Digital Government Review of Panama
Enhancing the Digital Transformation of the Public Sector

This review explores how Panama can enhance and harness digital government to achieve broader strategic goals at both national and local levels. It looks at institutional governance, legislation, and inter-departmental co-ordination, including institutional capacities and skills for delivering quality public services. It identifies opportunities for making public service delivery more efficient and inclusive, as well as for expanding the strategic use of data. The review provides policy recommendations to help Panama enable and sustain the digital transformation of the public sector.
Enhancing the digital transformation of the public sector
In line with Pillar 3 of the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies, this chapter analyses and discusses the capacities and capabilities necessary for a sound digital government policy in Panama. It starts by focusing on the level of priority attributed to the development of different types of digital skills. The chapter focuses in a second section on the policy levers in place to streamline ICT investments in the public sector, namely the use of budgeting capacities, budget thresholds, business cases, project management frameworks and co-funding mechanisms. A section dedicated to ICT procurement in Panama closes the chapter, discussing the efforts necessary to support a shift towards an ICT commissioning approach.