I have received many direct emails and I thought I might want to respond to one publicly and BCC the gentleman who raised the issues. Thank you for your email.<div><br></div><div>My answers are in red.</div><div><br><div>1. Scope of the project-Is it meant to cover software alone or how does it integrate other pertinent aspects of ITES & BPO</div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">A. yes. for now certification covers software development both for individuals and for organizations developing software. without pre-empting the procurement process, this standards may take the form of certification for process methodology. This basically means that once you have certified the method by which the firm or individual writes his code, you can vouch for the standards of the underlying code. One of the challenges many projects have locally (an indeed internationally), is that the software designers dont document what they are doing and you are left at their mercy once they have finished, another challenge is most projects dont allow for testing the code or the software that is written. Others because the same person who wrote the code has the responsibility to provide final test results for it. Indeed software development, document and testing is often outsourced and provides an interesting outsourcing opportunity. There is another project on the establishment of a BPO centre of excellence centre which is under way.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">2. Character of the project- Does the board intend to entirely transfer the certification mandate to a private enterprise. Why not remain at the centre to guide and oversee progress with intermitent consultancy support?</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">B. The thinking is still open on this. Candidates for this consultancy may well be educational institutions who can collaborate with local institutions for a long term capacity transfer. In the case of South Africa, this is housed at the University of Witwatersrand in a semi-autonomous arrangement known as the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.jcse.org.za/">http://www.jcse.org.za/</a>. </span>This particular one is a 3 way partnership between academia, business and government and has a much more enriched mandate than we are envisioning initially.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">3. Duration- 2 years are grossly insufficient for all the tasks envisioned. Certification can only work successfully along a continous time plan. Some assumptions cited within the terms list are meant for fun. eg the testing targets for 200/500 developers. Supposing no one turns out for those tests where will liability rest? Or are we assuming that people are extremely looking forward to those tests?</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">This is true. The project just gets us started with the funding available. We forsee developing a more long term project as indicated in 2. These have to be multi-year commitments.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">4. Degree of stakeholder participation- Certifications are life and death issues because they determine whether you qualify for the pay roll or not. Such matters can not be left to private investors.</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">As indicated in 2 above, a partnership model would take care of this. I certainly share the view, However well regulated private investors can mitigate these risks were we to take a private sector only route. </font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">5. Integration of existing efforts- This project may not necessarily have to start from scratch. There are multiple instances of related efforts which just require some little fine tuning.</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">I am happy to convene a stakeholder discussion on this issue, (and all the wider issues generally). We shall seek your assistance. The consultants terms of reference will however include establishing the state of play in the market. We can augment this with other inputs.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">6. Span of resources and their source. How much worth of Kenyan currency is at disposal for this activity. What other options can be considered using the same towards the goal in question</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); ">I will confirm this here later. Other options include setting up a specialized unit at the universities, adding this to university curricular. Any other suggestions. Actually all these are also things must be eventually done.</span></font></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></font></font><div>7. Outcome- Is the final product meant for the local market or the foreign one. There seems to be an unfounded assumption that once we embrace foreign standards international business will come looking for us. Is the emphasis on the soon to be papers or on the skill quality they will trigger?</div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">Excellent question. We do need better standards in everything. (An example here is the quality of Masonry, or Carpentry. Is the issue that we don't enforce standards or that at a basic level, we have lost the reference to standards in the first place?, or is it that Masons and Carpenters with half backed skills have been allowed to proliferate the industry? or even perhaps all the above!). Because we all committed to developing a world class ICT sector, the attitude towards the basics must be that everything matters. This is a sustainable approach. ICT is a human capacity sector.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">8. Given the critical nature of standards and certification, wouldnt be more prudent for the Board to invest in a full fledged department that will handle the pertinent matters in that dimension. Waiting for KASNEB, KBS to set the pace for ICT certification and standardization can be deemed as inertia on the Board's part.</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">As far as ICT standards are concerned the Ministry is already working on various dimensions as you may be aware. The Board's role here is very project specific in order to meet the BPO /IT enabled services sector growth as outlined in the Vision 2030.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">Asante</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000"><br>
</font></div>Paul Kukubo<br>Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board<br>PO Box 27150 - 00100<br>Nairobi, Kenya<br><br>12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street<br><br>Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 <br><br>Fax: +254 20 2211962<br>
Cell: + 254 735 180001<br><br>website: <a href="http://www.ict.go.ke">www.ict.go.ke</a><br>skype: kukubopaul<br>googletalk: pkukubo<br>____________________<br>Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub<br><br>Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment <br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><br> </div>
