Executive summary

The digital transformation is bringing disruptive change for the economies, societies and public sectors across OECD countries. An unprecedented wave of technological change is affecting the structures and organisations of both businesses and public administrations. Governments have to anticipate, embrace and manage this transformation if they do not want to be outpaced, provide outdated services or run the risk of policy failures. Public sector organisations need to be able to provide services and solutions that match citizens’ expectations if they want to maintain or reinforce public trust.

Mexico must to continue to integrate digital tools and approaches into the fabric of the state to become more agile, open and responsive as it adapts to an age of digital disruption.

This report raises questions and provides policy recommendations to help Mexico achieve further progress in digital government. In particular, it underscores the importance of a governance framework that supports sustained and sustainable policies to benefit Mexican citizens and bolster public trust.

With a growing broad understanding of the implications of digitalisation for government and the public sector, Mexico has engaged with the OECD to make its digital ambitions a reality. The office for Coordination of the National Digital Strategy, within the Office of the President, and the Ministry of Public Administration have played a key role in providing leadership. Since 2012, Mexico has delivered results in line with the objectives of the National Digital Strategy. The positive outcomes of initiatives such as Gob.mx (the central public service delivery portal) and Próspera Digital (a digital inclusion programme) have paid off. The achievements in terms of the open data policy are reflected in Mexico’s fifth place ranking in the 2017 edition of the OECD Open, Useful and Re-usable data (OURdata) Index, and are clear proof of how policy investments have delivered results.

The digital transformation of the Mexican public sector should remain a priority to secure enhanced efforts and greater benefits for Mexican citizens. Maintaining an effective governance framework will be crucial for avoiding setbacks caused by inaction. Like other countries, Mexico needs to ensure the right leadership and governance arrangements to sustain and accelerate digitalisation efforts and avoid being left behind as OECD countries move ahead in the digital transformation of their public sectors.

Key policy recommendations

• Empower digital transformation officers within public sector organisations, in particular by exploring options to establish closer working relations between them and the political leadership of their organisation.

• Drawing upon the example of the Commission for the Development of e Government (CIDGE), which brings together IT directors from public sector institutions, establish a high-level collegial body to provide strategic direction and co-ordination of digital government with key issues of relevance for the National Digital Strategy. This body should be responsible for addressing the increasingly politically sensitive questions that surround the digital transformation of the public sector and ensure that the implementation is aligned with the broader digital agenda and the government’s strategic policy objectives.

• Consider setting up an agency for digital transformation attached to an institution with the necessary political clout (e.g. the President’s Office or the Ministry of Finance), while ensuring it has adequate independence, mandate, power and resources for sustainable success and long-term continuity.

• Review standards, design principles, guidelines and other tools to make sure they foster more joined-up approaches to service delivery.

• Demonstrate the value of data as a strategic asset for business operations inside the public administration working with the different public sector organisations.

• Develop a strategy for acquiring new talent in critical areas and bringing the skills of the existing public sector workforce in line with the needs for the digital transformation.

• Clarify digital, data, and ICT roles and competency frameworks in the public sector.

• Review talent acquisition frameworks to provide fit-for-purpose commissioning environments for hiring external technical talent for specific projects with an agile approach.

• Review business cases methods and ICT commissioning frameworks to ensure that they support agile contracting, collaboration and joined-up digital delivery models.