Survey objectives

The ICT Electronic Government survey has been conducted every two years since 2013, for the purpose of investigating the incorporation of ICT in government organizations in Brazil. Use of ICT in the public sector can serve as a means to expand access to public services, make governments more transparent, and enable citizen participation. To analyze this situation, ICT managers are interviewed, as well as those responsible for the digital content of government organizations from the three levels of government (federal, state and municipal) and from the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as the Public Prosecutor's Office.

In 2010, a special edition of the survey was conducted. This edition investigated the use of electronic government services by citizens and enterprises in Brazil, mapping access opportunities and barriers.

Areas of investigation

The indicators developed by the ICT Electronic Government survey highlight characteristics of government organizations with regard to ICT access, use and appropriation, such as:

• ICT infrastructure in government organizations;
• Use of ICT for management;
• Provision of public services through digital media;
• Use of ICT for accessing public information and participation (e-participation);
• Use of ICT in urban management.

Institutional support

The survey receives support from the federal government, through the Digital Government Secretariat of the Brazilian Ministry of Economy, in addition to support from other government organizations and experts connected to important universities.

International references

In terms of international frameworks of the survey, indicators proposed by the multi-sectoral initiative Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development are collected. This initiative brings together organizations such as the OECD, Eurostat, ITU and UN to establish internationally comparable electronic government metrics.

Methodology

The survey has two units of analysis: federal and state government organizations in the executive, legislative and judicial branches and Public Prosecutor's Office, as well as local governments (executive municipal governments). The survey uses a census for government organizations in the executive, legislative and judicial branches and Public Prosecutor's Office at the federal level and the legislative and judicial branches and Public Prosecutor's Office at the state level. A sample is used for executive government organizations at the state level. At the municipal level, sample surveys were conducted in the 2013, 2015 and 2017 editions; in 2019, a census of Brazilian local governments began to be carried out.