On July 31, the government announced a restructuring of the AMA to create a new entity, ARTE, to be led by the head of information systems in public administration.
The reform was approved on that date by the Council of Ministers and announced by the Deputy Minister and Minister of State Reform, Gonçalo Matias.
This new structure will introduce the position of Director of Information Systems and Technologies of Public Administration, a role the government equates to a ‘Chief Technology Officer’ (CTO).
“This is a restructuring of utmost significance” allowing “the creation of a new figure, not existing in Portugal,” the minister stated, emphasizing that other technologically advanced countries like Estonia already have officials with these responsibilities.
On July 1, the Secretary of State for Digitalization announced that the government would proceed with creating the CIO – ‘Chief Information Officer’, a director of public administration information systems who would coordinate a unified digital transition strategy.
Bernardo Correia, speaking at the closing of the first day of the 34th APDC congress in Lisbon, mentioned that the government would proceed with “the creation of the digital agency, a provisional name, resulting from the merger of public administration entities in a logic of reorganization and administrative reform.”
The objective is “to ensure a single entity” with enhanced capacity to accelerate the country’s digital transformation, he stressed.
