Will Online Applications Be Answered?

Will an application or a request to a federal executive government body be answered if submitted via “e-reception desk” at its official website? Or registered mail is the only real way to contact governmental officials? Tatyana Tolsteneva, IIFD researcher, and other IIFD activists in Nizhny Novgorod tried to learn this practically.

For private and business correspondence, e-mail has almost fully replaced postal mail. But for official correspondence, the situation is different.
IIFD researchers in Nizhny Novgorod tried efficiency of online application services at 58 official websites of federal executive government bodies subordinate to the Government of Russian Federation.

For 12 websites, no online application form was found. 45 applications forms found were used to submit requests about state informational systems maintained by the federal executive government body addressed.

As on June 13, 2010, 27 online requests remain unanswered. And among 18 responses received, only five answer the essence of the request submitted.

Among government bodies having not answered online requests, particularly prominent is the Federal Agency for Tourism requiring personal data (applicant’s passport data and address) via its online application form.

Quite opposite case is the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring that can be called (of course unofficially) winner of the trial. It has provided full answer to the online request and emailed a scan of the paper answer prepared for postal delivery.

However, the trial results incline to a conclusion that, as for today, most online application services at official governmental websites serve more for presentability than for practical facilitation of citizen/authority interaction.