​In an official document, the Ministry of Finance notes that incidents that lead to data loss due to hardware failures are becoming more frequent, given that the IT equipment on which the messaging system operates has worn out for more than 10 years. In addition, the email program is outdated and affects more than 100 other programs.

Data loss errorPhoto: Stevanovicigor / Dreamstime.com

What IT issues in Finance and ANAF cause data loss

Information about the increasingly frequent loss of data appears in the specifications of the open tender initiated on June 1 by the Ministry of Finance, a contract with an estimated value of more than 23.1 million lei (excluding VAT), according to System Electronic Public Procurement.

  • “The Treasury Department’s – ANAF electronic messaging infrastructure currently consists of 23,000 Lotus Notes version 9.0.1 clients and approximately 200 Lotus Domino version 9.0.1 servers distributed both centrally and regionally, with the solution administered from a central hub level.
  • The hardware running Lotus Domino servers is at least 10 years old, so they have high physical and mental wear and tear and low reliability, with incidents of data loss due to hardware failures and lack of maintenance contracts becoming more frequent. “, it is mentioned in Specifications.

Mail application is out of date: how many users are affected

The ministry says that with this auction, it intends to optimize the infrastructure of the exchange of electronic messages by centralizing it, which involves leaving the servers in the territory, which make up 90% of the current 200 servers, and the centralized migration of data to new high-performance equipment that ensures a high degree of reliability .

“At present, Lotus Domino architecture, in addition to an application for exchanging electronic messages and more than 100 applications developed in-house using Lotus technology, runs applications that serve business processes in the Ministry of Finance and subordinate institutions.

Also, the majority of tax returns, financial statements and other documents received electronically from taxpayers (approximately 30 million files per month) are archived in Lotus technology via CSLD (CommonStore for Lotus Domino).

Among these programs, the most representative are:

  • – IT document management system (SIDOC), which is used both by the Ministry of Finance and ANAF at the central and territorial levels (more than 6,500 users),
  • – Transfer of fiscal declarations to ANAF, ANOFM, CNAS, CNPAS – a system that is built-in integrated with Lotus Notes electronic messages and through which more than 5 million files are transferred per month (700 internal users of ANAF),
  • – CAF release – a system for processing taxpayer requests for CAF release (800 users),
  • – Property status declarations (250 users),
  • – The single contact form is a system that processes taxpayers’ requests received through the Internet portal and transmits through the SPV (virtual private system) relevant specific answers regarding tax and IT assistance (2,000 users),
  • – Dispute resolution (150 users),
  • – Sentencing (350 users),
  • – Support service (250 users),
  • – Communication through the contact form – Petitions (250 users),
  • – The point of view of legislation (150 users as they write + all reading staff),
  • – Treasury Container Transfer – a system that uses Lotus Notes agents to transfer containers between all Treasury units in the country on a daily basis.”, this is also shown in the document.

In general, the Ministry of Finance notes, Lotus Notes applications are used by more than 11,000 internal users and indirectly by taxpayers through the Internet portal and SPV.

  • “You can only connect users to these programs using the Lotus Notes mail client.
  • Many of these programs, including the SIDOC document management program used by approximately 6,500 users at MFP and ANAF, are fully functional only in the latest versions of Lotus Notes (newer than 10.0.1), versions for which MF does not currently have licenses. so you need to update to the latest version.
  • Therefore, some features of the programs, although developed, cannot be used in the version of Lotus used in MF. The total number of users of applications based on Lotus Domino – Lotus Notes technology is approximately 11,000.” this is also stated in the specifications.

Given the large number of users of applications based on Lotus Notes – Lotus Domino technology, and the fact that the Lotus Domino license for servers is free, the Ministry does not consider it justified to purchase a different messaging solution than the one currently in use. , combined with the modernization of over 100 applications, many of which are critical to the functioning of the MF and ANAF IT system.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance wants to purchase a new hardware solution and upgrade the software, as well as centralize the solution for better administration.

The IT contract with an estimated value of over 23.1 million lei (excluding VAT) is divided into 2 lots and is an investment target in PNRR.

The beneficiaries of this contract are:

  • – The Ministry of Finance, through the National Center for Financial Information (CNIF), which administers and develops the MF/ANAF IT system, will execute the contract and enter into direct relations with the supplier during its execution;
  • – Employees of the central office of the Ministry of Finance, the central office of ANAF and subordinate institutions that use the IT infrastructure of the Ministry of Finance.

The deadline for receiving proposals or applications for participation is July 4, 2023.

Photo source: Stevanovicigor / Dreamstime.com