MIT Annual Report by MITA

MITA

ANNUAL REPORT 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 EXECUTIVE CHAIRMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STATEMENT 02 BOARD MEMBERS 03 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 04 PROFESSIONALISM 05 CLIENT FOCUS 06 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT 07 EMPOWERMENT 08 PEOPLE 09 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 10 ENVIRONMENT 11 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

The mission of the Malta Information Technology Agency is: To establish ICT policy and deliver solutions that enable public service delivery MITA reaches its mission by driving the development of Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ICT policy and national digital strategy, delivering information systems to enable reform and innovation in public service delivery, as well as developing and providing ICT infrastructure and services for Government. MITA actively supports students, start-ups and innovators in developing their ideas into products and services through digital technologies. The agency works with leading local and international ICT companies, while encouraging the application and take-up of ICT in the wider Maltese economy.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

01 EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT As we progressed to consolidate our achievements and accomplishments as set out in our three-year strategic plan, we looked forward to continue building on our strengths and grasp the opportunities that lie ahead. MITA has positioned itself as an asset to Government; increasing its ability and commitment to pioneer in the implementation and support of Government solutions. We continued to commit and pride ourselves to provide Government with technological solutions, support and services that lead to the modernisation of Government critical systems, services and infrastructure. As we augment our capabilities, we further empower our clients to focus on their mission and deliver enhanced services to citizens and businesses. Technology is continuously transforming public services. Government has put blockchain technology on the national agenda, hence in its strategy for 2018-2020, MITA will be prioritising technology innovation and value creation through emerging technologies, such as blockchain and Internet of Things. We will further steer the use of ICTs to support Government’s continuous drive to streamline public service processes and promote the ‘digital-by-default’ as part of the commitment to banish bureaucracy. This is also in the context

of the increasing use of social media to reach out to citizens and increase their awareness about public services. 2017 saw persisting challenges, particularly in the retention and engagement of human resources, due to the ever-increasing opportunities in the ICT sector. We have however managed our priorities and succeeded to overcome our challenges, while grasping the opportunities to meet the clients’ demands, transforming the goals into outcomes. Our clear career paths, competitive remuneration and benefits packages, together with employee recognition, empowerment, flexible work arrangements, and our commitment to corporate social responsibility remain our guarantee to our employees. I am confident that our new strategy and structure will allow us to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. Our success legacy is the hallmark of our Agency. Mr Tony Sultana Executive Chairman

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

02 BOARD MEMBERS Digital Malta - the National Digital Strategy 2014-2020 - has provided MITA with the national strategic direction, that puts forward the three strategic themes of Digital Citizen, Digital Business and Digital Government. The MITA Strategy for 2015-2017 has in turn set forth our vision to support government in tandem with the National Digital Strategy. As we take stock of our achievements and learn from our experiences, we have defined the MITA Strategy 2018-2020, consolidating our commitment to remain at the helm of Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital transformation. The results continue to showcase our constant commitment. Malta has retained the leading position in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;e-Government Benchmark Report 2017â&#x20AC;? published by the European Commission. We have launched Maltapps, through which Government released the first set of mobile public services, giving access to a wider range of public services in areas such as taxation, education and culture. Further to the investment committed in 2017 to sustain our infrastructure, systems and services; we have also assisted our clients to formulate the Connected eGovernment (CONvErGE) project proposal. This successful

bid earned multi-million EU funds, as well as national funds, to commence a project that will allow government entities to consolidate their digital capacity to achieve more efficient public service operations in areas such as health, finance and justice, amongst others. This will also include the strengthening of horizontal services, as well as the technical infrastructure to enable this ambitious implementation. In addition to providing the technologies, tools and strategies, MITA retained its commitment to constantly develop the competencies of its employees, leading to a superior performance from our mix of talented resources. We believe in our employees who enable us to perform, deliver and succeed.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The overall technological progress that we are experiencing is fast-changing the demands for public services delivery. Public sector processes are changing constantly, reflecting the innovation and the diffusion of new technology to meet the expectations of digital savvy citizens. To address current and foreseeable future technological demands, we invested heavily to undergo a technological renaissance in both the data centre infrastructure including network technology - and the information systems platform. Our vision is to maintain an agile, future-ready data centre infrastructure, which provides flexible computing power, networking and

storage capabilities that exceed the current needs. We accelerated the pace of change to modernise or change legacy information systems, triggering a strategic roadmap to release platform-agnostic solutions for future-proof interoperability with cloud, mobile, and any other emerging technologies.

At par with these changes, we redefined our security strategy to address emerging information technology trends to strengthen our capability to detect cyber security threats and protect Government digital assets. This is being achieved through a holistic enterprise approach, improving visibility and remediation of threats and vulnerabilities.

In addition to our business service delivery, we supported Government in achieving excellence while holding the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union (1st January 2017 - 30th June 2017). We pride ourselves to go beyond our commitments to support our nation, each time we are called to serve.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

04 MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INVOLVEMENT DURING THE MALTESE PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU During the first six months of 2017, Malta took over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It was the first time for our country to assume this role from when it became an EU member state. Throughout this period, MITA had an active role through the provisioning of ICT services. This entailed a lot of preparation, commencing several months before to ensure that all the required infrastructure and support services meet the highest standards. MITA was entrusted to manage the delivery of an extensive Information and Communications Technology programme, consisting of several initiatives, projects and services with the objective of providing a comprehensive and aligned ICT solution in line with the requirements of the Maltese Presidency. MITA provided project management services, specialist consultancy services and contractor

management services related to network, telephony services, printing services, CCTV solution, bandwidth provisioning, network storage, IPTV solution, video conferencing solution, laptop/tablet provisioning and video/image processing appliances. Other consultancy services provided included assessment and deployment of off-site wireless internet accessibility, official presidency websites and mobile app, cyber security services and accreditation solution. The Agency was also involved in the preparation of two major events, held at the culmination of the Presidency period, i.e. the Malta Summit and the Malta Digital Assembly hosted in February and June respectively.

Ensuring a secure journey Given the constantly evolving and evergrowing risks in the cyber sphere, and the prominence of such an event of national importance, careful consideration was given to the protection, detection and response aspects of the Maltese EU presidency ICT elements. To ascertain these services, we have enshrined security in the design and build, embarked on a continuous assessment regime of potential threats and we have enhanced mechanism to upsurge detection and reduce response times. MITA engaged leading international security specialists to test the infrastructure using real life cyber-attack scenarios, recommending and implementing several security controls to ensure that the identified gaps are addressed immediately.

Specialised training was provided to personnel to better prepare, detect, respond and recover from possible cyber-attacks. Web Applications and Solutions MITA, together with other stakeholders, was responsible to oversee a number of web applications and solutions, including the Accreditation Solution. This contained sensitive information about the persons attending to the meetings including their security clearance, This information has been used for the issuance of their respective badges granting on-site access as per card configuration. The application also hosted information about meetings, transportation, accommodation and catering. MITA has provided consultancy services to develop and enhance processes and apply solution gaps.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Ongoing support and monitoring throughout the meetings The Accreditation Solution was hosted at MITA Tier III Data Centre, ensuring that the adequate failover mechanisms and security controls were in place and tested accordingly. Furthermore, the Presidency Unit developed and maintained three public facing websites. The main portal held detailed information about the list of upcoming meetings and media material. The cultural website focussed on imagery, providing details of upcoming cultural events. The Parliamentary websites provided information on parliamentary activities organised at national level with reference to the EU presidency. All Presidency websites were hosted on MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SharePoint environment. The EU2017MT mobile-app provided main information available in these three websites. MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in this respect was the setting up of the architecture environment, facilitate communication between the client and MITA service team and liaison with the supplier.

MITA has provided ICT support for delegates and journalists attending presidency meetings and has tightly monitoring its deployed solutions to ensure the delivery of an outstanding and seamless end-user experience. Support was provided through a dedicated on-site team responsible for the day-to-day support and maintenance of the infrastructure setup and ICT services, complemented by a specialist support layer called upon on an as needed or planned basis, enabling the increase of multi-skilled technical personnel on site and remotely, as required. A team of specialist desktop support personnel assisted delegates and journalists in making use of the ICT services provided throughout the meetings. The entire presidency ICT infrastructure has been thoroughly monitored and supported in real time around the clock via dedicated screens and dashboards. Such real-time visibility ensured that any problems arising on the ICT infrastructure were immediately identified and rectified in the shortest time possible.

