Friday is the deadline for firms or individuals to submit their tender proposals to the Ministry of Finance in the bid to get the job of drafting the legal framework for the development of electronic commerce in Bermuda.

Out of the lot the Ministry will choose the consultant they think will do the best job in getting the show on the superhighway. E-commerce and how great it will be for Bermuda has been much talked about for the past year.

The eventual legislation, to be drafted by the Attorney General's Chambers, will be a major piece of work for the new Government. If the Progressive Labour Party manages to do the job right and Bermuda becomes a major cybercentre that will be a wonderful thing. Insurance and electronic commerce both bringing money to the Island? Everyone can go out and buy a new car.

The UBP will be gnashing their teeth at a missed opportunity, imagining themselves at the controls instead of on the sidelines. Grant Gibbons eat your heart out. If only you had been able to present your forward thinking electronic commerce policy statement in September, 1997 instead of September 1998. Ah. Such is politics.

The original research for the proposed legislation was submitted to Mr.

Gibbons in a June 30, 1998 draft document called the "Cyberlaw Advisory Report'', written by lawyer Duncan Card.

Now to the Government's request for proposals (RFP), the outline document which lays out what all the hopeful competitors must submit to the ministry for consideration in their bid for the job. I am puzzled to note the RFP hasn't been promoted as much as it should have in Bermuda. One consultant vying for a chance to do the work only found out about the request two weeks after a small advertisement appeared in The Royal Gazette .

I missed the advertisement myself, and like many people only found out about the RFP after Logic's Peter Durhager mentioned it in a speech. The ad was buried. Government should have promoted the request much more vigorously to ensure that all local firms and individuals have a chance at getting the job.

It's a shame.

The RFP was sent directly to local law firms Diel & Myers, Conyers, Dill & Pearman, Appleby, and Spurling & Kempe. The document was also sent internationally to Harry Gutman of King & Spalding in the US, Mark Kaplan of Skadden, Arps in New York, Christopher Millard of Clifford Chance in the UK, Robyn Durie of Linklaters & Paines in the UK, and Mr. Card of Davies, Ward, & Beck in Toronto.

If you think you can get something together you can download the RFP from the Bermuda International Business Association Internet site at http://biba.org/cgi-win/bermuda-inc.exe/biba Click on the documents centre button.

The RFP lays out Government's objectives which are to develop a new sector of the economy to create jobs and economic growth, get Bermudians on the Internet, and provide training in information technology.

The legislation will have to cover legal protection of consumers, privacy and property. The legislation will have to protect consumer rights, intellectual property, privacy and security. Measures to prevent fraud and resolve disputes must also be included.

It's interesting to read the far-ranging requirements needed to ensure electronic commerce transactions are properly regulated. The document states that the legislation must have: " Provision for the formation, validity and enforceability of electronic contracts; Provision for the authentication of parties and digital signatures; Provision for the circumstances in which an electronic contract will be deemed to have exclusively occurred in Bermuda, and that such transactions shall be exclusively subject to Bermuda law; Provision that `reliable` information and records that exist only in electronic form will be acceptable for all legislative (including evidentiary) and regulatory purposes; Provision to protect telecommunications and network service providers from liability from third party content, contracts and communications transmitted through, or stored on their equipment and outside their control; Provisions to update the Computer Misuse Act and all other criminal laws to cover new forms of computer crime, to provide that theft of digital assets does not require the deprivation of possession and to introduce penalties for commercial attacks on computer systems and content in Bermuda; Provision to ensure that electronic transactions do not deal with prohibited or restricted activities as defined by the Companies Act 1981 or other activities prohibited by Bermuda law; Provisions that enable Government departments to accept electronic filings and to issue permits and licenses electronically.

The Government will announce who's selected for the job by March 17. The successful applicant will then have to produce the drafting instructions for the legislation along with the recommended wording of the statute and advice on policy issues by June 1. Government and the Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA) are working together on the project. BIBA has set up four electronic commerce sub-committees to deal with the issue. The key one is the legislative initiatives sub-committee, chaired by Bermuda Stock Exchange chief executive officer William Woods.

Government plans on introducing the legislation to the House of Assembly before Parliament goes into recess for the summer in July. That's a tough time line when you consider how long legislation usually takes to get drafted in Bermuda.

Tech Tattle is a weekly column about issues concerning technology. Comments, ideas and questions for the column are welcomed. Ahmed ElAmin can be contacted at 295-5881 ext. 248 or e-mail him at techtattle y gazette.newsmedia.bm.