Digital government stands no chance of succeeding when...
- Summary:
- Shuffling government paperwork is big business for everyone who has a stake in it. The case for digitalizing some services to get a quick and big win is obvious. So why aren't governments biting the bullet instead of putting citizens through misery? There are obvious solutions.
I can't find my Spanish NIE document. That's a national identifier that's needed for everything from setting up a phone line to selling a car. It doesn't matter if you are a regular citizen or an absentee. Anyone who has anything to do with Spanish services needs an NIE. That in itself is an irritation but heh ho, it is what it is.
Normally, you just quote the number and you're done. But on this occasion I needed to have a copy available for the people who do government paperwork in Spain - shoveling paperwork is a big business. I couldn't find my NIE anywhere although I am pretty certain I know where it should be. Which isn't where I am living right now. That presents a dilemma. What to do?
Making life difficult
It's not possible to request a copy. The only legitimate way to solve the problem is to get a replacement NIE document. How when I am 6,000 miles away and have barely stepped foot in the country for years? Fortunately, there are a few online services that help start the process. But the Spanish government doesn't make it easy for you. First you need to grant a Spanish lawyer a power of attorney to deal with the matter. Then you need a copy of your passport. These are not unreasonable requests. But here comes the twist.
First, the power of attorney and the passport copy need to be notarized. I can live with that. There are notaries on every street corner where I live.
But then, the Spanish government requires that you have the notarized documents legalized via an apostille certification in whatever country you're living. And then they want to see the original of the copies. Get it?
Get in line
I'm currently based in California and there are only two places that the apostille thing can be done: at the Secretary of State's office in either Los Angeles or Sacramento. LA is the nearest to me but that's still a three hour each way train ride. If you have any sense you sure as heck don't want to be driving in LA.
The process can be completed by post but then my experience of US mail is that it is about as reliable as my chances of winning the lottery. And it takes a LOT of time. Think two weeks minimum allowing for post at both ends. That's how private delivery services like FedEx and USPS emerged.
Tipping up at the office in LA I'm told to get a ticket, fill in a simple form and get in line. The ticket bears the number 41 and looking around I see there are roughly 40 people in line. Not bad I thought until one of the four people behind the counter who are doing the paper shuffle yells '74.'
WTF? Then I look again. My ticket is numbered 341 so she's calling for 274. The three was kinda greyed out and I hadn't noticed it. That means there are 66 people in front of me. This is just shy of 2pm and my return train goes at 4.08pm. Doing some rough calculations I reckon I'll be done inside 90 mins. 66 divided by 4 = 16'ish and if it takes 5 minutes per person then that's 80 minutes. Rounding up. Yep - I'm good. Time to fire up the Kindle app on my smartphone and settle in.
But no. That's not how it works. It seems that some people have highly complicated paperwork that takes forever. Others have come with partners. Other have come with interpreters. It's like the League of Nations in this place. Some have wisely brought books to read. Some have given up and left the building for another day. That's not something I can afford to do.
After a while, the calling out of numbers takes on the excitement of hearing bingo numbers. But then at one point I start sweating because the line is moving at a crawl. Luckily, the counter staff rattle through the 10 before my number is called. It ends up taking just over 90 minutes before my bingo number is called. I'm outta there 10 minutes later, waiting on the street for an Uber back to the station and a train which I manage to get 5 minutes before its stated departure time. No time to admire the fabulous Art Deco building. I'm thankful but utterly exhausted and hungry after a stressful 10 hours of paperwork, notarizing, travel and waiting.
Costly and wasteful
Back at base some three or so hours later (thank you for not being late Amtrak) and I now realize to my horror that not only does my lawyer want me to check in to ensure I have the right apostille wording, but that those documents have to go expedited mail. That's $130 and there is no guarantee they'll arrive by the stated date, which is three days from now. Why? Because it is a Labor Day weekend.
Taking all the costs together, one lost NIE document has cost me $480. Yes, it's my own fault for not thinking I might need it in the US for a simple transaction in Spain. The extent to which this entire process reflects the age of quill pens is staggering. Thinking about the time wasted alone is tiring.
As an aside, the lawyer suggested I photograph the documents as they were being prepared and share over WhatsApp. It's a novel idea but not something I am prepared to do. Email trumps the questionable security of a Facebook acquired app.
We can do it
We've had services like EchoSign and Docusign for years. We use these services internally when we need to complete legal stuff or need confirmations of important stuff etc. They're instant delivery services and almost completely eliminate cost. And because documents become digital in those services, they can be securely and electronically stored for whenever they're needed. Unlike paper which has a habit of getting lost. So why can't any government get its head around this and develop equivalent digital services? I don't have a good answer.
It can't be a jobs thing because the people working for the government in those jobs could have a much more rewarding life doing checks on inbound documents for example. While I see what they're doing as little more than pushing paper for the sake of it, I have to give those same people high marks for patience and determination for a job that has almost no obvious job satisfaction other than the occasional 'thank you.'
From what I could gather, every day is like the one I experienced. So by my reckoning, the team in LA are handling around 400 people a day, generating a minimum of $10,400 per day, assuming a single document case for each person who shows up in the office.
It's a good money spinner for the State out of one office. I have to assume it's not dissimilar in Sacramento. On that basis, California is augmenting the taxes it collects through other means to the tune of an estimated $4.5-5.0 million a year. Hardly chump change. Just from walk-ins. Just from one service.
What's more, this is clearly a global issue. I saw people from Iraq, China, Russia, many South American states and the UK all trying to get much the same thing done as myself. It seems such a waste of time and money.
I know the questions of identity and privacy are massive issues in the minds of many and maybe that figures into government thinking. I'd happily trade those problems for the aggravation of dealing with paperwork. But then the process itself is flawed. There is for example, no check on stated location, just that you have documents.
The companies I've mentioned have shown the way and there is no reason why governments can't charge for these services as they do today. It would be much more efficient for everyone including government. Think about it. The only reason you want something handled this way is because a government body has said so. There's no obvious reason why anyone with nefarious purposes in mind would do so and even if that was the case, then there is no natural way to overcome that.
If anything, handling paperwork electronically is more secure and, with the right security in place, traceable. Everyone wins. Except the now redundant postal and transportation services plus those guys on the corner coining $10 a pop for document notarization. Is that too high a price to pay? I don't think so.
What am I missing here, other than a miserable day of my life I'll never get back?
If anyone thinks that it's the in-person thing that matters then there is always video calling...