Economic benefits are far from the only advantages gained by governments that implement a digital public infrastructure, a major international body has reported.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has explored the growth and impact of digital public infrastructure on governments and outlines key recommendations for policymakers in the paper, Digital Public Infrastructure for Digital Governments.

It said that DPI referred to a set of shared, secure, and inter-operable digital systems designed to support broad access to public and private services. Examples include digital identity, data sharing systems, digital payments and digital post and notifications.

The report said: “These DPI systems act as common digital building blocks that underpin government processes and services and enable digital government transformation at scale.

“Governments play a central role in DPI’s design, development, deployment, and oversight, with some systems tailored specifically to public sector needs, others benefiting both the public and private sectors, and some capable of operating across borders.”

It added: “DPI offers substantial socio-economic advantages. It can generate savings and efficiency gains for the public sector and for the private sector.

“Alongside economic gains, reliable DPI can promote inclusivity, service resilience, security and user satisfaction, providing essential infrastructure for efficient, scalable, and innovative services.”

In Estonia, the paper said, the use of digital signatures has saved up to 2 per cent of gross domestic product.

It added: “While economic benefits are a key factor for investing in DPI, other major opportunities include greater inclusion and a better user experience through improved public and private services, as well as more reliable, secure and resilient access to and use of those services.”

The OECD paper, issued in December, came at a time when the Government of Bermuda had invited prospective proponents to submit proposals for “Partnering with the Government of Bermuda on Digital Transformation Activities”.

The scope of the RFP includes three primary areas:

• Implementation of artificial intelligence to automate government processes and improve customer service interactions;

• Enhancement of the unified payment platform to improve security, expand integrated services and optimise the user experience; and

• Enhancement of the One-Stop Shop for Government Transactions, consolidating government services into a single, user-friendly portal.

The RFP said: “The Government of Bermuda is committed to a comprehensive digital transformation agenda aimed at improving citizen engagement, streamlining service delivery and driving greater efficiency across its departments.”

The OECD paper includes a section on digital public infrastructure “as an enabler of the ‘Government as a Platform’ model”.

It said: “The term ‘Government as a Platform’ is a type of governance model where governments provide digital infrastructure, services and frameworks that enable public and private entities to build upon and deliver services more efficiently to citizens, fostering collaboration and innovation.

“It was coined more than a decade ago and reflects a desire to transform government structures by designing and delivering government services enabled by a core set of reusable digital components.

“With this approach, governments can equip service providers (including those outside the public sector and in other countries) with resources to create innovative applications and services that governments or individual teams cannot develop alone, benefiting both economies and society. DPI is a central element of implementing this vision.”