SIGMA Baseline Measurement Report presentation

© OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
SIGMA Baseline
Measurement Report
Marian Lemke and Alastair Swarbrick, OECD/SIGMA
Chisinau, 12 May 2016

Aim and focus of Principles of
Public Administration
• SIGMA has worked with EU accession countries for
almost 25 years, including CEE countries which are now
EU member states contributing valuable reform
experience
• Derived from EU and OECD requirements, international
standards and good practice in EU/OECD countries, the
Principles provide a guide for countries in their reform
processes and an analytical framework for
benchmarking of performance
• The Principles comprise only key requirements for
horizontal aspects of good governance

Areas of Principles for public
administration reform (1)
1. Strategic framework for public administration reform — the political
commitment to the reform process, including political leadership and
technical coordination and monitoring of implementation.
2. Policy development and co-ordination — appropriate co-ordination
at the centre of government, inter-ministerial co-ordination, policy
development and financial analysis.
3. Public service and human resources management — organisation
and functioning of the public service, including depoliticisation, merit-
based recruitment and promotion, training and professionalisation.
2

Areas of Principles for public
administration reform (2)
4. Accountability — transparency of administration, including access to
information and possibility of administrative and legal redress.
5. Service delivery — improving services for citizens and business,
including better administrative procedures and e-government
services.
6. Public financial management (PFM) — a more comprehensive
approach to improving the overall budgetary process and the
management of public finances, including public procurement.
3

PAR Baseline measurement in
Moldova - process
• April 2015 – the EU Delegation in Chisinau expressed
interest in Baseline Measurement
• July – the project initiated
• September – high level kick-off meeting in Chisinau
• October – data collection sheet sent to Moldova
• November – fact-finding mission to Moldova
• December – “key messages” delivered to the EU Del
• February 2016 – draft reports sent to Moldova for fact
checking
• March – final reports delivered
4

The Baseline Measurement
Report
• State of Play – for December 2015
• Main Developments 2014-15
• Assessment
• Recommendations:
 Short-term (1-2 years)
 Medium-term (3-5 years)
5

Moldova compared to IPA
countries
6
1.33
3.44
2.55
2.25 2.33
1.95
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Strategic framework
of PAR
Policy development
and co-ordination
Public service and
HRM
Accountability Service delivery Public financial
management

General findings
• Legal framework for key requirements mostly
in place, but some gaps
• Several areas still not harmonised with acquis
• Serious problems with implementation,
outcomes not satisfactory
• Statistical data incomplete
7

The strategic framework for
public administration reform
Key requirement: The leadership of PAR is established and the strategic
framework provides the basis for implementing prioritised and sequenced
reform activities aligned with the Government’s financial circumstances.
• The strategic framework PAR is fragmented; monitoring and reporting is not in
place for several PAR areas.
• No comprehensive overview, monitoring and reporting.
• The financial sustainability of PAR is not ensured.
Key requirement: PAR management enables guiding and steering the reform and
determines the accountability for implementation.
• No robust and functioning PAR co-ordination structures.
• No clear responsibilities of the involved institutions
8

Recommendations
• To prepare a comprehensive strategic framework for
defining the reforms in the public administration;
• To strengthen co-ordination and monitoring mechanisms
and capacities both at political and administrative level;
• To ensure that the strategic documents have budgets
attached to them in order to ensure that the planned
reforms will be implemented.
9

Policy development and co-ordination
Key requirement: Centre of government institutions ensure well-organised
competent policy making system.
• All CoG functions are established, but implementation remains a challenge.
• EI co-ordination institutional and legal framework is developed, but costing of
EI reforms is not in place.
Key requirement: Policy planning is harmonised, aligned with the Government’s
financial circumstances and ensures the Government is able to achieve its
objectives.
• A system of medium-term planning exists, but some detailed regulations are
missing
• Fiscal alignment of strategies and elaboration of costing of reforms are not
carried out comprehensively or consistently
• The implementation of reporting requirements is inconsistent
10

