The results of the state performance audit of the digital development policy were summed up in the Supreme Audit Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The state performance audit of the digital development policy has been completed. Its results were reviewed at a meeting of the Supreme Audit Chamber chaired by Alikhan Smailov.

The audit activities covered the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MDDIAI), as well as other key organizations in this area: the Digital Government Support Center, National Information Technologies JSC, the Park of Innovative Technologies, the Astana Hub Technopark and others.

The Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the need for comprehensive implementation of digital technologies, while speaking at an expanded Government meeting on January 28 this year.

"Kazakhstan has achieved significant success in digitalization, especially in the field of public services. But this is just a starting point for further development. Building a self—sufficient digital ecosystem requires a solid foundation in the form of high-quality data and a reliable system for their protection," the President of Kazakhstan noted.

To date, comprehensive work on the implementation of digitalization continues in the country. This includes reengineering and automating various business processes, digitizing documents, updating information systems and security programs. The process of modernizing the communication infrastructure to provide citizens with high-speed Internet continues.

At the same time, the audit revealed a number of shortcomings and factors hindering the pace of digital development of the country.

For example, this area is characterized by frequent changes in legislation and serious delays in the implementation of major activities stipulated in strategic documents. In addition, gaps in the implementation of government policy documents and the tendency to postpone the dates of individual activities were noted.

There is a shortage of domestic information technologies and dependence on the import of these technologies and informatization tools.

Low-quality provision of services for the development of the "electronic government" architecture has been established: the architectural portal does not accurately record information about informatization facilities, 49 systems do not have the necessary documents, 29 information systems do not have lifecycle statuses, 115 systems have been in trial operation for more than 1 year.

During the meeting, the Chairman of the SAC, Alikhan Smailov, stressed that without high-quality digitalization, it is impossible to increase the efficiency of government agencies and the productivity of the economy.

"It is necessary to put into operation a single digital GovTech platform with high quality and transfer all information systems of government agencies and quasi-governmental organizations to it faster. This will increase the efficiency of their work through full integration, mutual use of up-to-date data, unified registers and classifiers. It is also necessary to accelerate digitalization in economic sectors. Primarily in healthcare, industry, transport, construction, and others. To do this, we need to strengthen the coordinating role of the MDDIAI," said Alikhan Smailov.

As follows from the audit materials, 4.9 billion tenge was allocated from the budget for the creation of 5 technological development centers and 1 venture fund within the framework of the Autonomous Cluster Fund "Park of Innovative Technologies" (ACF PIT) in 2016-2017. As a result, the activities of 3 centers turned out to be impractical and ineffective, 2 companies operate without long-term development plans. Thus, 3 billion tenge was used inefficiently.

The effectiveness and success of investments in 95 startups financed from the budget through ACF PIT in the amount of over 987 million tenge has not been confirmed. At the same time, 32 organizations that received funding in 2018-2020 have been liquidated, 18 of them forcibly. Another 21 companies submit zero tax reporting forms, which indicates a lack of activity.

In addition to budgetary funds, from 2015 to 2024, ACF PIT received 41 billion tenge from subsoil users as obligations to finance research and development (R&D). At the same time, the expert commission of ACF PIT is not responsible for ensuring R&D, which calls into question the transparency and uniformity of decisions taken in this area. As a result, 179 projects worth 14.8 billion tenge were mainly aimed at solving current business problems and did not contribute to the development of science and the creation of new technologies.

In addition, the factors contributing to the withdrawal of funds provided for the implementation of R&D projects have been identified, which requires the urgent introduction of transparent management and reporting mechanisms in ACF PIT.

National Information Technologies JSC maintains 34 information systems, 85% of which have outdated technologies and operate on monolithic code, which makes them irrationally large for updates and changes. Of the 50 informatization facilities assigned to JSC NIT, 28 information systems and 1 hardware and software complex are not actually maintained due to their irrelevance.

• In general, according to the results of the audit, financial violations were found amounted to 1.1 billion tenge.
• Inefficient planning of budget funds and assets amounted to 2.2 billion tenge, and their inefficient use amounted to 46.5 billion tenge.
• 45 systemic deficiencies and 143 procedural violations were also identified.

The Chairman of the SAC, Alikhan Smailov, during the meeting, also focused on the need to actively combat cyberbullying.

Alikhan Smailov addressed Minister of Digital Development Jaslan Madiyev, "The issues of cyber-attacks and fraud are very relevant at the moment. Cases of both have become more frequent. Purposeful permanent work is needed because some types of fraud are being replaced by new ones. With the introduction of technology, scammers are becoming more inventive".

In turn, the Minister spoke about the ongoing work in this direction.

"If we talk about cellular communications, we have already practically dealt with this. The anti-fraud centers of telecom operators are working and blocking all replacement calls and numbers. An algorithm has been developed so that Telegram quickly reacts to illegal content and blocks it. On WhatsApp, as a regulator, we have also developed an algorithm with the connection of the National Bank's anti-fraud center and risk management system. There will be a single call center where citizens will be able to contact fraud cases," said Jaslan Madiyev.

Alikhan Smailov added that based on the conclusions of the SAC, the digital agency needs to draw up an action plan so that its divisions, structural and subordinate organizations take concrete measures and steps to improve their work.