500 300 50 5

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS PHISHING REPORTS SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS END-TO-END PENETRATION TESTS

EU2017MT download statistics (1st January 2017 - 29th March 2018)

185 419 3632 MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

hardware used at grand masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s palace

Firewalls

bandwidth

2 x 1G

Internet Bandwidth

Switches

20G Uplinks from Core to each Access Stack

33 x 48

800

POE+ Switches

Wireless Controllers

100+

Access Points

CCTV Cameras

Servers for Captive Portal

Servers with 160Tbytes of Hard disk storage for CCTV

Almost 800Mbit used at one point during summit

facilities & passive

MITA workforce

Distribution Facilities

Full size cabinets

2,000

Meters of fibre cable

60,000

Meters of copper cable

1,200+

network points for Data, VoIP, Wifi, APs, VC, etc.

year 6 months of preparations prior of the event having 2 persons full time

Onsite

office with monitoring stations

months operation having 5 full time MITA personnel onsite

24x7

abnormal support

MITA

supported more than 30 meetings on-site and off-site including the Malta Summit 2017 and the Digital Assembly. These 2 meeting required a full setup, one at St. Elmo for the Summit2017 and one at MCC for the Digital Assembly.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Malta Summit 2017 statistics

60,000

Meters of Cat6 cable

1,200

Data Points

Cabinets

Switches

Access Points

UPS

weeks of testing to finalise AP positioning to cover all areas

MITA employees for preparation, installation and testing over 2 days

MITA employees during three-day event on two-shift

800

Almost 800Mbit used at one point during summit

Monitoring Stations

2x1G

Internet connection at GMP

Dual

Internet link for redundancy at GMP

Dual

Layer 2 link for redundancy to GMP

1,400

More than 1,400 delegates and Journalists

800

Around 800Mbit of bandwidth

Digital Assembly Statistics

14,000

150+

750

Dual

950

200

Meters of Cat6 Cable

Data Points

Cabinets

Switches

Access Points

UPS

MITA employees for preparation, installation and testing

full weeks of testing to finalise AP positioning to cover all MCC areas

MITA employees during operation

monitoring stations

Mbit internet connection at GMP

Internet link for redundancy at GMP

Layer 2 link for redundancy to GMP

Clients were connected

200Mbit of bandwidth

800

Gigabytes of data during the 2-day meeting

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

MALTA RECONFIRMED AS THE LEADING EXAMPLE IN THE PROVISION OF E-GOVERNMENT SERVICES Malta’s performance in the delivery and provision of e-Government services has been outstanding. In the e-Government Benchmark Report, the European Commission has reconfirmed Malta as the leader and the best performer in user centricity and in the delivery of digital public services in Europe. This supports Europe’s ambition of creating a Digital Single Market. In the User Centricity indicator, where online availability, usability and mobile friendliness are measured, Malta ranked first with a score of 98% (18 percentage points more than the EU average). Malta also placed better than the other participating countries in Transparency. This indicator examines the extent to which governments are transparent about their own responsibilities and performance, the service delivery process, and the personal data involved. Our country also leads the rankings in Cross Border Mobility, assessing governments’ ability to provide businesses and citizens with seamless access to online public services when they are away from their home country. Malta’s overall score was 98.5%. Malta achieved a score of 98% in the Key Enablers indicator, measuring the availability of a number of technical elements which are deemed important for the delivery of eGovernment services.

MITA IMPLEMENTS THE EIDAS REGULATION FOR MALTA

out an extensive audit of the CA. The MCA later confirmed it had favourably considered the report and retained the CAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Qualified status on the Malta Trusted List.

MITA is responsible for the operations of the Certification Authority (CA) of the Government of Malta, which issues Qualified Certificates for the electronic Identity Cards issued to Maltese nationals and for the electronic Residence Permit Cards issued to persons who are residing in Malta. Identity Malta acts as the Registration Authority and is responsible for the correct identification of citizens and residents, and the personalisation process of the cards including their dissemination.

The eIDAS Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market adopted in 2014 is a milestone to provide a predictable regulatory environment to enable secure and seamless electronic interactions between businesses, citizens and public authorities. The Regulation establishes rigorous requirements for Trust Service Providers issuing Qualified Certificates.

Qualified Certificates have a special legal meaning under the eIDAS Regulation, and they can produce Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) when the signatures are also based on a Qualified Secure Signature Device. QES are equivalent to handwritten signatures. Qualified Certificates are also used to establish Authentication mechanisms which afford High Levels of Assurance. In June 2017, MITA successfully submitted to the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) a Conformity Assessment Report for the CA in line with the requirements of the eIDAS Regulation 910/2014. The report was drawn up by a duly accredited Conformity Assessment Body selected by MITA to carry

The presence of the CA on the Malta Trusted List is a sign of confidence for the users of the Qualified Certificates and the Relying Parties. It is testimony of the technical, physical and organisational controls employed by MITA to ensure the issuance of the certificates meets the strict regulatory requirements. The CA is currently relied upon by major public entities in the financial services sector. The use of the Qualified Certificates is also important to harness the opportunities for interoperability under the eIDAS Regulation, due to the cross-border recognition that is ascribed to Qualified Signatures and High Assurance Authentication. Opening access to the Malta eGovernment services to other Member Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; citizens and businesses is expected to have a direct beneficial effect

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

on the economic growth by making it easier for these citizens and businesses to engage in the Maltese economy. Similarly, Maltese citizens will benefit from accessing other Member States’ services. To complement this, MITA also implemented a national eIDAS Node compliant to the Interoperability Framework, which will serve to connect to other Member States’ Nodes to enable mutual recognition of the national electronic Identity Schemes. The project was funded by the Connecting Europe Facility through which MITA acquired €200,000 of funding. This further strengthens Malta’s position to meet its obligations and harness the opportunities for interoperability under the eIDAS Regulation. MITA remains committed to establishing technical infrastructures which help establish Trust in digital Government locally and across EU borders to benefit the citizens and to increase the efficiency of the Maltese economy.

CONNECTING MORE CLIENTS TO THE MALTA GOVERNMENT NETWORK Several infrastructural projects were carried out to connect more client sites to the MAlta Government NETwork (MAGNET) in a seamless, secure and consistent manner.

Such projects involved the implementation of a total solution for wired and wireless infrastructure, starting with the design stage, both for passive and active equipment, to contractor management, compliance testing up to commissioning of the Local Area Network, as in the case of the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit offices in Luqa and the Malta Tourism Authority offices at Smart City, to mention two such projects. Other projects consisted in providing network consultancy to upgrade the wireless coverage of the Mater Dei administration section, to relocate the Treasury department to its new offices at Development House in Floriana, to upgrade the network topology and network equipment at the Health Head Office and to join Sport Malta to the corporate network. These clients benefit from cost effective solutions for wired and wireless infrastructure and MAGNET connectivity services to meet their different business needs, including different bandwidths and connectivity options. Service packages are coupled with stringent Service Level Agreements whereby MITA guarantees the uptime of the connectivity service. Monitoring of network devices, bandwidth usage, availability and network performance is carried out on a 24x7 basis, through the MITA Network Operation Centre.

COLLABORATING AND SHARING INFORMATION WITH OTHER EUROPEAN MEMBER STATES MITA has collaborated and led an EU IT Collaboration project in the area of taxation. This enabled the development of a common information system that can be used by European Member States to exchange financial account information in line with the Common Reporting Standard and the Directive on Administrative Co-operation (DAC2) obligations.

Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, who collaborated with a consortium of 11 organisations from six different countries. Through this project, a software platform was built through the principle usage of a blockchain infrastructure which offers decentralised, democratic and secure federation of private and public clouds. The cloud federation is intended to enable the management and optimisation of computing resources in a secure and compliant manner, across the cloud federation to deliver business services for end users.

Through this collaboration project, several European Member States had the chance to share technical knowledge and an opportunity to build the required solution together.

PART OF THE CONSORTIUM THAT IMPLEMENTED THE SUNFISH PROJECT MITA and the Ministry for Finance participated in an EU funded research project related to cloud computing known as the SUNFISH project. The SUNFISH project, which through the Horizon 2020 framework been granted an overall sum of â&#x201A;Ź4.5 million, was concluded in December 2017. It was led by the

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

SUNFISH stands for â&#x20AC;&#x153;SecUre iNFormation SHaring in federated heterogeneous private cloudsâ&#x20AC;?. As the name denotes, it is a solution which enables the secure federation of private (and public) clouds.

INTERNAL AUDITS AND ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

THE GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION

MITA’s Internal Audit Office has conducted 17 audits and process reviews to ascertain that the Agency’s internal controls are sound and that MITA’s reputation is safeguarded. The audits and reviews are conducted as commissioned by the Board Audit Committee and as portrayed in the Internal Audit Office annual plan.

With the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force in May 2018, during 2017 MITA embarked on a number of data protection awareness sessions delivered to all MITA employees. Moreover, the Agency provided consultancy services both at a strategic and on a departmental level.

The Agency also embarked on several initiatives to ensure that Enterprise Risk Management is integrated within the Agency’s processes and that risks are recognised and effectively managed in a timely manner, in line with the according policies and procedures. These initiatives included a full process review; a review of all the risks logged in the MITA Risk Register System; several awareness sessions among MITA employees; regular committee meetings and quarterly updates to MITA’s Executive Committee and the management of an external assessment exercise carried out on selected MITA processes.

