A big step towards improving the delivery of services to the Filipinos and increasing the efficiency of the administration towards e-governance, the Civil Registry System – Information Technology Project (CRS-ITP) is a joint undertaking between the National Statistics Office (NSO) and Unisys Public Sector Services Corporation (UPSSC). The US$65M project is under a Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) scheme which will last for twelve years. The multi-phase CRS-ITP involves the automation of the document copy issuance, authentication, and certification of civil registry documents; the conversion of over 120M civil registry documents into digital format; the establishment of CRS outlets nationwide; the building of a wide area network infrastructure for the communication requirements of the CRS outlets; the development of application and support systems that will run the CRS, and the redesign of business processes to support the CRS.

     Way back in 1995, NSO had already foreseen the increase in the demand for its services. NSO also realized that in order to respond to that future need and accomplish its vision of improving the quality of life of the Filipinos through the generation of vital statistics critical to the implementation of development policies and programs, computerization must be undertaken to improve the civil registry system and the organization’s computing capabilities. In early 2000, the demand for the issuance, authentication, and certification of civil registry documents has already increased to an average of 10,000 to 12,000 requests daily. This situation is compounded by the burgeoning volume of civil registry documents that must be handled by NSO, and of statistical reports required from its office by different government institutions for their development programs.

    With this project, NSO and Unisys envision enhanced public service delivery through expeditious processing of requests, shorter lines at the application and payment counters, and improved facilities for the convenience of the public. After full system implementation, NSO Customers will be experiencing "while-you-wait" processing of requests and the nationwide service capability that will provide them the convenience of applying at the nearest CRS outlet. It will also alleviate the plight of applicants from the provinces who have to travel to Manila for their document copy issuance/authentication/certification requests. It will prove to be much cheaper for applicants in the future since their requests can be processed at the nearest CRS outlet.

    The CRS-ITP is also aimed at minimizing cases of falsification and fabrication of civil registry documents, as well as eradicating the fixers who take advantage of the public. Moreover, the CRS-ITP will be able to address NSO’s vital statistics production backlog because of the enhancement of NSO’s computing resources and capabilities. Information from these statistics are used for administrative planning for such undertakings as education, social welfare, and health programs, housing programs, and other development programs.

     Unisys is committed in providing a modern and effective computing platform to address the needs of NSO, and in helping the organization change to be a more successful arm of the government in moving the country forward.