Government officials in Thailand discussed regulations for enforcing the Electronic Operations Act B.E, which mandates the use of electronic records and procedures by all levels of government in Thailand. The primary focus of the guidelines was on the urgency with which any agency’s laws or regulations must be revised to remove barriers to compliance with the Act.
Using electronic means for finance is predicted to result in better uptake of government payments. The Office of the Auditor General of Thailand has highlighted that they are currently developing standards for electronic document verification for each government department to reduce the hassle of storing paper documents.
The Comptroller General’s Office also indicated that they would hasten writing a letter to clarify the allocation and use of funds. They proposed that government agencies follow their lead and transition to computerised financial transactions and evidence collection.
Digital Government Development Agency (DGA) Director Dr Supoj Thienwut met with other government agency heads. Dr Supoj emphasised the need for all supporting evidence, including disbursement records, to meet the same high standards as the primary source document.
Per regulations established by the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand and the Comptroller-General’s Department, the government agency can specify further documents and add more if necessary to generate confidence. The DGA is eager to assist government agencies in adopting the guidelines of both agencies to help reform the country and advance towards a fully digital government. All attendees agreed to work together to implement the Electronic Operations Act B.E. procedures to secure the success of Thailand’s digital government activities.
Aside from the effort to digitise official documents, the government aimed to enhance tech startup competitiveness in Thailand. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) and the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) have released the “Thailand Digital Catalogue”. The catalogue was meant to be a resource for helping startups and established companies improve the quality of their digital offerings to compete on a global scale.
Through Depa’s TECHHUNT portal, the public and commercial sectors and government agencies can browse and purchase various digital products and services at predetermined prices. To improve the effectiveness of public-private partnerships and to give Thais of all economic backgrounds access to a wide variety of standardised digital products and services at affordable costs, this initiative is seen as a critical driver of Depa’s digital economy development under MDES.
Authentic digital goods and services created by Thailand’s digital service providers make up the Thailand Digital Catalogue. The mission is to help businesses, governments, and non-profits improve their operations and services by providing them with high-quality digital products and services at affordable costs.
The programme also allows digital startups to compete for government contracts. Minister of Digital Economy and Society Chaiwut Kommananusorn said this would help much in promoting openness and fairness in the procurement market.
According to Depa’s President/CEO, Assoc. Prof. Dr Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, depa, is the primary agency in charge of listing and evaluating qualified digital products and services on the platform. These include but are not limited to software, software as a service, digital content service, smart devices, hardware, firmware, etc.
The evaluation conforms to industry standards, including the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), ISO, and “dSURE” with guarantees of smart devices’ functionality, safety, efficiency, and cyber security. Depa is optimistic that the Thailand Digital Catalogue will propel the country’s digital economy.
Depa has long seen promise in Thai e-commerce and tech companies, but some of these businesses have failed. As a result, we devised this strategy to help Thai tech entrepreneurs break through their current barriers and produce the highest quality products possible, enabling them to compete globally.