Other tasks included, but were not limited to, the review of policies and procedures, audits, identification of gaps with the GDPR and delivering of recommendations to rectify matters. Issues were discussed and corrective actions or solutions were taken. The Data Protection Officer also followed up to ensure that the required actions were implemented. In terms of GDPR, MITA has the role of a Data Controller and Processor. The Data Protection function will continue to grow and be strengthened in 2018.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

05 INCREASING THE MOBILE PUBLIC SERVICES TAKE-UP In line with the Mobile Government Strategy, MITA triggered a new project to increase the use of mobile public services by citizens and businesses. The project comprises three components, namely a training programme for public sector employees (technical and non-technical); an awareness campaign for citizens to get to know more about the public services that are available; and a research exercise for Government to have

a detailed view of how the Maltese citizens are using mobile devices and to receive feedback on specific Mobile Public Services. In 2017, a total of 115 public sector employees have been trained. Moreover, a nationwide awareness campaign was delivered to raise awareness and use of both Maltapps and the servizz.gov services. This project is partly financed by the European Social Fund.

6 115 2650 32

EU FUNDED COURSES PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES TRAINED HOURS OF TRAINING

Providing a Real-Life Work Experience to More ICT Students The MITA Student Placement Programme offers ICT students a temporary job during the three months of summer. Through this initiative, in 2017, 330 students were placed across more than 90 organisations within the private and public sectors, and NGOs. The programme exposes ICT students to the real-life working environment, allowing them to achieve a better insight into the industry while helping them to acquire more practical skills and values for a successful career.

Concurrently, employers get the opportunity to increase their resource capacity and access ICT talent at an early stage, all with the student salary partly or fully paid by MITA. At the end of the placement, the private sector is reimbursed for fifty percent of the students’ salary costs. Organisations from the public sector and NGOs are reimbursed all the students’ salary costs. In 2017, more than €520,000 have been paid is student salary reimbursements.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Several Initiatives to Give Further Exposure to Ict Students Throughout the year, MITA organised several activities and seminars, giving industry exposure to students studying ICT. In the first six months, MITA delivered the third iteration of the Industry Insights study-unit at the University of Malta. It forms part of the Bachelor of Science in Business and IT, run by the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy. During the second semester, a similar studyunit was launched with the Faculty of ICT. In this case, students were also exposed to design thinking, and as part of the unit they had to work on a business idea and pitch it to MITA employees and fellow students. Over 40 students took these study-units.

Seven students were employed by MITA during summer to continue working on a game concept that they came up with during the first Game Jam activity organised in 2016. These students were mentored by MITA employees, together with educators, while building the game. The second edition of Game Jam was organised in the last quarter of 2017, where 50 students participated in the 45-hour event with the purpose of building a game for educational purposes. Several educators and MITA employees assisted the participating teams. The winners were given the opportunity to attend lectures at the Donau University in Krems, Austria.

During 2017, MITA also organised the first edition of the MITA Student meet-up at the data centre. Lecturers and students had the opportunity to meet with MITA employees and discuss ICT related topics such as

infrastructure management and enterprise architecture. In November, MITA organised a cyber security seminar on campus, with foreign experts discussing emerging trends in cyber security.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Game-Based Learning to Reduce Early School Leaving

In 2017, MITA concluded a two-year Erasmus+ project entitled “Game-based Learning to Alleviate Early School Leaving” (GBL4ESL). The main objective was to enhance educators’ digital competences and equip them with game-based learning tools and methodologies. A toolkit was developed to serve as a platform for educators to search for lesson plans and share game ideas to teach specific subjects such as Mathematics and English. The toolkit, together with a guidebook were also launched in 2017. A new Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project commenced in September 2017. During this three-year project, a Game Creator Tool and two pilot games will be developed. These will be made available to educators and students.

The project partners have started planning the project outputs, with the aim of strengthening the digital skills of students, both through an innovative method of teaching and learning, and also by empowering students to create their own interactive learning content.

THE MITA INNOVATION HUB RUNS MALTA’S FIRST BUSINESS ACCELERATION PROGRAMME – YOUSTARTIT Through its Innovation Hub established in SmartCity, MITA has had the privilege of designing and running Malta’s first ever business acceleration programme, branded YouStartIT. The programme funded and supported 11 startups, executing their ICT-enabled business idea over the course of two editions – the first concluded in May, and the second concluded in September. In all, a total value of €242,000 were passed on to the startups, of which €165,000 were a cash grant. Several events and activities were organised throughout the year to promote the programme and to create the necessary dynamism in the local tech startup space.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

IMPLEMENTING THE MOBILE GOVERNMENT STRATEGY During 2017, MITA engaged with several Chief Information Officers and suppliers, providing them with direction regarding the various mobile app initiatives. The Agency had an active role in identifying and defining the requirements with specific business owners; compiling and adjudicating the required tenders; providing technical assistance to suppliers and project teams on various fronts; and publishing the 21 mobile applications to stores in March. At the same time, MITA also kicked off the work related to the next phase of the Mobile Government Strategy by researching and developing functionality related to mobile payments and e-ID authentication. Together with the Office of the Prime Minister, MITA also developed the style and technical guides supporting the Mobile Government programme and delivered training to servizz.gov officers on each application published during the first phase.

Moreover, the Agency was engaged heavily to prepare the training material and deliver the information sessions to technical and non-technical public officers to increase the mobile app take up.

MOBILE APPS The Development of Maltapps MITA has been instrumental in bringing Government Mobile Services onto one platform, through the development and publishing of the Maltapps on Android, Apple and Microsoft stores. This app provides visibility and access to all the mServices published by the Government of Malta. Moreover, it allows the user to enlist all the published mServices both government mobile apps and government websites. It also provides users with the ability to install or launch the respective mServices, directly from within the app itself. Maltapps complements servizz.gov by presenting the user with 12 government-designated super sectors, representing the respective government functions. Each mService has been classified under a specific super sector, representing the various Government entities and departments. In this way, it provides a homogeneous user-experience in the way services are presented and also exploits new channels of communication.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

The 112 Open Mobile App

Enhancements To The Customs App

MITA has developed the 112mt mobile app which provides a crime/incident reporting facility. By reporting and sending tips through this mobile app, citizens interact and feel more empowered while collaborating with the competent authorities. Furthermore, the app provides a real-time news feed in relation to incidents and events taking place on the Maltese Islands.

During 2017, the Malta Customs mobile app was further enhanced to include several additional services, such as those carried out on the import duty calculator.

Moreover, MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Programme Management Department included an enhanced wizard which provides a better and more seamless experience when entering details into the contact form. The overall mobile app look and feel have also been enhanced, to be in-line with the updated Mobile Government applications style guidelines.

A Social Security Web Application

The Development Of The My Tax Toolkit

A web application was developed for the social security services to allow citizens to plan their retirement. Through this calculator, the public will be able to estimate the social security pensions that they will receive upon retirement.

MITA also developed the My Tax Toolkit, which is a utility service that assists the public in checking Tax and Social Security contributions deducted from their salary.

Another similar service was introduced to facilitate the understanding of the Elderly Contribution Deduction System (ECDS). Through this service, pensioners can calculate the applicable deduction rate, should they be admitted to a residential home.

Apart from calculating Tax and Social Security Contributions, this App allows taxpayers to check if they have any pending tax balances that needs to be settled. Moreover, the mobile application allows taxpayers to settle any Tax amounts due.

These services continue to build upon previous tools introduced during previous years and which facilitate the calculation of similar entitlements, such as childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s allowance; in-work, sickness and unemployment benefits. Another web app was introduced for the public to be able to trace the status of an application for benefit.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

More Services Offered Through The Ecourts Portal In 2017, the “MyCases” service was launched, offering the possibility to citizens not only to view their civil cases online, but also to view the digitized case file documents and access all the sittings, including the case minutes and the witness transcripts. Litigants can also register for mobile notifications, which keep them abreast with their case sittings and informed of any case deferrals. This service forms part of the eCourts portal, an umbrella of services on a ‘mobile first’ website and which offers a digital view of the workings of the Judicial process.

It also provides relevant information to creditors such as the case reference, date registered, court name, the termination date, the type of proceedings, articles, insolvency practitioners, the time limit for lodging a claim, the court of appeal and the time limit for appeal. Moreover, the eCourts portal facilitates information to judges who need to be aware whether proceedings have already been opened in another Member state.Creditors alike can also be made aware whether court proceedings have commenced. Citizens are also being offered with the possibility to pay their Court fines electronically, thus providing an easy method for citizens facing financial difficulties to pay fines through monthly instalments.

As part of the portal, an Insolvency Register has also been developed to provide information prior to performing business transactions.

NEW MODULES AND UPGRADES TO THE GOVERNMENT PAYROLL AND HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS During 2017, the Performance Appraisals module was upgraded with major additional requirements requested following the launch in 2016. These included the possibility of conducting more than one Performance Appraisal within a year and to send notification messages, amongst others. The system, which went live in August 2017, is used by almost 4,000 employees within Government. A new web portal was also introduced to replace the old Human Resources Information Management System (HRIMS). All departmental users across government were trained and migrated onto the new web portal. Another major challenge for 2017 was the work on the new Government recruitment portal, which was completed by December 2017. The new system is planned to go live in early 2018, where the first set of Government recruitment calls will be published therein.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

THE TRANSITION FROM TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION TO MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION MITA embarked upon a comprehensive technology refresh project which has seen the transition from the Two-Factor Authentication to the cloud based MultiFactor Authentication. This was achieved through the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. This new method of authentication has simplified self-enrolment on any type of device and has given a Remote Access User a simple sign-in process via a range of verification methods, including phone call, text message or mobile app verification. Over 1,000 hardware tokens, which were previously required for authenticating users, have been removed. This reduced the overheads and the maintenance costs, associated with the management of these tokens. Different teams have worked together to complete this project on time. 1,651 remote access user accounts who were migrated and enrolled on the new system. (What about the end of the year?) The Systems and Databases team configured the Active Directory elements including the configuration of a proxy server. The Network Services team migrated all

the VPN Remote Access Profiles from end of life equipment to the new firewalls and configured VPN access according to the usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; corp account attributes such as organisation, department and section. The Control Centre assisted with the enrolment of users and ensured that all the required client software was deployed on both government and non-government workstations.

