Now the process of information and communica-tion technologies introduction in the activity of public authorities goes beyond the framework of some infor-matization programs and projects and becomes a driv-ing transformation force of both the organization of public authorities work, and approaches to execute state functions in general. At the same time there is lack of systemacity and integral regulation of using information technologies in public administrative activity, uncertainty and discrepancy of some provisions of the legislation, lack of the uniform concept of "the electronic government". Using a generalization method, comparative and formal-logical approaches, the article attempts to represent a complex attitude towards the problem of "electronic government" formation in the Russian Fed-eration as one of possible instruments of increasing public administration efficiency. Studying a definition of "the electronic government" has allowed to formu-late an author's interpretation of this term, to systemat-ize and generalize its functioning principles, and also to plan the possible directions of solving the organiza-tional and legal problems connected with the develop-ment of this concept in the Russian Federation.