Govt spending over $1m to modernise and revamp website

As of Wednesday, October 25, 2023

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

MORE than $1m will be spent to revamp and modernise the government website, according to Wayde Watson, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In April, Mr Watson announced that a six-month project to revamp the government website was underway after frustrated users complained about outdated and antiquated features.

The project would involve a partnership between the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, and Netclues Incorporated, which the government contracted.

Yesterday, following the second annual Caribbean Investment Forum 2023 at Atlantis, Mr Watson said a popular website development company has been contracted to facilitate the site’s revamping, which is expected to be completed next year.

He said new features will include a tab to speak with a government representative for assistance.

“Right now, we have already completed the phase where the landing page of the official website has been approved, has been vetted by the agencies of the government, as well as the Department of Information and Communication Technology experts and our web section,” he said.

“Now, what we’re doing is we’re working on the individual ministry websites to make certain that we can flip through those pages, make certain that the data is correct, and make certain that it has the adaptive technology behind it so that it can be rendered whether it is on a tablet, PC, mobile device or computer screen.

“We have about 88 different pages on the website, so we have to look at each one of those pages. So, we expect to be completed sometime early in quarter two or quarter three of 2024.

“I don’t have the exact total at this particular time, but I know it’s somewhere around the region of $1m and something to do the entire website. We have contracted a very popular website company that has its footprint in the region, in The Bahamas and in the Cayman Islands.

“The work that they have done is extremely professional and very immaculate, so we were able to successfully garner that particular company to facilitate what it is that we’re trying to do as we move forward with the digitalisation effort in the country.”

In April, Mr Watson said there were 18,000 registered users on the website.

AnObserver 6 months, 3 weeks ago

I've been involved in a few web projects over the years, and they typically have four or five figure price tags, maybe low six figures for a super complex site with customer records and ecommerce. How can you possibly spend $1m?

moncurcool 6 months, 3 weeks ago

With the amount of plug and play that is available now, this 1 million figure stinks to high heavens.

ThisIsOurs 6 months, 3 weeks ago

The entire digitization project should have been no more than 500k. 30million..

The_Oracle 6 months, 3 weeks ago

Cause we gots digital shingles now.

ThisIsOurs 6 months, 3 weeks ago

"adaptive technology behind it so that it can be rendered whether it is on a tablet, PC, mobile device or computer screen."

Adaptive technology? They dont know what they're talking about. All it takes it one formatting file.. if the screen this size layout this way otherwise layout that way. No web developer I know makes a big deal about this as if they have to inject some tremendous effort to deliver it, it's a given. "adaptive technology"... suck teeth, I guess the price for that was 999,999.99. The extra cent probably for the "tab to speak to a representative"

Are these people Didnt the FNM just pay the ex BPl chairman for th oh s exact same work?

ThisIsOurs 6 months, 3 weeks ago

"We have about 88 different pages on the website, so we "

Ok they really dont have a clue. The horse himself said, it's just one template file, easy money:

killemwitdakno 6 months, 3 weeks ago

So where do I submit the needed UX fixes found?

rosiepi 6 months, 3 weeks ago

“I know it’s somewhere around a $1 million and something to do the entire website”. So this is two contracts? What’s the first million for since it doesn’t cover ‘something to do the entire website’?

Netclues Inc is a company run out of India where the average salary for tech industry grunts from $5000k to 18k/annum. On glassdoor.com salaries for Netclues senior QA techs and software developers ranges $2400.00 to $5000.00/annum. And the contract is for $1M+++

Furthermore this project which has already started (with the usual lack of transparency) isn’t is projected to be finished for a year, so we’re looking at somewhere in 2025 if we’re lucky.

The Tribune