This method of authentication not only allows Remote VPN access but can be also introduced on other platforms to allow the management of devices by administrators.

systems statistics

networks statistics

449

355

39,817

250

2,200

240

140

457

Physical Servers

Active Directory accounts

Schools accounts

File shares

servers managed by the System Centre ConfigurationManager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a software management system allowing administrators to manage a large number of computers and System Control Endpoint Protection providing antimalware and security solutions.

Firewalls

Routers

Core Switches

Distribution switches

Wireless Controllers

398

Broadband Connections

Embassies

1200

206

5,000

1,600

841

425

Virtual Machines on 60 Hosts

Directory Services accounts

databases

Fibre Connections

LAN switches

wireless access points

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

statistics

MITA, in collaboration with the Malta Communications Authority, was entrusted to carry out a national cyber security awareness campaign, as part of the implementation of the National Cyber Security Strategy.

The first two phases of the campaign, which was entitled “Sigurtá Onlajn Għalik” were implemented, focusing upon the three key themes of Protection, Detection and Reaction. The first phase targeted the public, so as to sensitize on the need of nationwide awareness. The second phase was then targeted towards specific social and economic sectors.

different TV shows

The communication channels used for the campaign included a dedicated Facebook page, a dedicated website, TV and radio adverts, participation during TV and radio programmes and highlight activities.

articles on local newspapers

videos aired on 3 local TV stations

5 2

radio messages on 5 different local radio stations

radio programmes

250

children at Cyber Security Week, held at Esplora

presentations

Cyber Security tech debate with the University of Malta faculty of ICT

Council Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues meetings during the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU (January till June 2017) where cyber security awareness on a European level was a key topic on the agenda. Participated in the Enterprise Consultative Council.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

control centre statistics

18,000 events per month

The monitoring of systems, servers, network equipment, etc. Events enable MITA to know the status of the infrastructure and detect any deviation from normal or expected operation.

1,200 backup jobs daily

THE SERVICE CALL CENTRE PROVIDING CONSTANT SUPPORT The Operational Support Services During 2017, the Service Call Centre took more than 88,000 phone calls related to new or existing requests. The majority of these requests required assistance or interventions on usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; workstations. Requests were also triggered by emails and from the eRFS system, thus bringing the total number of requests logged by the Service Call Centre to over 145,000. About 63,000 of these requests were incidents, while the rest were tasks and requests for service. More than 20,000 requests that were logged originated from client emails.

Networked Workstations Support Services MITA manages over 49,000 workstations within Government, including Public Sector entities, schools and embassies. Most of these workstations are supported by the Ministry workstation support suppliers, which are managed and guided by the MITA Service Call Centre - Client Services team.

In 2017, MITA experienced an increase of 14% in logged calls, while the breaches decreased by 16%.

The team performs regular checks and monitoring to ensure that the desktop workstations support suppliers meet the contracted Service Level Agreements. MITA also provides onsite VIP support to Ministry and Parliamentary Secretariats and they are also responsible for desktop related initiatives.

IMPLEMENTING NEW MEASURES FOR THE PUBLIC REGISTRY AND IDENTITY MALTA Following the enactment of the Gender Identification, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act, the Cohabitation Act, the Marriage Act and the amendment of the Civil Code related to same sex marriages, gender identification, cohabitation and gender neutral, the necessary measures around these life-events were incorporated within the existing services in the Public Registry processes. MITA in collaboration with Identity Malta, developed a responsive web front-end for the Common Database, which is also mobile responsive. Users across Government Departments, together with public notaries can now access the Cdb portal through the web front-end.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

AN AUDIT SOLUTION FOR FUNDING SYSTEMS The Funding Audit solution was developed in 2017 to facilitate the auditing practice of the Internal Audit and Investigations Department which is the auditing authority in Malta. This solution connects with other local funding systems databases and consumes details on projects, procurements, contracts, payments, certifications and irregularities. The simplified process allows the auditing authority to view data in real time so that it can audit the processes, procedures and financials carried out during the life-cycle of the grant agreement as required by EU legislation while adopting the only-once principle. Apart from the development of this solution, MITA implemented several enhancements in the funding system, including the reimbursement requests from beneficiaries which allows the submission of multiple invoices in a single payment claim. The system responsible for the reimbursement requests simplifies the process for prospective beneficiary to be reimbursed the costs incurred in implementing the project. This includes the implementation of the simplified cost option as detailed in EU legislation for the implementation of such projects. A business process improvement was also carried out on the irregularities module and how irregularities are detected, recorded and reported to the respective stakeholders.

Another reengineering process was carried out on the system handling the management verifications on how the checks on the different phases of the lifecycle of the project will be verified and recorded. These include both physical and administrative checks that need to be recorded on the system including real-time data for physical checks with the aid of tablets.

LAUNCH OF A NEW CUSTOMS IMPORT AND EXPORT SYSTEM Together with the Customs Department, MITA launched a new Import and Export system, which simplifies business processes, reduces the total cost of ownership, and most importantly, provides a better user experience to economic operators and customs officers. It also allows all economic operators to submit and manage customs declarations electronically and securely, as the system incorporates sophisticated rules and conditions that automatically check and validate declarations at every step of the clearance process. Included in the solution are also practical features such as the possibility of attaching electronic supporting documents to a declaration, automatic generation of the Movement Reference Number, online help tips and advanced search facilities.

SIMPLIFYING PROCESSES TO FASTER REGISTRATION OF BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE COMPANIES AND SOLE-TRADERS As part of the simplification measures undertaken by Government, MITA in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry for Finance and the Office of Commissioner for Revenue introduced the paperless non-filer Income Tax statement, through which the public can now access the non-filer income tax statement from anywhere, anytime and from any device. This service also helps to decrease the carbon footprint emanated from the statements that were previously sent by mail to each home.

Another improvement included the introduction of the online submission of the promise of sale by notaries, hence speeding up the process of registering a promise of sale. Further changes that were carried out in 2017 included the reengineered process to apply for various VAT grants. The public can now submit receipts online and the refund is paid through bank transfer within three days. These changes were actuated in collaboration with Management Efficiency Unit and servizz.gov.

Online forms were introduced in collaboration with Business First, to facilitate and accelerate the registration of a selfemployment or company. These eForms provide a single channel for individuals as self-employed and MFSA listed companies to register and commence operations, amalgamating all the required information needed by the various local authorities / agencies into one single submission. Based on the nature of the self-employment or business proceedings, the applicant or the company are issued with a VAT number, Income Tax number and a Jobs Plus number immediately as applicable. The National Statistics Office is also notified with the registration of these new business operations.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A SUCCESS STORY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION MYHEALTH The Next Generation myHealth portal was officially launched in March, following a pilot implementation involving a number of private general practitioners who gave their valuable feedback. The portal was then launched for the public, replacing the existing myHealth portal. The new portal offered several improvements, which make it more user friendly and mobile friendly. It also includes additional online services with the objective of improving its take-up. The design of myHealth uses a multilayer implementation that abstracts the various layers of the system, ensuring the principle that the separation of concerns is maintained - that is the presentation, business, and data access layers. This project has also laid the first building blocks to achieve a dedicated enterprise service bus for Health. This will enable the centralised provision of data services for consumption by the various health systems and facilitate interfacing of health’s disparate information systems. This is in line with the Service Oriented Architecture strategy proposed by MITA and endorsed by Health.

The Next Generation myHealth is a success story, recognised not only by the client, but also by private general practitioners, as well as citizens and patients who use this ‘mobile-first’ website on a daily basis.

This success is demonstrated by the significant increase in take-up experienced in 2017 when compared to the previous five years. The Ministry for Health chose to showcase the myHealth portal at the annual eHealth Week Conference and Exhibition held in Malta.

DEC 2017

229 36,210 JAN 2012 - DEC 2016

181 19,024 12,752 7,866

Total No of Doctors who Accepted Patients Total No of Patients accepted by Doctors Total No of persons ever using myHealth

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

06 LAUNCH OF THE CONNECTED EGOVERNMENT (CONVERGE) PROJECT In May 2017, the Honourable Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat announced the award of CONvErGE – an ERDF co-funded project aimed to create and bring together several

Corporate Financial Management System (MFIN)

Customs Decision Support (MFIN)

Business Intelligence System (MFCS)

Foundation Layer

Notary to Government Notorial Archives Categorization (MJCL)

EU Legislator Identifier (MJCL)

National eHealth Service (MOH)

Workflow Management Solution

eDisaster Management System (MHAS) Digital Tourism Platform (MOT)

Courts Electronice Services (MJCL)

Business Portal Analysis Study (MEIB)

National Data Portal

Data Objects and API’s

Backup Solution Technical Infrastructure Layer

IT service applications under one umbrella. It also targets the achievement of the onegovernment concept and other benefits through economies of scale.

