BVI News

Wasted resources! Gov’t needs to centralise its technology strategy

Opposition Leader Marlon Penn

Opposition Leader Marlon Penn has said he believes the government continues to develop scattered systems that contribute to state resources being wasted.
 
Penn, who was speaking at a recent sitting of the House of Assembly recently, said an example of this is the Customs Automated Processing System (CAPS).
 
CAPS provides for all trader declarations forms to Her Majesty’s Customs to be completed and submitted online.
 
“It’s a very good system of Customs but a lot of aspects of it is ill-conceived,” Penn argued. “We spent five-plus million dollars on the system. And that’s the last number that I got in terms of it [being] a running cost with CAPS.”
 
“Even when I fill out my information online to pick up my documentation from the port — any port — I still have to print what I put in to go to Customs to collect my product … That doesn’t make any sense,” he added.
 
The Opposition legislator said having an online system should mean customers only needing to present a transaction number as opposed to printed documents.
 
He also reasoned that there needs to be greater integration between the Ports Authority and the Customs in instances such as these.
 
“We have to be sure that there is a centralised approach in terms of overall technology strategy as a territory. We cannot allow entities, departments, and all these areas to do as they please.”
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10 Comments

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  1. Pandora's Box says:

    Like when Customs takes its sweet time getting you back your T12 (for many reasons) and then Ports Authority charges you additional storage and wharfage for not clearing your goods fast enough!

    • Really says:

      YESS!!!!I was told by Customs that your T12 supposed to take two days to process before getting it back. What is the point of doing it online?

  2. Rubber Duck says:

    $5 million for that. !!!!!! It’s an afternoons work for a programmer and the customer interface is awful.

    Welcome to BVI

    Like 11
    Dislike 1
  3. Smh says:

    Where was all this wisdom when you was in government? You now know all the problems. You now know all the answers. Nothing is good enough for you. If things in a mess today is because y’all left it so. Neglect it for years. Vip is fixing your mess. Your huge messes. A lot to ask and a lot to expect in 2 years and in the middle of a pandemic. Find a more productive way if you looking to be relevant. Smh

    Like 11
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    • @smh says:

      You minions need to get off social media from chatting p!$$! What crap are you talking about being relevant, Hon. Penn is the Leader of the Opposition who has job to do and should continue to do it.

      Is what Hon. Penn saying not the truth? You people for a few handouts are going to sit here and let this Government destroy our country!? God see for us with followers like you. Smurf continue to do your job please.

      Like 6
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  4. caps is a joke says:

    Most web browsers cant even run caps as its Designed for Internet Explorer 8? If you go to it https://www.bvicaps.gov.vg/CAPSWeb/TraderLogin.jsp your browser will warn you that its not a safe site. BVI paid $5m for this crap but theres no corruption in govt here hahahahahhah

  5. Mango Juice says:

    The redundancy makes sense, we have crap internet so services can’t be totally dependent on it.

    • @mango juice says:

      Please stop justifying crap. Redundancy if the system is down, not after you’ve already filed the transaction in the system. We’ve been hoodwinked once again with someone selling us a bag of coals for gold.

  6. Wow, just wow says:

    Nobody must have been paying attention. Looking a bit deeper and it’s even worse. The government should file the lawsuit now. The longer they wait the less there is to recover. They got sold something pulled off a CD-ROM.

  7. alpha says:

    Waste of time printing off papers but the people in charge stuck in them old paper trail ways and it needs to come to an end!

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