Policy development and co-ordination (2)
Key requirement: Government decisions and legislation are transparent, legally
compliant and accessible to the public. Work of the Government is scrutinised
by the Parliament.
• The transparency of Government decision making is commendable
• The dialogue between the Government and Parliament is regular and frequent
• The Government does not provide the Parliament with all supporting
documentation
Key requirement: Inclusive, evidence based policy and legislative development
enables the achievement of intended policy objectives.
• The overall system for policy development is well-organised and supported by
appropriate rules
• The legal framework for inclusive and evidence-based policy making is in place,
but its implementation is limited
• Regulation sets clear procedures for the involvement of stakeholders in policy
making
• All primary and secondary legislation is available electronically
11

Recommendations
• To clarify functions, roles and responsibilities of the main institutions
involved in policy making and the implementation of the policies, and
to develop unified, written and aligned procedures and
methodologies;
• Co-ordination must be strengthened for co-ordination and for
monitoring of the Government's performance;
• To improve the exchange of information with the Parliament and
gradually introduce a system of regular reporting on implementation
of major laws;
• To strengthen the use of instruments for assessing the potential
impacts of the policies and to ensure that costs of reforms are
systematically calculated;
• To establish and regularly utilise inter-institutional conflict resolution
forums at both high administrative and political levels.
12

Public service and human resource management
Key requirement: The scope of public service is clearly defined and applied in
practice, policy, legal framework and institutional set-up for professional public
service is in place.
• The horizontal scope of the civil service does not cover all necessary institutions
and groups of civil servants.
• The Civil Service Law is not fully and properly implemented
Key requirement: Professionalism of public service is ensured by good
managerial standards and practices of human resource management.
• Open competition for the recruitment of civil servant is limited in practice.
• Recruitment for senior positions is well regulated
• The salary system is established in the CSL, but does not work well in practice
• Significant efforts to promote integrity, but the perception of corruption is still
very high
13

Recommendations
• To review the legal framework for the civil service to cover all
institutions exercising typical tasks of governmental
administration and to ensure that recruitment is based on
merit, promotions are based on objective arguments and
dismissals are subject to a clearly defined and objective
procedure;
• To improve the salary system;
• To strengthen the IT system gathering information of civil
servants and other public employees;
• To fill the vacant positions of State Secretaries, clarify their
responsibilities and limit discretion in their appointment and
dismissal.
14

Accountability
Key requirement: Proper mechanisms are in place to ensure
accountability of state administration bodies that include also their
liability and transparency.
• The legislative framework on the organisation of the state
administration exists, but is inconsistent and fragmented
• The Law on Access to Information establishes procedural guarantees of
right to access to public information, but it fails to establish a
mechanism for monitoring and promoting proactive disclosure of
information
• Legislation on the People’s Advocate Institution meets international
standards, the level of implementation of recommendations is
increasing
• The efficiency of courts (administrative cases) is relatively high,
although public trust in the judiciary remains extremely low
• There is no data to allow assessment of implementation of provisions
on public liability
15

Recommendations
• To review the cost effectiveness and efficiency of the state-
owned enterprises performing administrative functions;
• To strengthen co-ordination procedures for the implementation
of judicial reforms, including the administrative court system;
• To extensively amend the Law on Access to Public Information
to improve its implementation;
• To strengthen the capacities of the People’s Advocate
institution and to introduce comprehensive procedures for
monitoring implementation of its recommendations;
• To review the existing regulation on public liability and
compensations in case of administrative wrongdoing.
16

Service delivery
Key requirement: Administration is citizen oriented; quality and
accessibility of public services is ensured.
• Policies and priorities for citizen-oriented service delivery are in
place, and there is progress in development of digital service
delivery
• An overarching law on general administrative procedures does
not exist and there are few effective mechanisms to enforce
transparency in decision making
• The Government has few effective mechanisms to ensure quality
of public services (except digital public services)
• Territorial service provision and business-oriented one-stop
shops are well developed, but citizen-oriented one-stop shops do
not exist
17