Hybrid Cloud enabling Infrastructure and Services

Enterprise Access Management

Enterprise Identity & Access Management Solution (IAM)

Vertical Services (Components) Horizontal (Shared Services) Layer

The Connected eGovernment (CONvErGE) project is estimated to inject in the Maltese economy, over €40M investment in ICT, of which €28.5M have already been secured from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2014-2020. The project consists of two main layers as depicted in the diagram: a Horizontal layer and a Vertical layer; the former is the underlying infrastructure which enables a number of line of business applications, i.e. the Vertical Services Layer. MITA has been commissioned by OPM to implement the underlying horizontal (shared services) layer, providing a solution to sustain both the project’s vertical services layer and existing and future eService Applications.

The Horizontal Layer Consists Of Two Main Areas • the technical infrastructure and • the foundation data.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

The Technical Infrastructure Layer Includes Various Components The hybrid cloud comprises of an onpremise private cloud hosted at MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Data Centre, the provision of cloud services from the public cloud and the integration between the two. This will allow Government to make use of the appropriate and most relevant cloud services according to the specific business needs. The Workflow Management solution shall facilitate the digitalisation of public services through the integration of forms with existing information systems, reducing bureaucracy and enabling more efficient intra-government services. The Enterprise Access Management solution allows Government Ministries to manage access to their respective IT systems through a central system. The backup solution includes the replacement of the existing tape-backup to an avant-garde disk-array solution, bringing improvements to the preservation of Government data as well as efficiency in the data backup and restore processes.

The Emerging Technologies project aims to bring an opportunity for the application of emerging technologies in Government by bringing these technologies closer to public service officials and technical officers. The Foundation Data Layer The foundation data layer is an integral part of the horizontal layer as it will allow for lineof-business systems to make available as applicable, data which can either be shared within Government or data which can be made open for society at large.

The Vertical Services MITA has been entrusted by various line-of-business owners to assist them in implementing or to provide them with technical consultancy services in relation to a number of vertical service applications. The Corporate Financial Management Solution In July 2017, the Government signed a contract to embark on the implementation of a Corporate Financial Management Solution (CFMS) in Government for a total contract value of €11.6 million, partly funded through the CONVErGE project. Through this contract the Ministry for Finance, led by the Treasury, will embark on a transformation of the financial operations of Government including the introduction of Accrual Accounting based on International Public Service Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and supporting guidelines.

commissioning of the client servers at MITA Data Centre wherefrom all Ministries and Departments will be able to access the solution. The new solution will support accrualbased core financial applications and will also eventually integrate and introduce other applications and services such as e-Government and e-Invoicing, that will be of benefit to citizens and businesses alike. It will replace the existing main cash-based corporate application which has been in use for several years - the Departmental Accounting System (DAS) – and which runs across all Departments and Ministries. Amongst the mentioned anticipated benefits, the new solution will facilitate the implementation of European Union Directives, Regulations and Standards. The technology will be more responsive to business change and will allow the creation of coherent financial and budgetary modules to run on both cash and accrual basis.

MITA’s role focus on delivering valueadded services to Government covering ICT programme management, business re-engineering, consultancy and implementation oversight. MITA is also providing the required hosting facilities and services to enable the installation and

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A NEW ENTERPISE BACKUP SOLUTION As the core operator of Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IT Infrastructure, MITA has been allocated â&#x201A;Ź1.8 million of EU funds from the CONvErGE project to continue building on the existing foundations to provide faster IT services, reduce operational costs and increase business agility. In this context, MITA designed a blueprint for a new enterprise backup solution and in 2017 issued a tender which was awarded to market leading technology providers to procure the necessary hardware to backup over 1,200 servers and 200TB of data. MITA commissioned and implemented this solution with the aim to remove over 3,000 legacy backup tapes, considerably reducing backup windows and improving recovery times from days to minutes. With the use of latest features, particularly the deduplication technology, disk space

is used more efficiently with the result of saving over 60TB of disk space. This type of technology eliminates redundant copies of data and reduces storage overhead. The migration process, which started in October will continue in 2018 where the current backups will move to the new Storage Area Network infrastructure in the smoothest and least disruptive manner possible.

UPGRADING THE SERVICE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION TO THE MARVAL V14 The Continual Service Improvement team within MITA has embarked on a project to upgrade the Service Management solution to the new Marval v14. In the last quarter of 2017, MITA was heavily involved in the migration process, which included changes to the Asset Management System integration tool.

The latter was transformed from a desktop application to a web solution to integrate with the new Marval v14. Despite the extent of this change, the changeover was very smooth, with no impact on MITA operations or services provisioning. This integration tool is now using CORP authentication which facilitates and provides easier access. The Marval v14 is a web application and therefore it is accessible to users from outside Government. Being exposed on the web, it required an added layer of security. The Task Management system, the Electronic Request for Service and the Microsoft Orchestrator were all integrated onto the Marval v14 and where necessary, data was migrated or synchronised. Moreover, the MITA Service Call Centre and the Network Operations Centre have been granted access to view all Marval v14 services via the eRFS Administration to increase efficiency in identifying classifications of top level services. Around 1,000 users (MITA employees, suppliers, sub-contractors, Government employees and their suppliers) had to be trained on the new system and on the data migration process.

INTRODUCING LEVELS OF ASSURANCE FOR THE E-ID SINGLE SIGN-ON SCREEN In 2017, MITA completed the next phase in the simplification of the e-ID authentication mechanism, which envisaged an alignment of the assurance levels to achieve a Basic Assurance level using the e-ID Account and password, and a High Assurance level using the ID Card and PIN. This provides a better choice of usability or security for the subscribers and relying parties, and will be instrumental to enable more take-up of e-Government services. MITA has supported several e-Government services, notably the new servizz.gov, myHealth, taxation and social security portals to integrate with and use the new Single Sign-on screen. This completes an extensive technical and procedural overhaul of the e-ID to achieve the required simplification, including an upgrade of the user experience, intended to bring back e-ID as a key enabler in the e-Government landscape. The introduction of levels of assurance are also an important milestone in the preparation for the notification of the e-ID scheme at European level, to kick off the interoperability of e-Government services across Member States.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

RESPONSIVE LAYOUT AND 3D SECURE MITA embarked on a project to review the layout of the Government payment page to create a responsive design which adapts to different device screen layouts. The objective of this project was to enable the integrators of the payment component to start offering a fully seamless end-to-end experience, and thus reach out to citizens using different channels - from desktop to tablets and smartphones. The responsive layout is rendered through the Government Payment Solution and when implemented through the system integratorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; services, the payment screen is in line with the device being used by citizens. The project was completed in the end of 2017 and will be available for all merchants during the first quarter of 2018.

Another area in which MITA has invested to upgrade its technologies is 3D Secure. This was a parallel project running with the Payment Page Responsive Layout project. The objective of 3D Secure is to increase further the security of credit card payments when citizens pay for a service using a credit card over the Government Payment Gateway. Through 3D Secure, Government will indirectly confirm (through respective banks) that citizens using credit cards to consume digital public services, are the rightful owners of the cards being used.

3D Secure will be rolled out to all merchants by mid-2018. It is being rolled-out in three phases starting from low volume merchants and ending with high transaction volumes. 3D Secure will be mandatory for all new merchants.

THE NOTIFICATIONS PLATFORM

2,517,543 successfully delivered messages

210,000 messages a month

7,000 messages daily (approx.)

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A NEW PROCUREMENT WEBSITE TO KEEP ECONOMIC OPERATORS UPDATED MITA has launched a mobile-responsive website, which allows economic operators to keep updated with the Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s procurement activities - including publication of tenders, requests for information, preliminary market consultations and prior information notices. Through this website, MITA gives prior notice of scheduled upcoming tenders, normally one quarter in advance of the planned publication. This enables economic operators to mobilise themselves in preparation of the projected tenders. The site also allows operators to sign up for email notifications about any new outlook opportunities. Articles, calendar dates and events of interest can also be quickly saved or shared through different means, including emails, popular social media sites and document note managers. Included in the website, there is also relevant information regarding MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s open calls, including a short description, the relevant tender dates and a direct link to the Electronic Public Procurement System. Statistics, resources and other useful procurement-related information are also available on the website. The website is accessible on https://procurement.mita.gov.mt

SIMPLIFICATION OF PROCESSES AND BUDGETARY MEASURES As part of the Public Service commitment to simplify processes and reduce unnecessary paperwork, several Social Security processes were revised in collaboration with MITA. These included the weekly submission of medical certificates which are no longer required, once a beneficiary is certified by a medical panel as unfit for work long term. Moreover, an automated renewal for the entitlement to free medical aid was introduced through the pink card. MITA carried out several other initiatives which form part of the yearly budgetary measures. These include the calculation of the increases in pension entitlements for persons who delay their retirement; improvements in the social security system; and the implementation of software enhancements to cater for new rules related to the calculation of widows’ pensionable income and contribution average.

TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES IN HEALTH SYSTEMS In line with the strategy to keep systems running on supported technologies, MITA completed two important technology upgrades in health systems during 2017. One of the upgrades was carried out on the Clinical Manager solution, a core health application used by over 5,000 users for the ordering of tests and viewing of results. The technology refresh included upgrades in the operating system, in the database and in the application. The testing of the application perspective was very intensive and involved several testing iterations which ensured that the go-live was extremely smooth. As part of this upgrade, the 25 free-standing servers were virtualised and migrated to Health’s dedicated virtualised server environment. Another technological improvement was achieved through the implementation of the Zero Footprint web tool. The new tool is being used by over 2,000 clinicians across public health service to view patient medical images. Apart from configuring the application, MITA’s Health Team also tested it on multiple platforms. All users were migrated from the old system, which was then decommissioned.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A SEAMLESS IMPLEMENTATION OF A SECURE CONNECTIVITY SOLUTION A significant financial and human resources investment was directed towards the implementation of a Secure Connectivity Solution - an exceedingly complex activity. The implementation of this solution translated into major network changes, that seamlessly shifted and consolidated a series of mission-critical services, from end of life equipment to next generation network equipment. Such services included the email, the active directory, the internet, multiple healthcare services, VISA and IRD. In April 2015, MITA had published an open tender for the procurement of a Secure Connectivity Solution, made of a range of firewall-based networking equipment, both for the Core Network within MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Data Centre and for the Wide Area Network to be located at the various Ministries, Departments and Entities connected to the Malta Government Network. The aim of the project was to enhance and increase the level of security, already present, of the entire Malta Government Network, mainly through encryption.

The complete solution also allows for a homogeneous approach, thus simplifying the complexities associated with encryption and security in general, while increasing flexibility and operational efficiencies and effectiveness. The tender was awarded in November 2015 at a total contract value of around â&#x201A;Ź1.7 million for a five-year term.

The implementation started in early 2016 and by the end of the first quarter of 2017 nearly all fibre-based connections were installed with the new firewalls and in parallel work started on providing the new firewalls for the 300+ broadband connections. The central core firewalls have also been implemented within MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two Data Centres and works are underway to bring them into full production by migrating the numerous services onto them. The entire implementation was completed by end of 2017.

The migration of these services was carried out throughout the night to ensure minimal service impact and downtime. The success of this achievement reflects the commitment, competencies and technical prowess of MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dedicated technical teams.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

07 ARTICULATION AND LAUNCHING OF THE MITA STRATEGY 2018-2020 In 2017, MITA went through the process of developing a new strategy for the term 2018 - 2020. A core-team representing all MITA’s departments was assigned the task to draft and publish the strategy. This involved the analysis of both internal and external influences and forces, which are relevant to MITA’s remit. The team worked together and organised various workshops, involving external stakeholders to assess their business needs. Similarly, workshops were organised for internal stakeholders to analyse current service offerings in the light of the changing client business needs and assess how they fit with Agency’s strategic goals.

The Strategy, launched during MITA’s Annual Conference, is built on the momentum achieved to refresh technologies and improve services to better address the changing business and operational needs of our clients. Its vision puts MITA as the Digital Driver for the transformation of Government. The Agency will nurture a corporate culture driven through digital leadership, governance, transformation and innovation, in all aspects of its responsibilities.

The Strategy also lists ten desired states, which are to be achieved through specific actions and which highlight the objectives that MITA must reach by 2020. The ten desired states to be achieved are:

Comprehensive and integrated ICT policies

Applied use of emerging technologies

Secure provision of ICT solutions

Digitalised public services

Increased engagement with community

Stronger cyber security posture

Converged ICT solutions and operations

Higher value-adding activities

Client-centric and agile processes

Vibrant and engaged human capital

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A COMPLETE REVAMP TO MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INTRANET To improve the internal communication channels, the Agency gave a complete revamp to its intranet. Implemented on a new technology platform, the intranet offers an improved look and feel experience and is also mobile friendly. The intranetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s value as a business tool for the Agency is to furtherly promote better internal communication and provides an improved repository for sharing of resources. Moreover, it facilitates the access to operational tools and reporting. Built on a Microsoft SharePoint platform, the intranet offers a more stable and fully supported environment which is more userfriendly and can be seamlessly integrated with other SharePoint portals.

DIVESTING LINE OF BUSINESS APPLICATIONS AND PROJECTS TO MINISTRIES As part of its strategy to focus more on core and strategic areas which are a priority for Government, and to implement infrastructure, information systems and platforms which cut across whole of the Public Administration, MITA continued with the process to delegate line-of-business applications and services to the respective ministry / entity. MITA did this through a collaborative approach involving the Ministry / Entity Chief Information Officers. During 2017, progress was achieved in various areas relating to Education and Employment; Health; Finance; Economy and Small Businesses; Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion and the Transport.

Ongoing training to employees

131

courses attended

48 classroom based 70 conferences (local and abroad) 03 MITA information sessions 10 workshops / seminars

323

employees attended training

21,500 training hours

â&#x201A;Ź122,000 invested

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

08 CELEBRATING OUR EMPLOYEES DURING MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ACHIEVEMENTS DAY As per previous years, MITA organised an Achievements Day in the form of a day conference. Each department presented the highlights of the accomplishment achieved during the year and the challenges and opportunities for the year ahead. Videos showing snippets of the various team building sessions that were orgainised throughout the year were also screened.

At the end of the conference, the Board of Directors, together with MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Chairman, presented the awards to the winners amongst the nominated employees, who received the highest number of votes from the employees and the executive management.

COMMEMORATING 25 YEARS AT MITA During MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Achievements Day, the Executive Chairman presented a commemorative token of appreciation to those employees who accomplished 25 years of active service.

The remarkable commitment of these employees compliments the Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continuous drive to value employees, who have always been central to its success. MITA continuously prioritises its effort to attract, retain and develop employees, offering them professional growth opportunities and attractive employment conditions.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

A myriad of benefits offered by MITA

Family health insurance

Leave

Life insurance

2-5% salary increase

Personal accident coverage

Opportunity to progress up the career ladder

On-site doctor visits

Teleworking

Routine health examinations, VDU tests and flu vaccinations

Reduced hours

Ferry transport reimbursement

Flexible working hours

Free public transport

Extended Care

Organised private transport arrangement

Yearly performance bonus

22Gb Internet dongle

Corporate VIP Card

A subscribed telephony scheme

BOV value pack

MITA IS AWARDED THE INVESTORS IN PEOPLE AWARD AGAIN MITA has once again been awarded the prestigious Investors in People Award. This reflects the Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solid commitment towards the implementation and sustainment of leading HR practices. Achieving the Investors in People Award is evidence of excellence at people management and provides the confidence that the organisation compares well with peer international organisations that are leaders in HR practices. As a standard, it outlines the foundations for excellence in leading, supporting and

managing people such that business results are achieved. The standard defines what it takes to lead, support and manage people for sustained success. It also helps organisations to assess their people management practices, compare and identify areas for improvement to achieve employee engagement. To employees, the Investors in People accreditation is a certificate that pronounces the Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority for their continuous development and success, in a workplace culture that promotes professional and personal wellbeing.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

TEAM BUILDING EVENTS This was the third year in which MITA’s employees were encouraged to propose and organise their own social and team building events. This year’s challenge for each department was to organise one or more events open for participation to all employees. Some of the events were also open for employees’ relatives.

In total, 10 events were organised, in which more than 400 participants took part. Through these events, MITA’s employees collected €5,000 which were then donated to MITA Cares. A video clip for each team building event was screened during MITA’s Achievements Day, highlighting the salient moments of each team building activity.

MITA EXTENDED CARE SCHEME MITA launched a new scheme called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Extended Careâ&#x20AC;?, which is aimed at assisting MITA employees and their respective direct family members who are experiencing ongoing hardships due to medical, mental or

physical difficulties. Through this scheme, MITA aims to further elevate its corporate social responsibility support function. These employees will be provided with the assistance they require so that they can take the necessary treatments or buy the special equipment required for their health condition.

This scheme was launched during a visit by Her Excellency the President of Malta, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

FITA-ACTIVELY CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS ICT ACCESSIBILITY During 2017, FITA worked on three main projects. The first of these developments was the SPOT project, which was created in collaboration with the Malta Vodafone Foundation and the Office of the Prime Minister. SPOT is a crowd sourced website that lists and rates the accessibility of venues across the Maltese islands. It relies on the input of several stakeholders, including the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, the Malta Tourism Authority and Heritage Malta. Another project entrusted to FITA was the transposition and implementation of the Web Accessibility Directive. This directive establishes that the online resources of public entities (including websites and apps) must be accessible to all.

