Digitising energy and mineral sector licensing and services

Challenge

Jordan’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE), together with the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), sought to enhance Jordan’s competitiveness and investment appeal in the energy and extractives sector, while supporting the country’s transition to renewable energy. 

To achieve this, the Government of Jordan, in line with its national digital transformation strategy, aimed to improve the quality, cost, accessibility, transparency, and speed of public service delivery. A particular priority was the digitisation of licensing and permit services across oil and gas, renewable energy, mining, quarries, and radiation protection. 

EMRC’s service delivery model relied on a large number of licensing workflows involving multiple government stakeholders, internal systems, paper-based processes, and manual review steps. This created a need for a unified digital platform that could simplify service journeys, reduce administrative burden, improve transparency, and connect EMRC services with Jordan’s wider digital government infrastructure. 

Approach

The project combined business process reengineering, advisory services, software development, knowledge transfer and technical support:  

• Business process reengineering: working closely with MoDEE and EMRC to simplify and streamline licensing and permit processes, ensuring efficient, transparent, and user-friendly digital services. Service cards and process flows were documented on national platforms, including NSR and ARIS. 

• Advisory support: collaborating with MoDEE and EMRC to refine digitisation standards, strengthen interoperability approaches, and adopt secure, scalable, and maintainable technologies aligned with Jordan’s national digital government infrastructure. 

• Software development: developing a user-friendly web portal as a one-stop shop for EMRC licensing and permit services. The portal provides a centralised interface through which users can submit applications, track progress, and receive approvals. It also supports EMRC staff through management screens, dashboards, operational reports, workflow tracking, and oversight tools. 

• Knowledge transfer and technical support: Siren delivered structured training and knowledge transfer to support adoption and institutional sustainability. Training was delivered to 10+ trainers, 10 technology users, 65 end users, 10 system administrators, 22+ stakeholders, and 20+ government e-contact centre representatives. Siren also provided documentation, process mapping, operational guidance, and continued support during the maintenance period. 

Technological Innovations:

• RKE2 adoption: for the first time in the Jordanian public sector, the project used RKE2, a next-generation Kubernetes distribution, enabling secure, scalable, high-availability deployment and efficient infrastructure management. 

• Open-source components: the platform was built using a modern, open-source, cloud-native architecture. This approach eliminates unnecessary licence costs, supports government ownership of the codebase, and enables long-term flexibility and maintainability. 

• Secure identity management: the EMRC service portal aligns with MoDEE’s security standards and public-sector digital identity practices. Service users are verified using national ID-based mechanisms, supporting secure access and seamless integration with Jordan’s national e-government ecosystem, including Sanad. 

• Single-window service: the platform integrates EMRC’s licensing services with multiple public-sector agencies, allowing users to manage applications through one unified channel rather than navigating multiple government websites. This enables information to be certified from the source, reduces the need for users to re-enter data already held by government, and strengthens government-to-government communication. 

• Interoperability with national platforms: the platform integrates with Jordan’s national e-government infrastructure, including Sanad and the Government Service Bus. It also connects with EMRC internal systems, including RAIS+, ERP, GIS, and EMRC’s financial system for fee calculation and payment tracking. 

• Progressive integration model: where some partner institutions were not yet ready for API-based integration, Siren implemented webform-based alternatives to maintain service continuity while supporting progressive interoperability. 

• Centralised infrastructure and reporting: the production environment was deployed on Jordan’s government cloud infrastructure, in line with MoDEE requirements. This strengthens data availability, enables reporting and analysis, and supports improved oversight and decision-making. 

Outcomes

The project has delivered a large-scale digital transformation of EMRC’s service delivery model: 

• Digitised 109 EMRC services across oil and gas, renewable energy, mining, and radiation protection, including 42 e-services and 62 e-applications.  

• Integrated the platform with 35 service partners, three internal EMRC systems, Sanad and the Government Service Bus. 

• Delivered dynamic 30 reports and dashboards for operational tracking and decision-making 

• Recorded 16,977 total applications by 17 May 2026.  

• Supported 1,968 approved applications, including issued licences and permits.  

• Recorded 10,379 rejected applications, supporting improved review, compliance, and quality control workflows.  

• Registered 8,281 users, including individuals, companies, sole proprietorships, public-sector entities, non-Jordanians, public-sector bodies, charities, and cooperatives.  

• Helped EMRC achieve substantial growth in digital service uptake, with application volume increasing by 530% between 2024 and 2025.  

• Increased daily applications from fewer than 30 per day in early 2024 to approximately 160 per day by the end of 2025.  

The platform now serves the full breadth of Jordan’s regulated energy and minerals sector through one unified channel. Users include companies, which account for approximately 72.9% of registered users, individuals at 26.2%, charitable organisations at 0.8%, and cooperative entities at 0.1%.