The Government Decision on the common government technology platform MCloud has been amended to provide more possibilities to host IT systems, including by using the public Cloud services provided by data centers from other EU member states.

The amendments were approved by Government on April 12, 2023 and include MCloud hybridization, approval of the Catalogue of MCloud-related services, introduce a full toolkit for cloud cooperation and communication, and regulate extension of the Mcloud capacity using the information resources of public cloud service providers.

According to Olga Tumuruc, the director of the e-Governance Agency (EGA), these amendments are critical for the security and integrity of the IT systems, as well as for the operational process.

The benefits of MCloud hybridization are:

-       more flexibility in rapid scaling of computing resources;

-       streamlined development of IT systems by using the development and testing environments under the control of the public authority instead of the developer and streamlined installation, configuration operations;

-       high availability of services, achieved through the scaling of the computational power in peak hours;

-       cost control due to the shared service model, dynamic management of resources and the pay-as-you use principle.

The rationales behind such amendments include the accelerating digitization of the public services and the provisions of the Law on public services, which introduces the digital first approach in public service delivery. These amendments will allow for streamlining the online service delivery systems and improving the MCloud operational capacity.