As a result, FITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existing ICT accessibility services were extended, to include monitoring and reporting of accessibility for all users, not only persons with disability. FITA continues to collaborate with different departments within MITA and the Ministry Chief Information Officers, in building the operational framework necessary to fulfil the requirements of the Directive. A third project to which FITA actively contributed, was the setup of the ICT Accessibility Hubs across the Maltese Islands. This initiative will boost and extend the services that are already available via the FITA ICT Pool, to larger groups of professional service providers and clients. This will be accomplished by equipping a number of centres with assistive technology products and providing the associated training in the use of assistive technology. Key partners in this project are the Malta Communications Authority, MCAST and SAPPORT. FITA also provided other services, including two ICT training courses, 63 ICT accessibility consultations, six accessibility certifications, 27 information sessions, one custom software project and 4 Braille production jobs.

THE ESKILLS MALTA FOUNDATION 2017 was a year full of milestones and achievements for the eSkills Malta Foundation. It was a year marked with a highly successful delivery of a programme of events and communications activities.

Amongst the initiatives, eSkills held career sessions for secondary school students and organised training sessions for guidance teachers and careers advisors in the educational arena. The Foundation maintained a regular engagement with the state, independent and church educational institutions.

The Foundation worked incessantly to decrease the digital skills gap by contributing to policy, the digital education community, in the development of the ICT Profession, by creating skills in the workforce and within society.

In 2017, the Foundation also launched the much-awaited Malta ICT Skills Audit and was successful in the delivery of the EU Code Week, where it managed to achieve the first place in the organisation of coding events per capita.

Various initiatives served to increase awareness of the skills required in the digital ecosystem.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

09 MITA CARES - THE CONSOLIDATION OF MITA’S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

MITA Cares Committee was purposely set up to strengthen MITA’s corporate social responsibility commitment with the objective to pursue the wellbeing of the Agency’s employees and tangibly contribute towards the society at large. It is also responsible for fund raising and managing of donations for charitable purposes.

2017 has been the year in which MITA’s Corporate Social Responsibility commitment was consolidated and supported through the formalisation of MITA Cares Committee.

During 2017, MITA Cares worked on several initiatives including:

Blood Donations More than 100 employees donated blood at the National Blood Transfusion Service.

Logistical Support To Puttinu Cares MITA Cares teamed up with Puttinu Cares to support a fundraising event during Good Friday on a local TV station. Over 50 MITA employees participated in this assignment and were specifically tasked to man the Pledge lines and co-ordinate the donations’ collection function.

All proceeds from the event, which was organised in collaboration with Chef Manuel, were donated to Caritas for embellishment works.

Mita Kids Summer Tech Programme A number of technology-related sessions were organised for children of MITA’s employees during their summer holidays. The programme was targeted towards children whose age was between 8 and 14 years. The activities exposed children to learning through different technologies in a fun way, namely gaming and coding.

Mita Cares Figolli Initiative A group of MITA volunteers joined the inmates at the Caritas Prison Inmates Programme at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, to produce traditional Easter figolli with the aim to raise funds to support Caritas Malta.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

An information session about organ donation Members of the Transplant Support Group presented a motivational talk on organ donation to MITA employees. After the talk, participants had the opportunity to enrol as organ donors.

An IT Awareness Programme For Inmates Eight inmates from the Caritas Prison Inmates Programme attended IT awareness sessions organised by MITA at the Inmates residency. A certificate was presented to each participant.

Celebrating Pink October Several initiatives were organised to promote Pink October. Amongst these initiatives, MITA Cares held an information session in which it promoted prevention and the importance of breast screening. On the Wear it Pink Day held on 20th October, MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s employees were encouraged to come to office wearing a touch of pink. A voucher for a mammogram was also donated to female employees over the age of 40.

President’s Fun Run A number of MITA employees and their relatives joined for the annual President’s Solidarity Fun Run which is organised in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation.

Christmas Logs In Aid Of Dar Tal-Providenza A group of MITA volunteers prepared, decorated and packed Christmas logs at the kitchen facilities of Id-Dar tal-Providenza in Siggiewi. Proceeds from the sale of Christmas logs were forwarded to Id-Dar tal-Providenza.

Donation To Children’s Dreams MITA Cares donated a new laptop for the Children’s Dreams cause, which is a unique online initiative aimed to fulfil the dreams of children, whose families are facing social difficulties or are being raised in children’s homes.

L-Istrina For the second year, MITA teamed up with the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation to support L-Istrina 2017. MITA was tasked to handle several logistical functions, namely the coordination of a call centre of 25 agents who handled the incoming pledges; a dispatch team which handled the collection of money from the pledging system and a team of collectors who were tasked to collect the pledges. More than 40 MITA employees volunteered to help in this event.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

10 VARIOUS INITIATIVES TO SAFEGUARD THE ENVIRONMENT

The positive results accomplished over the past four years clearly demonstrate the corporate-wide commitment and support from the management and its employees. Through these years, MITA has invested heavily in environmental friendly initiatives both in terms of capital projects and other initiatives aimed directly at reducing our environmental impact.

During 2017, MITA has continued to consolidate its effort of attaining tangible results in sustainable environment.

MITA carbon footprint

MITA fuel consumption

-15%

2014

2015

2016

2017

-7%

2014

2015

2016

2017

Reduction of 15% over 3 years

Reduction of 7% over 3 years

Annual Savings of 350 tonnes of CO2 emissions (tCO2e)

Annual Savings of 500 litres of diesel consumption

Contributors: Energy Metering System 70KW Photovoltaic plant installation Air-conditioning upgrades IT Hardware technology refresh

Contributors: Lower emission car fleet

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

MITA water consumption

MITA paper use

-39%

2014

2015

2016

2017

-44%

2014

2015

2016

2017

Reduction of 39% over 3 years

Reduction of 44% over 3 years

Annual Savings of 800m3 of water consumption

Annual Savings of 150,000 A4 paper sheets

Contributors: Installation of dual flush toilet systems

Contributors: Dual-sided printing Digitalisation through scanning

MAXIMISING BETTER USE OF RESOURCES

ISO14001:2015 CERTIFICATION

MITA continued separating waste and the associated recycling process across its offices. During 2017, the percentage of recycling waste has reached 20% of the total waste disposed.

MITA has been certified to ISO14001:2015 for its Environmental Management System. This confirms MITA’s commitment and positive contribution towards a greener environment for the benefit of our society.

RENEWABLE ENERGY MITA benefited from EU funds, through which it financed the third phase of the installation of Photovoltaic panels at MITA’s Data Centre. Another 50KW installation was completed in late 2017 and is targeted to generate around 85,000KWh units, which are equivalent to the consumption of 22 households.

A NEW CAR FLEET MITA’s car fleet, which is used by support teams, has been replaced with new more efficient vehicles. The new car fleet is estimated to reduce MITA’s carbon footprint by a further 15%.

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

BOARD MEMBERS’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2017

Board members Mr Tony Sultana – Executive Chairman Mr Anthony Borg Ing. Saviour Baldacchino Mr Joseph Noel Agius Dr Helen Borg Muscat Board secretary Dr Aron Mifsud Bonnici Registered address Gattard House National Road

The board members of the Agency present their annual report together with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017.

Overview

Core ICT Services to Government

Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) is the central driver of Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information and communications technology policy, programmes and initiatives. The Agency is responsible for the delivery and management of all programmes related to the implementation of information technology and related systems in Government with the aim of enhancing public service delivery.

Throughout 2017, the provision of Core ICT Services to Government detailed by means of a contractual agreement between MITA and the Office of the Prime Minister continued to provide the basis for the provision of the core ICT infrastructure to Government.

MITA also provides information and communications technology infrastructure services to Government. Additionally, the Agency promotes and delivers programmes aimed at enhancing ICT education and the use of ICT as a learning tool. MITA is also involved in initiatives aimed at proliferating the further application and take-up of information and communications technologies in society and economy.

i. Presidency of the Council of the EU On 1st January 2017, Malta assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU. Throughout this six months period, and the preparation period ahead, MITA was at the forefront to ensure, together with other partners, the provision of a robust and secure ICT infrastructure, platforms, applications, and services that goes beyond standard expectations. MITA feels proud of its contribution for the success to this national commitment. MITA was also a partner during the Digital Assembly and the Digital Expo, in which more than 1,000 delegates have participated. Not only it took care of the preparation and support of related IT infrastructure and systems, before and during the assembly, but it was also present in the Digital Expo where it exhibited various projects, namely the Mobile Government services; the projects undertaken by startups within the MITA Innovation Hub and a project through which MITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Data

MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Centre could be visualised using Hololens technology.

This platform hosts over 1,000 public service solutions offering the required stability and capability to expand further to cater for growing needs.

ii. Investment in Infrastructure MITA invested heavily in the infrastructure required to back-up data from Government IT systems. The Agency replaced the backup systems with modern infrastructure that reflects the technological advancements that have been made. This investment, which benefited from more than €1.3 million through European funds, provided costeffective and reliable backup solution that can scale to meet increasing demands, maintaining the Data Centre to provide topnotch facilities and services. 2017 saw the completion of another key project, i.e. the upgrading of the Government’s network, the MAGNET. New firewalls for the 300+ broadband connections were procured and commissioned across the complex network landscape. The improved network design and control tools will further reduce and contain network outage, providing a more resilient network infrastructure. Investment also targeted the strengthening of the virtualized platform to further leverage on the benefits including reduced capital and operational costs, increased efficiency, agility and responsiveness, as well as faster provisioning of applications and resources.

