To evaluate and select the winning Projects, the jury session’s activities for Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment 2018, organized by The Information Technology Authority ))ITA(, will be kicked off during 21-25 of this month in Kempinski Hotel, Almouj

Over the 5 days and according to the set criteria, the jury committee will evaluate 64 submitted projects: 47 projects from government entities, 9 projects from private organizations and 8 projects from SMEs.

The jury committee consists of 13 international juries, 3 of whom are from the Sultanate. The jury session is the final phase of the selection process of the winning projects and it works independently and impartially abiding by the award’s rules and guidelines, hence, the results of the jury committee are final and not subject to change. Additionally, the jury committee will provide detailed reports consisting of recommendations and ways for improvements for the participating projects to enhance the eServices in the sultanate.

In this round, the award comprises of 10 categories, 3 of which were newly added, distributed for government, private and SMEs sectors. The 2 new categories for government entities are Best Open Data Initiative and Best Government Application for Smart Devices. Whereas the third new category is specified for the private sector for the Best Private Application for Smart Devices. Government sector entities can compete in 7 different categories, namely: Best Open Data Initiative, Best Government Application for Smart Devices, Best government eService – individuals, Best whole of government Project, Best eService supporting doing business, Best Practice in Community eParticipation and Best eTransformation achievement. Whereas the private sector’s large organizations can compete in two categories, namely: Best Private Application for Smart Devices and Best Private eService. The Private sector ICT Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can participate, in one category: Best SME eService.

It is worth to mention that this award comes as a translation of what His Majesty emphasized in his speech, during the annual meeting of the council of Oman in 2008 on the use of ICT, which has become the main driver of development in the Third Millennium. it aspires to bring about a qualitative transformation in public-service delivery by honoring technology projects that have resulted in exceptional achievement of impact and innovations in harnessing information technology for electronic services.