringing in the “voice” of the users – with the ultimate objective of leading to more inclusive and satisfactory policies and public services for citizens and businesses. This requires a solid governance framework and institutional arrangements. This Digital Government Review of Chile seeks to make policy recommendations aimed to strengthen the governance of digital government in Chile, which will increase the government’s ability to steer and use information and communication technologies (ICTs) strategically to boost public sector performance and improve public service delivery. These recommendations will be developed after careful examination of experiences across OECD countries in addressing key ICT governance issues required to accelerate the digital transformation of the public sector and a thorough assessment of Chile’s digital government ecosystem.

Based on the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies, this chapter assesses the governance framework and institutional arrangements of digital government across ten governments considered to be advanced in the implementation of digital government. The assessment delves into issues such as the role of the digital government strategy, the institutional arrangements, the policy levers, the co-ordination mechanisms and the legal framework for digital services, strategies for public sector data and ICT procurement. Likewise, the chapter explores how these ten countries articulate and exploit synergies with other cross-cutting public sector agendas, such as open government, public sector innovation and administrative simplification. Furthermore, it describes how digital government units are financed and discusses existing funding mechanisms for strategic digital government projects and how they can serve as drivers of change. Finally, the chapter briefly covers mechanisms and tools for monitoring and assessing the impact of digital government activities.

This chapter provides an in-depth look at the institutional context and governance framework of digital government in Chile, mapping the existing roles and responsibilities, the existing policy levers, co-ordination mechanisms and legal framework. Based on this analysis and drawing on the conclusions of the benchmarking exercise developed in Chapter 1, it provides specific policy recommendations to strengthen the government of Chile’s ability to steer the digital transformation of the public sector through reinforced governance of digital government. The chapter suggests two alternative options for a reinforced digital government institutional set-up to achieve more sustainable results in the long term. The chapter lays out the potential strengths and weaknesses of each scenario and outlines an implementation roadmap for these recommendations.