Recommendations
• To strengthen the capacities for designing, implementing and
monitoring service delivery reforms. and promoting
continuous improvement in service quality and accessibility for
all, especially for people with special needs;
• To develop an overarching law on general administrative
procedures to enforce good administration principles;
• To continue with digitisation focusing on high-priority areas and
advancing communication between systems and institutions,
and gradually remove digital and physical barriers hindering
access to public services.
18

Public financial management
Key requirement: The Budget is formulated in compliance with transparent legal
provisions, ensuring that the general government budget balance and the debt
to gross domestic product ratio are on a sustainable path.
• The legislation sets out a clear timetable for the Budget, but the timetable has
been not observed in recent years.
Key requirement: Accounting and reporting practices ensure transparency and
public scrutiny over public finances, and both cash and debt are managed
centrally in line with legal provisions.
• The treasury management system ensures that the payments and revenues are
centralised
• There is active management of public sector debt, but the sharp increase in
debt due to the national bank guarantee is a significant new factor.
• Annual financial statements for the state budget and the health and social
insurance funds are prepared, but have not been discussed by the Parliament in
recent years
19

Public financial management (2)
Key requirement: National Financial Management and Control policy is in line
with the EU requirements and is systematically implemented throughout the
public sector.
• Most elements of an effective framework for FMC have been in place, but
further work is required to facilitate effective FMC
• Development of FMC at an organisational level is lagging behind of the overall
framework.
Key requirement: The internal audit function is established throughout the
public sector and internal audit work is carried out according to international
standards.
• The operational framework for internal audit is in line with international
standards, but not all public institutions required to have internal audit have
set up IA units
• Many IA units have just a single internal auditor, which is not conducive to an
efficient and effective IA service
20

Key requirement: Public procurement procedures reflect the EU principles and
are supported by competent and adequately resourced institutions.
• New PPL was adopted in 2015 to approximate the PPL with the EU
requirements, but several significant problems remain.
• The Public Procurement Agency combines supervisory, advisory and review
functions (not in line with the EU requirements).
Key requirement: In case of alleged breaches of procurement rules, aggrieved
parties have access to justice through an independent, transparent, effective
and efficient remedies.
• No guarantee of independence of the Complaint Settlement Agency. No
transparency of its work and decisions.
Key requirement: Contracting authorities are adequately staffed and resourced
and carry out their work in accordance with applicable regulations and
recognised good practice.
• Weak implementation contributes to inefficient use of public funds.
• Capacity building and training activities are not sufficient. 21

Key requirement: The constitutional and legal framework guarantees
the independence, mandate and organisation of the Supreme Audit
Institution to perform its mandate according to international standards,
allowing for high-quality audit that impacts on public sector
functioning.
• The independence, mandate and organisation of the Court of Auditors
are established, although not provided for in the Constitution,
• The CoA has a significant number of public institutions covered, and it’s
not possible for the CoA to audit all institutions every year,
• The CoA is developing its professional practices in line with
international standards, but the number of recommendations
implemented is low and Parliamentary scrutiny is not well developed.
22

Recommendations
• To prepare a more comprehensive Mid-Term Budgetary Framework
(the basis for multi-annual budget), including analysis of long-term
costs of investment, debt analysis and projected evolution of public
sector debt;
• To secure more tangible support for the development of the financial
management and control system and carry out more detailed follow-
up of the Internal Audit annual reports;
• To amend the Public Procurement Law to align it with EU standards in
order to make procurements safer, reducing arbitrary contract awards
and enabling a fair independent complaint review mechanism;
• To strengthen the Court of Auditors' capacities and to establish
effective arrangements with the Parliament to ensure that the CoA‘
recommendations are systematically implemented.
23

Thank you
www.sigmaweb.org
24

SIGMA Baseline Measurement Report presentation

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to SIGMA Baseline Measurement Report presentation

More from Support for Improvement in Governance and Management SIGMA

Recently uploaded

SIGMA Baseline Measurement Report presentation