The Government Enterprise Architecture (GEA) Framework defines the minimum components of an ICT Plan, and provides the ICT Standards as guidelines on how to implement it in Government.
A total of nine Standards falling under six different domain areas have been identified as relevant for Government ICT Standards. The GEA Framework provides a generic and minimum standard to be applied across all spheres and levels of Government including Ministries, Counties and Agencies (MCAs).
The development of the GEA Framework is in line with the ICT Authority mandate to set and enforce ICT standards and guidelines for the human resource, infrastructure, processes and system and technology for the public office and public service.
Why GEA was developed
The GEA was developed to ensure coherence and unified approach to acquisition, deployment, management and operation of ICTs across state agencies, in order to promote service integration, adaptability and cost savings through economies of scale in ICT investments.
The GEA Framework provides a blueprint for improving Government programmes and plans, by aligning the business processes, information flows, and technology consistently across and throughout the Government. The vision of GEA is to provide seamless integration for citizen services empowered through inter-departmental collaboration through ICT standardization.
Development of GEA Framework
The ICT Authority established a Standards Committee to identify the critical Standards domain areas as well as oversee the Standards development process.
The Authority has the oversight role and responsibility for management and enforcement of the GEA Framework. The review and approval of the standard is done by the ICTA Board upon recommendation of Standard Review Board.
The development of the Standards took into consideration international requirements, Government requirements, stakeholder participation as well as industry/sector best practices. Various base standards have been used as reference materials in the development of GEA Standards, including standards developed by IEEE, ISO, TIA, COBIT, NIST, ANSI, IEC, IETF, among others.
The GEA Standards have also been prepared in accordance with the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) standards development guidelines, in order to conform to the format of other existing national standards.