VK may get a contract for the development of a messenger for officials

In order to replace foreign services and messengers, including Telegram, for a single domestic solution, the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced a competition for scaling the automated workplace of a civil servant (AWS GS) in the regions. The contract value is 907.4 million rubles, and the deadline is from October 1, 2023 to September 20, 2024. This was reported on the public procurement portal on June 23, writes “Vedomosti”.

ARM GS is a secure messenger created on the basis of the VK Teams corporate service by VK. It allows officials to exchange messages, video calls, mail, calendar, cloud storage and “internal portal”. The system was developed at the tender of the Ministry of Digital Development, which was held in the fall of 2021. Now the contractor will have to strengthen the cryptographic protection of information in the system and connect other departments to it. How many departments and users will be able to switch to AWS GS is not specified in the documents.

A representative of the Ministry of Digital Development said that such a service is needed for a unified and secure interaction between authorities. He added that already 32 departments are connected to the ARM GS. According to him, the money from the competition will be used to expand the solution for regional employees and customize the functionality to meet the needs of customers, as well as to ensure information security. The representative of the Ministry of Digital Development also said that the service will be available for the regions after the change in government decree No. 1114, which regulates the provision of automated jobs to government agencies. These amendments may come into force on September 1, 2023. In addition, the Ministry of Digital Transformation is discussing the possibility of integrating AWS GS with the Gostech platform.

Experts believe that the most likely candidate for the contestant is VK, which has already developed AWS GS based on its VK Teams service. The representative of VK confirmed that the system is regularly updated and finalized according to the requirements of customers. He did not comment on the possible participation of the company in the competition.

Experts also note that ARM GS should become an alternative to foreign services and instant messengers, which are often used by officials for working communication. From March 1, 2023, there is a ban on the use of foreign messengers for the authorities. However, out of habit, many officials continue to use Telegram, which has a large number of users and convenient functionality. In addition, officials have to communicate with external interlocutors on work issues: contractors, businesses, experts and other specialists.