Without an ICT supply market, there would be no eGovernment. On 9 September 2010, the then Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, Ab Klink, reported to the House of Representatives on the sums spent on eGovernment, in this case on the EPD, in the ICT market.

Conversely, the ICT market would never have grown to its current size if eGovernment had not taken off to such an extent. In order to achieve its ambitions and carry out all its plans, government leans heavily on a wide variety of parties that operate outside the public sector. The relationship between government and the ICT market has developed along three lines. The first is economic: the ICT industry is an important sector, and government is a crucial partner for the companies that operate within it (system engineers, developers of data and information applications, consultants). The second line is administrative. The ICT industry functions as an extension of public administration: government implements policy by means of ICT applications, and must therefore depend, at least in part, on the suppliers of those applications. The final line is regulatory. By regulating the ICT market, government forces companies in the sector to conduct their commercial affairs in a particular way. For example, it can decide to enact and enforce certain rules because a small number of market parties have acquired so dominant a position in informational terms that public interests are at risk.

eGOVERNMENT AS ECONOMIC FORCE

PURCHASING WITHIN eGOVERNMENT

ICT is a dynamic and sizeable sector of both the Dutch and the international economy. In 2007, the top 250 international ICT firms recorded turnover of USD 3.8 trillion.