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iii. Network Operations Centre During 2017, MITA continued to invest in the Network Operations Centre (NOC) by installing fit for purpose state of the art wall screens to further enhance the 24x7 realtime monitoring of the entire Government ICT infrastructure and Data Centre Facilities. The investment has seen the NOC wall screens increasing from twelve (12) to twenty (20). The additional screens allowed for the projection of a more comprehensive set of tools for better visibility, monitoring and control of Government ICT services.

iv. eGovernment / Mobile Government Malta ranked in the first position in all the established indicators, namely related to accessibility and technical availability of online services from amongst the 34 European countries in the European Commission’s report “e-Government Benchmark Report 2017”. This report takes stock of user-centric design and delivery of digital public services in Europe. This is the reflection of the continuous collaboration with Government to improve the accessibility of online services, making

them available on 24/7 and accessible from anywhere. The launch of maltapps provided increased visibility and access to all Malta Government published mServices, allowing users to enlist all published mServices as well as the ability to install and launch the respective apps directly from within the maltapps app. The maltapps serves as a one stop shop giving access a number of government mservices by using just one app.

v. Support for Innovative Startups Following the success of the 1st and 2nd call of the MITA Innovation Hub (MIH) accelerator programme, the 3rd edition of its YouStartIT programme was announced in December 2017. The call was opened to both local and international startups and targets startup projects at an early stage of development. YouStartIT primarily targeted ideas based on Blockchain - given Malta’s vision to become Blockchain country, and/or disruptive models including Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things.

vi. Increase Cyber Security Awareness In 2017, MITA was also entrusted to drive the awareness campaign about cyber security. The campaign targeted both the citizens and the business sector, enlightening the risks

that can be encountered online and advising about what action can be taken to prevent against or act when malicious cyber activities happen.

vii. Modernisation Further to the ongoing maintenance and enhancements of several core Government information systems, MITA embarked on a multi-year financial investment programme to modernise these systems over the coming years. This will ensure that Government, businesses and citizens will continue to get value services as planned in the various National Strategies. The modernisation will focus on the recent technology platforms and will be implemented in line with industry best practices such as Service Oriented Architecture and “Cloud Ready” concepts.

viii. Sunfish Project MITA’s participation in the SecUre iNFormation SHaring in federated heterogeneous private clouds (SUNFISH) project was another key milestone achieved in 2017. SUNFISH was a Horizon 2020 research projects with several participants from different countries. MITA participated together with the Ministry for Finance. The SUNFISH platform, was developed following a user-centric approach, promoted “intercountry” and “cross-border” collaboration

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among public administrations and provided an innovative solution, which allows cloud federation in a secure manner. The SUNFISH project was allocated a budget of €4.5 million, all funded by the EU Commission.

ix. Human Resources This year, MITA has once again achieved its Investors in People certification. This is evidence of the strong people management and development philosophy at the heart of MITA’s leadership. MITA’s success in various areas of its business are also evidence of the excellent work environment, culture and people management practices based on the Values of People, Empowerment, Professionalism and Continuous Improvement, directly aligned to the prestigious certification: Investors in People. Further to the acquisition and renovation works at the new MITA Gozo premises in 2016, an investment of €85,000, employees residing in Gozo were encouraged to make use of these facilities which are closer to their homes, thus reducing their commuting time drastically. Employees can now work seamlessly from these premises, with access to all client support services, as well as the ability to remotely monitor core MITA infrastructure.

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Financial Review The overall financial performance of the Agency was a positive one, with a net surplus before tax of €824,010. Revenue from the provision of projects and ICT services to Government reached €26,024,041, up by 4% from 2016 results. MITA also continued its investment programme to enhance and expand Government underlying infrastructure, with total investment for the year amounting to €780,000. Furthermore, during the year project expenditure of approximately €1.3m was funded under the CONvErGE programme which is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Direct operational costs increased only marginally by 0.2% over 2016 as MITA continued in its efforts to manage and contain costs for Government.

Corporate Governance

Board Members’ Responsibilities

The Board Audit Committee (BAC) supports the works of the MITA Board in terms of overseeing the Internal Audit Office whilst enabling the objective assessment of the performance of the Agency, its management and its internal and external auditors. The BAC is currently chaired by Dr Helen Borg Muscat, with the other members being Dr Vincent Marmara and Mr Jurgen Zammit.

The Agency’s statute requires the board members to prepare consolidated financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the agency and of the profit or loss of the agency for that year, in accordance with the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU. In preparing these the board members are required to:

The Internal Audit Office (IAO) aims to ensure an independent disciplined approach in evaluating and improving internal controls while adding value to the Agency’s operations. During 2017, IAO conducted a number of internal audit initiatives in line with a risk based audit plan as commissioned and approved by the BAC. Audits performed were both technical and also operational in nature and included, process improvements and lessons learnt reviews, due diligence exercises and follow-ups.

• adopt the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the agency will continue in business; • select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; • make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; • account for income and charges relating to the accounting period on the accruals basis; • value separately the components of asset and liability items; and • report comparative figures corresponding to those of the preceding accounting period.

MITA IAO works in ascertaining that the Agency’s internal controls are reliable, that its reporting arms are accurate, ethics are maintained, oversight is effective, risks are mitigated and investments are protected.

The board members are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy, at any time, the financial position of the agency. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the agency and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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The consolidated financial statements of MITA for the year ended 31 December 2017 may be made available on the Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website. The board members are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the consolidated financial statements on the website in view of their responsibility for the controls over, and the security and jurisdictions, where legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of consolidated financial statements may differ from requirements or practice in Malta.

This report was approved and authorised for issue by the Board Members on 31 May 2018, and signed on its behalf by:

MR TONY SULTANA Chairman

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MR ANTHONY BORG Board Member

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INDEPENDENT AUDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; REPORT To the members of Malta Information Technology Agency

We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements, which comprise the statements of financial position of the group and the Agency as at 31 December 2017, and the statements of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, statements of changes in equity and statements of cash flows for the group and the Agency for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes.

In our opinion, the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of Malta Information Technology Agency as of 31 December 2017 and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU.

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Board Membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Responsibility For The Consolidated Financial Statements The board members are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements that give a true and fair view in accordance to International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU and for such internal controls as the board members determine are necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatements, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements the board members are responsible for assessing the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the board members either intends to liquidate the entity or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditors’ responsibility Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditors’ report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control. • Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. • Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the board members. • Conclude on the appropriateness of the board members’ use of going concern basis of accounting and based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

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If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditors’ report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditors’ report. However, future events or conditions may cause the entity to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

Auditors’ Responsibility

We communicate with the board members regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

MR MANUEL CASTAGNA For and on behalf of Nexia BT Certified Public Accountants The Penthouse, Suite 2 Capital Business Centre, Entrance C Triq taż-Żwejt San Ġwann SGN 3000 Malta Date: 31 May 2018

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MITA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income for the year ended 31 December 2017

2017

2016

â&#x201A;Ź

26,024,041

24,945,322

(18,554,600)

(18,514,923)

7,469,441

6,430,399

101,397

(104,083)

(6,749,604)

(6,188,946)

821,234

137,370

2,791

2,719

(15)

(256)

Surplus before taxation

824,010

139,833

Income tax

(177,273)

(92,647)

Surplus for the year

646,737

47,186

Total comprehensive income

646,737

47,186

Revenue Cost of sales Gross surplus Provision for cost of service pensions payable to Government Administrative expenses Operating surplus Interest receivable and similar income Share of results of the associate Finance costs

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Statements Of Financial Positions as at 31 December 2017 2017

2016

â&#x201A;Ź

3,790,959

4,903,958

Investment in subsidiary

33,776

Investment in associate

20,000

508,035

425,255

4,352,770

6,430,399

16,833

17,988

3,532,562

3,515,518

9,639,128

7,211,575

13,188,523

10,745,081

17,541,293

16,128,070

Accumulated fund

2,239,341

1,592,604

Capital reserve

4,542,497

Total equity

6,781,838

6,135,101

Assets Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment

Deferred taxation

Current assets Inventories Trade and other receivables Current tax recoverable Cash at bank and in hand Total assets Equity and Liabilities Equity

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Non-current liabilities Provision for liabilities and charges

1,110,840

1,188,436

1,110,840

1,188,436

9,561,042

8,598,136

Provision for liabilities and charges

67,584

91,385

Current tax payable

19,989

115,012

9,648,615

8,804,533

Total liabilities

10,759,455

9,992,969

Total funds and liabilities

17,541,293

16,128,070

Current liabilities Trade and other payables

The consolidated financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board Members on 31 May 2018, and signed on its behalf by:

MR TONY SULTANA Chairman

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MR ANTHONY BORG Board Member

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