This paper provides new grounds for research and applications in designing, developing, implementing and institutionalizing decision support systems and their use in socio-economic development. The paper describes the experience of the cabinet of Egypt with socio-economic decision making and its implications on the emergence of a new type of information-based organization, the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC). The paper demonstrates unconventional uses of decision support systems through the use of an issue-based management approach in the design and delivery of decision support systems. Such effort falls within Egypt's comprehensive plan to introduce and rationalize the use of information technology at large in various key sectors in the economy. The paper includes decision support cases demonstrating the experience of the cabinet of Egypt in supporting decision making for socio-economic development with challenges faced and lessons learned.