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The Bashkortostan Social Card project

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The Bashkortostan Social Card automated information system was launched in 2006. The project's objectives include increasing the efficiency of government spending and social support programmes, as well as making social support measures and programmes more effective. The project is also intended to provide safe, public access to the information from various government departments and expand the republic's electronic payment system.

The project was one of the winners at the December 2009 OSCARDS innovative banking cards competition in Paris, France, where it received an award for the best innovative banking product in the services category. The card was recognised for reducing administrative expenses and increasing government efficiency while providing local residents with necessary social services and support.

The project involves all demographics in Bashkortostan. About 870,000 people will use the card to receive support from federal, regional and municipal governments during the first stage of the project's implementation, and during the second stage, social cards will be provided to students in university and secondary schools. In the future, the Bashkortostan Social Card is planned to become each resident's all-purpose electronic identity card.

The Bashkortostan Social Card automated information system will allow the government to achieve several specific goals, including:

- the creation of a single social registry containing essential information on Bashkortostan residents who have the right to receive social support,

- the establishment of a single system for classifying and cataloguing benefits,

- the government to keep an account of social services provided to local residents, allowing subsequent reimbursement by government agencies providing said services, and

- the government to keep an account social services provided to local residents for calculating compensation recoverable by the government for preferential demographics.

In a broader sense, the Social Card system will also enable:

- Joint stable work of interdepartmental data bases,

- the ability of the automated information system to increase its operational capabilities due to changes in legislation, and

- the more effective management and use of government funds.

The developers of the Bashkortostan Social Card project automated information system considered all recommendations offered through the Electronic Russia federal targeted programme and took into account the experience gained from pilot projects implemented in several communities in Bashkortostan.

The Bashkortostan Social Card performs the following functions:

1. Provides to the cardholder a form of identification that can be used to gain access to social security agencies' information systems. These systems contain information on current and future social security benefits.

2. Allows cardholders to automatically register all medical services and additional pharmaceutical support received within the compulsory health insurance system, which saves time and increases control over government spending.

3. Documents the actual use of transport services, which will allow government agencies to collect necessary information for optimising these services. The card also allows certain demographics to pay reduced transport fees and other groups to use the card as travel document.

4. Provides the cardholder with a range of banking services provided at reduced rates, i.e. minimal or zero fees for services and receiving increased payment for account balance

5. Makes regional and local tax collection more effective and efficient and provides the option of paying taxes by card once the cardholder receives information on how much he or she owes.

6. Provides information on the cardholder's personal account within the system of mandatory pension insurance system, thus enabling the cardholder to participate in the management of pension funds.

7. Encourages the private sector (of trade and services) to take responsibility for social support for the needy.

The Bashkortostan Social Card project is also supported by the Uralsib and Bashprombank lending institutions. Currently, Uralsib and Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, are working together to make Social Cards universal and integrate them into other regional projects. This will allow Bashkortostan cardholders to use Sberbank automatic banking machines throughout Russia.