President Khalifa issues a law establishing ADSIC the Centre

The law states the following:
A Centre under the name 'Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre' shall be established with an independent status, financial and administrative autonomy. and the full legal capacity to act and report to the Executive Council. The Executive Council shall adopt the policies and strategies specific to electronic systems and information that shall be implemented by the Director General under the Council's supervision.

In fulfilling its mandate, the Centre will pursue the following goals:
1- Develop and modernize the Government strategy and master plan to achieve the mission of the e-Government program, in order to improve Government performance across multiple channels.
2- Develop and implement a plan to protect the information systems of Abu Dhabi Government and its entities.
3- Build awareness of the advantage of the use of technology applications across government and in society.

The Centre is considered as the government entity that owns the IT agenda of the Emirate, and has the authority to undertake the following responsibilities:
1- Supervise the implementation of the e-Government program in Abu Dhabi Government entities.
2- Sponsor initiatives and mature assets and competencies that it deems of critical importance for the e-Government project.
3- Propose policies and technology standards for Abu Dhabi government and relevant entities to achieve a comprehensive quality in reaching the highest levels of efficiency, confidentiality, and security in the e-Government projects.
4- Issue rules and guidelines regarding the implementation of IT policies and the technical specifications, and communicate them to all the Government entities.
5- Submit the guidelines to the Council regarding the IT sector and the e-Government.
6- Fulfil what has been mandated thereto by the Executive Council.

The Centre shall submit periodic reports on the business progress to the Secretary General and an annual report on its achievements, works, and expenses to the Executive Council.

In follow up to this law, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Executive Council, issued Decree No. 6 of 2009 appointing His Excellency Rashed Lahej Al Mansouri as Director General of Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre with the tenure status of a Department Undersecretary.

The new Centre will build on the achievements of the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Committee, advance its strategic roles and continue to work towards an effective and efficient transformation in Government operations and services delivered to its customers - nationals, expatriates, businesses, Government entities and employees. This emerging transformation is the result of the Abu Dhabi Government's embarkation on a multi-year program under the wise council and direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and General and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, to improve service delivery, expand service availability and increase governmental efficiency.

It is worth mentioning that the new law , gives the Centre the status of the sole Government entity in charge of ICT Agenda in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, without confining its responsibilities to the Government transformation. This stance reflects the holistic vision of the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa the President of the United Arab Emirates and reinforces the Government's long-term plan to transform the Emirate to a knowledge-based economy while supporting and strengthening the role all stakeholders in the IT sector.

On this occasion, H.E Rashed Lahej Al Mansouri, Director General of ADSIC, commented:

"Through the new Centre, we will continue our diligent efforts to realise Abu Dhabi's e-Government Program of 'Building a high performance Government delivering world class services to the benefit of all its customers. As a committee, we focused on implementing technology and infrastructure readiness projects for the Government modernisation program, and also worked on putting in place IT policies and standards. Our focus is clearly exemplified in the successful realization of the IT Architecture & Standards. As a centre, and with this readiness projects in place, we will shift our focus to optimizing and modernizing Abu Dhabi Government Services for all customers, offering them through different access channels."

On the emirate level, Al Mansouri added, "With the drive towards achieving an e-Government in Abu Dhabi, we have embarked on a number of projects that put in place the needed environment to benefit from ICT-driven modernization in government and society at large. These projects cover new e-laws in support of electronic transactions and emirate-level literacy programs to foster an IT-literate society. Going forward, we will focus on new projects that support development of a prosperous and sustainable ICT sector in the emirate and advance the emirate towards a knowledge-based economy with the required set of national skills."