Strengthening 'Pre-Review' for Public App Development... Preventing Duplicate Development and Removing Underperforming Apps

Preventing Reckless Public App Development... 'Public Interest' Section Added to Preliminary Review Items

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is strengthening pre-screening to prevent indiscriminate development of public apps. The plan aims to minimize the development of new public apps when they can be developed by the private sector or are similar to existing apps, thereby reducing unnecessary costs.

On the 26th, Seoul announced that it will implement a "Public App Management Strengthening Plan" containing these measures. The core of the plan is to allow public app development only when it is difficult to build as a "responsive web" that automatically adjusts screen size according to mobile devices, or when the app is not similar to those already provided by public or private sectors. Function improvement projects for public apps recommended for disposal will, in principle, be proposed.

Seoul diagnosed that "although the maturity of mobile web technology can replace a significant portion of app implementation technology, there was a lack of active prior review by business departments regarding the use of specialized technology," and "new apps were developed without prior procedures when projects changed, and the execution of improvement recommendations was also insufficient according to inspection results."

Additionally, Seoul added a "public interest" category to the pre-screening criteria to restrict development of apps that can also be launched by the private sector. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's regulations, it is a principle to build mobile public services as "responsive web," but departments have indiscriminately developed apps so far. According to data submitted to Assemblyman Moon Jung-bok of the Democratic Party of Korea by Seoul, out of 79 apps developed by Seoul since 2010, more than half?44 apps?have been discontinued or disposed of. The budget spent reached 5.18 billion KRW.

Seoul plans to induce disposal by strengthening pre-inspections and limiting budget allocation for existing apps with low usage rates. Furthermore, starting next year, experts in app technology and service fields will be selected to conduct qualitative evaluations and consultations, and a result report integrating existing quantitative evaluations and private experts' opinions will be prepared to refer to app improvement recommendations.

Seoul explained, "By the end of the year, we plan to request business departments to review disposal or conversion to private apps upon notification of the Seoul public app operation status inspection results," and "we will conduct demand surveys for public app open deliberations every early year and carry out policies, management procedures, and operator training related to public apps in the first and second halves of the year."