Enhancing the administrative capacity of public administrations: Key Resources

Despite about 8% of #EU #Cohesion #Policy funding is spent on public administrations through technical assistance and capacity-building, the administrative capacity of public Administrations is still lacking, the enhancement of it being perceived as a major challenge in the EU and member states in: 1) Europe 2020 strategy; 2) ESIF Operational Programmes 2014/2020; 3) Country-Specific Recommendations and initiatives under European semesters, calling for the modernisation of public administration at all levels.

There are at least three huge challenges behind all this: i) improving administrative capacity and the quality of public spending; ii) modernizing the structure of public administrations; iii) tackling corruption;

While three interrelated factors determine the success of each step in the policy life-cycle: A) Structure & Governance; B) Human Resources; C) Systems and Tools.

The new programming of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) and the related operational programmes for the period 2014/2020 systematically addresses the problem.

Regulation (EU) n.1303/2013, Article 9 of Title II, strategic approach, Chapter I “Thematic objectives for the ESI Funds and Common Strategic Framework”, introduces the thematic objective #11 in the body of rules governing the common principles which apply to all five European Structural and Investment Funds (ERDF/ESF/CF/EAFRD/EMFF):

“Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration”

Through it, the European Union supports the public administrations of the Member States with concrete initiatives and resources.

Those initiatives and resources are designed and implemented by means of both the “partnership agreements” between the EU and each Member State first, and the “operational programmes”, drafted by the regions in each Member State, at a later stage.

Main issues at stake:

• Complexity of administrative organisations in some MS with unclear delegation of tasks
• High staff turnover in some MS: lack of clear HR policy
• Development and implementation of strategic plans: weak in several MS
• Weak project development capacity of (local) beneficiaries
• Underperforming sectors due to administrative capacit
• Bottlenecks linked to public procurement and state aid
• Insufficient monitoring systems in place
• Risk of fraud and corruption

Key resources, which are immediately available to public administrations and operators of the sector:

1) Guidelines for institutional capacity building (ESI Funds/DG REGIO)

In the framework of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds), the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission drew up guidelines on the implementation of all regulatory instruments provided by the new programme 2014/2020.

They include specific guidelines for all thematic objectives covered by Regulation (EU) n.1303/2013, Article 9 (common provisions regulation):http://goo.gl/9Nkqns

Among others, two of them apply to the ESF and ERDF support under thematic objective #11: “Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and an efficient public administration”. Those guidelines also explain what new interventions differ from the traditional system of support provided under the TA (technical assistance to Member States’ authorities and beneficiaries for the use of structural funds):

i) institutional capacity building: http://goo.gl/nESra2

ii) specific investment priorities for territorial cooperation: http://goo.gl/m8pgbD

2) ‘Integrity pacts” in public procurement (ESI Funds/DG REGIO)

A “Integrity Pact’ is a contract between the contracting authority and the economic operators participating in public tenders if they wish to abstain from any corrupt practices and promote transparent procurement procedures. In order to ensure accountability and legitimacy, a “integrity pact” includes an additional agreement enabling a civil society organisation to check that all parties comply with commitments.

A “integrity pact’ has multiple objectives:

• Increase transparency, accountability and good governance in public procurement;

• Enhance trust in public authorities, and help improve their reputation;

• Improve competition, promote cost efficiency and savings through better procurement system.

Integrity pacts have already been applied in many countries and contexts around the world, but their use in the field of structural and cohesion funds has been limited so far.

Recently, the European Commission launched a pilot project called “Integrity Pacts – civil control mechanism for safeguarding EU funds”, which aims to assess the extension of this scheme to the Structural and Cohesion Funds (ESI Funds). Experience carried out under this pilot project will be subsequently circulated and shared at European level.

In addition, an international conference organised by Transparency International was held in Brussels on 5 May 2015, to discuss about the suitability of the “integrity pact” as a tool to prevent corruption in the framework of the programming of the EU Structural and Cohesion Funds 2014/2020.

3) “Competence centre for administrative capacity-building and the Solidarity Fund” (Solidarity Fund/DG REGIO)

It is a new organisational structure, established within the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission, the so calld “Unit E1”, entitled to: “competence centre for administrative capacity-building and the Solidarity Fund”, which is responsible for helping Member States and regions to overcome the problems linked to the lack of administrative capacity, in order to accelerate the absorption of funds and improve the quality of spending in the current and future programming period, with particular reference to the management of the European Solidarity Fund.

4) Exchange of expertise TAIEX “PEER2PEER” (DG REGIO/ELARGEMENT-TAIEX)

TAIEX is the technical assistance and information exchange of the European Commission”. TAIEX supports the government in the field of approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as to facilitate the sharing of best practice in the EU. It is largely needs-driven and expresses appropriate tailor-made expertise to address issues at short notice in three ways

In particular, “TAIEX PEER2PEER” is designed for the sharing of knowledge between institutions, funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund.

It finances:

• Experts’ missions Experts from EU Member States can be sent to institutions in other Member States which requested peer advice and exchange of experiences on a specific topic. Expert missions can be from 2 to 5 days.

• Study visits (up to 3 employees) by an applicant institution may be sent on a working visit to other EU institutions in peer learning and the exchange of good practices. Study visits may last between 2 and 5 days.

• Workshops: Single or multi-country workshops can be organised in an applicant institution. Workshops would normally last 2 days.

Who can take part?

Public institutions involved in the management of the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund can request support:

• The managing authority;

• Intermediate bodies;

• Coordination authorities;

• Audit authority;

• Certifying authority;

• Joint Secretariats for European territorial cooperation programmes;

• Other bodies (where relevant).

How does it work in practice?

Requests for assistance must be drawn up by the competent authority of the Member State to the Commission via the online application tool.

Officials who would be willing to share their expertise should register with the experts database.

The launch-event of such a tool wason beginning of this year, 24 March 2015.

5) “Toolbox for the quality of public administration’ (DG Employment)

The “toolbox for the quality of public administration” was designed by the Directorate-General Employment of the European Commission as a useful and practical guide for civil and judicial authorities to challenges of good governance in a constantly changing environment. It examines the key elements of good governance and provide examples of positive responses to the real challenges. The package aims to support, guide and encourage those who want to build public administrations capable of contributing to create prosperous, equitable and resilient society, through:

• Good governance principles and values;

• Seven thematic chapters: 1) the definition of policies; 2) ethics and anti-corruption; 3) institutions; 4) the provision of services; 5) business environment; 6) Justice systems; 7) public finance management;

• With the addition of certain considerations specific to the management of Structural and Investment Funds referred to in thematic objective # 11 (see previous point #1).

The quality of public administration – a number of tools for business operators

6) Toolkit for effective public investment (OECD)

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development established the principles for effective public investment across levels of government, by setting out 12 recommendations in #3 pillars that represent systemic challenges to the category of “public investment”.

This instrument helps governments to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their public investment capacity and establish the priorities for action for the improvement of their capacities. These include:

• Coordination, governance arrangements and incentives (pillar 1);

• Management capacities of Public Key Infrastructure (pillar 2);

• Governance of the main framework conditions for public investment (Pillar 3).

Effective public investment across levels of government (OECD)