NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government is looking to establish a new technology-focused authority with a more competitive pay structure to attract skilled professionals and provide continuity for major digital transformation projects across administrations, Minister of Innovation and National Development Sebastian Bastian revealed Wednesday.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of South East Nassau, Bastian said the proposed authority would operate differently from the traditional public service and form part of the government’s effort to build the technical expertise needed to modernize critical state systems.
“We are looking at establishing an authority that obviously operates a little bit different from traditional public service, even though it’s quasi, but it gives us the ability to attract professional talent, have a more attractive pay scale, and also provide certain continuities across administrations,” Bastian said.
Bastian said building institutions capable of surviving changes in government is critical as The Bahamas moves to modernize public services and reduce its reliance on foreign technology providers.
“It is my responsibility, especially as a minister, whatever we do over these next five years, we have not just innovated, modernized, and made it easy to do business with your government, but we’ve created agencies that can outlast any administration,” he said.
He added that critical government innovation should be approached on a bipartisan basis, allowing successive administrations to inherit and build upon a professional technology infrastructure rather than repeatedly starting over.
The proposed authority was one of several initiatives outlined by Bastian as he warned that The Bahamas must guard against what he described as “digital colonialism” — a situation in which the country retains political sovereignty but becomes heavily dependent on foreign-owned technology, infrastructure, platforms and expertise.
Bastian argued that government should not procure critical technology systems that it cannot independently audit, secure, operate or eventually replace.
“Governments should never, ever, ever buy a black box that we cannot audit, secure, operate, or leave on its own terms,” he said.
He said critical technology contracts should include open standards, data portability, cybersecurity safeguards, continuity provisions, audit and exit rights, backups and meaningful knowledge transfer.
According to Bastian, the government is also examining the future of the country’s submarine cable infrastructure, including upgrades aimed at increasing redundancy between islands and providing additional routes to the United States.
He said no decision has been made on whether the government would own proposed new submarine cable assets, with officials still evaluating the available options.
“In the case of a submarine cable, there’s no decision that has been made in terms of the direction. We’re evaluating all of the options that are out there, and, you know, we’ll take the best part,” Bastian said.
He stressed that digital sovereignty does not necessarily mean government ownership of every physical technology asset, but rather ensuring The Bahamas has the ability to access, maintain, secure, operate and, where necessary, move away from critical systems.
Bastian also revealed that Cabinet has approved a “Future Skills Training Programme” focused specifically on technology skills as the government seeks to expand the domestic pool of workers capable of supporting its digital transformation agenda.
“We’ve just gotten approval from the Cabinet to start the future skills training program, which is a program that would be offering training specifically on technology-based skills,” he said.
The ministry is simultaneously developing an interoperable government data layer designed to allow systems across ministries and agencies to communicate and exchange information.
Bastian identified the lack of connectivity between government systems as one of the biggest obstacles to improving the ease of doing business.
“The biggest contributor is the fact that most cases, an application or approval requires another ministry’s input,” he said.
“So, I can have the best system over here and the best system over here, but if they don’t talk to each other, you’ll get fast service here, but you’ve got to walk over here, and then God forbid you’ve got to go to a third ministry.”
Bastian said the government intends to establish standards requiring technology platforms to be interoperable, including newly developed systems, future procurements and, where possible, systems already in use.
“You’re going to see legislation that’s going to mandate that those platforms meet certain interoperable standards, and that’s how we’re going to crack the code on the ease of doing business,” he said.
Bastian said the broader objective is to ensure The Bahamas does not merely consume imported technology but develops the domestic skills, businesses and intellectual property needed to participate competitively in the global digital economy.
