DUET for E-Government
Business Context
Governments and municipal agencies all over the world are increasingly facing the pressure to reduce costs and improve services. Citizens who have become accustomed to profit from the Internet and digital services in their private lives, are demanding the same convenience in the public sphere. E-Government is certainly an efficient way to reduce administrative costs, to involve and engage the community through greater accessibility and enhance existing services. But it also poses security concerns. The identification and authentication of individuals accessing services online is still the most controversial issue in discussion. Private data and public information are sensitive, it is therefore crucial to know that people are really who they claim to be. The security features of smart cards such as digital certificates, cryptographic transactions, personal identification numbers (PINs) and passwords provide sophisticated protection against fraud, loss, robbery or counting errors thus ensuring that sensitive information is viewed and processed only by authorized users. As smart card payment technology continues to improve, more and more governments in developing countries worldwide are automating their retail and corporate payment processes in order to enable cashless payments to government and municipal institutions.
System Description
DUET for e-Government is based on performing transactions as a dialogue of two cards in offline mode – the citizen card and the government card. Communication between the cards is established directly through a DUET terminal. Special session keys encrypt this dialogue. The payment is authorized by PIN and the amount is debited from the citizen card and is credited to the government card. The complete transaction data such as date and time, parties involved, type of transaction, amount paid etc. is stored as an encrypted digital certificate in the memory of the card microprocessor. Besides a closed loop government payment cycle, full payment services both to the private and the corporate environment can be offered:
- C2G: This application model consists of citizens and consumers who need to perform payments such as fees to the government institutions. People will obtain their cards at banks, service centers, or at the ministry/local municipality directly and after having preauthorized the card with funds, will proceed to pay to the government. This of course will greatly reduce the usage of cash at the ministry/municipality and also reduce the very high cost of handling cash.
- B2G: This scheme is for corporations who pay very large payments to the government. A company will receive several cards, will be able to preauthorize these cards with funds, and then give the cards to employees (instead of bags of cash) to pay at the respective government/municipal agency. Of course detailed reporting facilities are provided by the bank for the government as one of its several services.
In both models, the smart cards could also be used to perform preauthorized payments at affiliated retail stores, supermarkets, malls, petrol stations etc. Thus, a seamless payment environment based on multi-functional smart cards enabling small or large value payments of fees to government departments as well as daily retail payments will have multiple beneficial effects. In the context of a seamless DUET environment, the creation of smart islands within the same payment scheme is another functional possibility: some cards could be enabled for government only (corporate cards with very high volume payments to the government), whereas other cards could be used for retail and government (like the consumer cards) payments.
Benefits
- DUET is a technology platform that provides governments with a comprehensive domestic payment tool that is managed, operated and processed locally
- DUET provides full control of all system parameters - no information leaves the country ever; no fees paid outside the country ever
- DUET offers full traceability of transactions for automated creation of government reports thus reducing administration and monitoring costs
- DUET’s flexible product slot architecture enables to add card functionalities remotely after the primary issuance of the cards
- DUET reduces the total cost of ownership on transaction and operating cost (telecom infrastructure, wireless connectivity and online connection time are not required)
- DUET is a system that is easy to maintain, operate and administer and can be interfaced/integrated with existing back-end systems
- DUET offers up to 8 different card products on 1 card, dual PIN protection and offline payment functionality
- DUET supports multiple payment schemes (pre-authorized, pre-paid, debit, credit, etc.)
- DUET provides a technological foundation for a cashless society via EFT (electronic funds transfer) and is the key for secure transactions involving authentication and the exchange of sensitive data and private information
- Promoting the use of smart cards encourages a joined up attitude to service delivery across government and opens up the possibility of partnership with the private sector.