<div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/2/10, <b class="gmail_sendername">Paul Kukubo</b> <<a href="mailto:pkukubo@ict.go.ke" target="_blank">pkukubo@ict.go.ke</a>> wrote:</span>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="padding-left:1ex;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:#ccc 1px solid"><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in;line-height:115%"><span style="line-height:115%"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Thank you for your questions. many have written to me directly to seek clarification.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in;line-height:115%"><span style="line-height:115%"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">I have received a flurry of questions on the status report and I will respond to those that are of a recurring nature directly on this list while pointing listers to the website <a href="http://www.ict.go.ke/" target="_blank">www.ict.go.ke</a> for more information and updates on aspect of the projects. </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in;line-height:115%"><b><span style="line-height:115%"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Objective of the assignment</font></span></b><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">The objective of this assignment is to recruit a leading international academic institution or standards body to develop and implement an internationally recognized and sustainable software developer certification program (Certification Program) for Kenya. The Certification Program will have multiple components, including content and processes for local software developers to prepare, register and be certified; an Internet enabled credentialing program; and an initial pilot testing, evaluation and fine tuning of the Certification Program. The program should be underpinned by a sustainable business model.</font><b><span style="line-height:115%"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"></font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in;line-height:115%"><b><span style="line-height:115%"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> <span style="font-weight:normal;font-family:arial"><b><span style="line-height:115%"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Scope of services</font></span></b></span></font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">i.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> <span style="line-height:14px;font-family:arial"><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Inception Report and Business Plan:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> Provide an Inception Report that contains a description of start-up activities, the detailed work plan, methodologies, and an estimate of the time allocation for involved personnel from both the Government of Kenya and the organization’s team. In addition, to provide a business plan that spells out the resources to be deployed and the results proposed to be achieved. The business plan should also propose long term, sustainable business model options for the Certification Program.</font></span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">ii.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Content Development:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> Develop appropriate content for certification in close collaboration with relevant partners; including leading international and local IT companies, academic institutions, governments, international standards bodies and industry/trade associations. The developed content should have their explicit support in terms of relevance and quality, be based on the latest technologies and extensible to address the major languages (C, C++, Java), operating systems, language combinations, and software development tools and environments.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">iii.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Certification Process Development: </font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Develop an internationally recognized, authentic, secure and valid process for software developer certification. This process should be developed in consultation with leading IT companies and academic institutions as well as have the buy-in of at least two industry associations of established countries in the area of BPO, and two countries aspiring to establish themselves in this domain. Countries should be chosen to be representative of at least three regions out of the following: Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, East Asia and other parts of Sub Saharan Africa. In addition, the processes should be based on proven experiences in similar certification programs. The testing process should be representative of real-life, professional software development. The examinations should also be refreshed annually; and extendable to address the full software development life cycle (including post-deployment maintenance) and modern issues (including the development of secure software systems). The examination must be developed using recognized techniques for validation and verification of quality. Linkages may be established with one or more organizations with leading testing and certification mechanisms to ensure that the certification will be conducted in a secure and proctored setting.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">iv.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Provision of Internet-Enabled Credentialing Program:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> Provide a web-enabled credentialing program, including functions for online registration, preparation and certification.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">v.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Piloting:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> To pilot the Certification Program with an initial batch of at least 50 enrollees, comprising of local software developers who should be benchmarked against a control group.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">vi.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Evaluation Reports:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> Conduct an evaluation of the pilot to prepare a detailed report to recommend strategies and action plans for improving the Certification Program. An evaluation should also be conducted on gaps and weaknesses in software development skills, so as to recommend changes in curriculum and pedagogy required as part of broader education reforms in Kenya.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">vii.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Program Refinement and Local Capacity Building:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> Refine the Certification Program based on the agreed recommendations of the Evaluation Report, and develop capacity within the country to conduct the assessments for certification.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">viii.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">‘Live’ Rollout:</font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"> Commence ‘live’ rollout of the Certification Program with assessment of certification by local institutions, with the target of testing at least 200 local software developers. In addition, to obtain the commitment of leading companies operating globally and locally to use the results as a necessary pre-requisite for their hiring decisions.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:2pt 0in 2pt 0.5in;line-height:115%;text-align:justify"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">ix.</font><span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman'"><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font></span><i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Mass Rollout and Marketing, and Business Model Implementation: </font></i><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Implement mass rollout and marketing campaign for the Certification Program across Kenya, with a target to test at least 500 local software developers. In addition, to implement a business model for the Certification Program that is internationally recognized, financially self-sustaining and affordable for local software developers by the end of this consultancy service (24 months after contract signature). A final report is to be prepared to highlight the next steps to be taken by Kenya for the Certification Program, including future steps on training content development, certification process and local capacity building.</font></p>
<font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br><br>Paul Kukubo<br>Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board<br>PO Box 27150 - 00100<br>Nairobi, Kenya<br><br>12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street<br><br>Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 <br>
<br>Fax: +254 20 2211962<br>Cell: + 254 735 180001<br><br>website: <a href="http://www.ict.go.ke/" target="_blank">www.ict.go.ke</a><br>skype: kukubopaul<br>googletalk: pkukubo<br>
____________________<br>Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub<br><br>Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment <br>
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</blockquote></div>hi</div></div>