A Study On IT Outsourcing Of China Customs

With the tide of informatization of the whole world, Computer Technology and Internet Technology have been achieved a remarkable improvement since 1980’s, adopted in all fields of the Human society, enormously impacting the idea and paradigm of the public governance. As a result, the theory of the New Public Management emerges from the evolution of public administration. Directed by the idea of "Steering" instead of "Rowing", the outsourcing of the public fairs turns into one of the important parts of the practice of the theory of the New Public Management. Promoted by the transferring of the idea of public administration, the IT outsourcing of government affairs develops rapidly, and the IT outsourcing becomes one of the bright spots of the reform and innovation of China Customs.With Shanghai Customs as the example, this article reviews the origin of the IT outsourcing of China Customs and analyzes the opportunities and challenges. Three points are put forward by this article after research. First, as the breakthrough of structural reform of China Customs, the IT outsourcing helps to reengineer the process and increase efficiency of the workflow, according to the idea of the New Public Management. Second, the introduction of professional companies by the way of moderate IT outsourcing is essential for the informatization of China Customs to make significant progress. Third, risk-control should be paid great attention to on the way of promoting the IT outsourcing continuously, with the risks classified into the risks of publicity, efficiency and technicality, and with the countermeasures to eliminate the risks.This article is divided into seven parts, including the prologue, five chapters of main body, and the epilogue. Focusing on the background, value, methodology, key points and difficulties of the study, the prologue discloses the point to regard the outsourcing as the major approach to the IT development goals of Customs. The first chapter describes the theories related to the informatization of governments (E-Governance), such as Limited Government Theory, New Public Management Theory, Transaction Costs Theory, Principal-agent Theory, Core Competence Theory, Process Reengineering Theory, as well as the concepts of IT outsourcing. With the method of comparative study, the second chapter introduces the IT outsourcing of two foreign governments of USA and Singapore, and two domestic governments of State Administration of Taxation and Sichuan Province, emphasizing the successful experience of the cases for reference to the practice of China Customs. Starting with a brief description of the strategy of the informatization and the motivations of IT outsourcing of China Customs, the third chapter summarizes the history and the efforts of IT outsourcing of China Customs. With Shanghai Customs as the example, the fourth chapter analyzes the challenges of IT outsourcing of China Customs, from the aspects of understanding, institution and operation. The fifth chapter analyzes the effects of IT outsourcing to the reforms of China Customs and the promotion of informatization progress, and the opportunities of IT outsourcing. Also, the fifth chapter explains the goals, patterns, and steps of IT outsourcing, points out the risks of publicity, efficiency and technicality, and raises the suggestions of planning, building institutions, and evaluating performance, to control the risks. At last, the epilogue describes the problem of subsequent study on IT outsourcing of China Customs.