'ESDlife allows the government to ride on the private sector to jump start our services online,' said Howard Dickson, Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO). 'There's no question that what they [ESDlife] have done was exactly what we asked for.'

According to an Office of the GCIO (OGCIO) publication, a 2003-2004 review of the ESD scheme on ESDlife concluded that both the citizens and departments are uncomfortable handling public transactions over a commercially driven site.

'Citizens say they want something that is not commercial, and they want to deal with someone more neutral,' said Dickson. 'If your driver's license got suspended, you will not want to deal with a commercial site, you might want to deal straight with the government.'

As the contract with ESDlife is expiring in two years, to ensure a smooth and continuous provisioning of services, 'the fastest way to do that is having the government operate [the portal] and provide a neutral platform for the citizens,' he added.

Moreover, as the technology and citizens' usage of the Internet mature, e-government services are ready to move toward the next level. But, to provide more citizen-centric joint-departmental services, a new strategy was needed.