Ministry of Communications publishes rules for Digital City Project - International Law Office

On April 2 2012 the Ministry of Communications published Call for Proposals 001/2012-MC, relating to the Digital City Project. The government intends to invest R40 million in the project, which will select 80 cities (at least one from each state) for the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure and internet access to support the provision of government e-services.

The project is designed to achieve greater efficiency in the management of cities through the deployment of network connection infrastructure between municipal authorities and local public equipment, thereby improving community access to government services. Municipalities with populations of up to 50,000 inhabitants will have preference, with priority for the north and northeast regions and those with a lower municipal development index, as defined by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

The proposals drawn up by municipalities interested in participating in the project should contain detailed information about:

• the area covered;
• the community to be served;
• the municipal civil servants that will be seconded to the project;
• the results that the municipality intends to achieve; and
• the municipality's plans to guarantee the sustainability, maintenance and operation of the project.

Over the next few weeks, the ministry is expected to publish bid notices for the contracts for:

• the equipment to be used in the project; and
• the company that will be responsible for the installation, technical support and training of municipal workers for the operation of the network, as well as the maintenance of the network during the three-year period; and
• the company that will be responsible for the installation, training of civil servants and customisation of four applications for the management of financial, tax, health and education services.

Proposals for the Digital City Project can be submitted until May 16 2012.

For further information on this topic please contact Ricardo Barretto Ferreira Da Silva, Fabio Ferreira Kujawski or Thays Castaldi Gentil at BARRETTO FERREIRA KUJAWSKI E BRANCHER – Sociedade de Advogados by telephone (+55 11 3897 0300), fax (+55 11 3897 0330) or email (barretto@bkbg.com.br, kujawski@bkbg.com.br or gentil@bkbg.com.br).