Operational / Service Delivery Model

To leverage citizen-centric design methodologies, agile work practices, and technological innovations to deliver public services that meet the needs of citizens and businesses effectively.   

DSF is a multidisciplinary team of experienced civil servants with different skills and roles. The team comprises of 17 experienced civil servants from the Department of Information Technology Services, of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, the Press and Information Office of the Ministry of Interior as well as from other departments of the government. The team works in an agile way and the diverse set of skills supports the continuous evolution and updating of DSF standards, processes and mechanisms.  

Government entities identify their needs for new digital services or enhancements to existing ones. These services must comply with the Service Standard and can be delivered: 

• Externally (outsourced) from the Private Sector, through Mini Competitions (Framework for the Digital Transformation of the Government Digital Services) 
• Internally (in-house) by government teams 
• Internally (in-house) by the DSF 

These needs are prioritised and approved by the DSF Program Board, the responsible body for the management of the DSF program.  

The Framework defines the way the new digital services across Government are delivered. Suppliers onboarded to the Framework participate in mini-competitions to provide service teams for designing and building digital services, following the Service Standard. DSF facilitates the engagement of service teams in the mini-competition process for the delivery of services, ensuring adherence to guidelines and processes.  

It is a comprehensive set of criteria that government digital services must adhere to ensure they are user-friendly, accessible, and secure. These standards guide the development and delivery of digital services, focusing on user needs, agile development, and continuous improvement. The Standard encourages the use of open standards and interoperability to ensure seamless integration between different government systems and services, supporting a more efficient and integrated digital ecosystem. 

Service teams, supported by selected suppliers, collaborate to design and develop digital services, ensuring alignment with the Service Standard principles and guidelines. Service design focuses on understanding the end-to-end user journey and designing services that are simple, intuitive, and user-friendly by adopting a user-centric approach, prioritizing the needs of citizens and businesses in service design and delivery. User research and testing are integral parts of the DSF service delivery model. 

DSF transfers knowledge by providing guidance and assistance to other Service Teams throughout the service delivery process on how to effectively utilize the Service Standard.  

All Government digital services (front-end) implemented that comply with the Service Standard are deployed and hosted in the DSF cloud infrastructure. This infrastructure is solely operated and managed internally by the DSF technical team.  

This process, which runs in two sessions the Preliminary and Final Assessment, ensures that new digital services developed, comply with the Service Standard. The process enables the Government to identify errors or oversights earlier in the process, which would otherwise entail significant costs in terms of money, time, and effort to rectify.  

Upon successful completion of the Assurance Process, assessment, digital services get the “green light” to be published in the government’s central portal Gov.Cy. 

Government Departments take ownership of the digital services they provide, including maintenance, and continuous improvement. Service teams are empowered to make decisions and iterate based on user feedback.