The procedure for establishing optimal administration in the public administration reform process has not fully achieved the planned results, the State Audit Institution (DRI) announced today.
The SAI said that appreciating the importance of implementing reform processes in the area of optimizing public administration, they conducted a review of the efficiency of establishing optimal administration in the process of public administration reform.
"The competent Collegium of the SAI, which managed the audit in question, consisting of Dr. Branislav Radulović, senator (head of the Collegium) and Dr. Milan Dabović (member of the Collegium), assessed that the procedure for establishing optimal administration in the process of public administration reform, in the period 2016-2025, was not sufficiently efficient and did not fully achieve the planned results. Based on the audit conducted, the SAI assessed that the planned measures and activities did not result in a reduction in the number of employees. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the number of employees in public administration is continuously growing at an average rate of 2,12% per year in the period 2019-2024. The total number of employees in public administration in 2024 is 54.276, of which 47.284 at the central level," the statement states.
The SAI added that the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2016-2020, among other things, aimed to improve human resource management and establish an effective system for monitoring and optimizing the number of employees and measuring the quality of their work, and that the goal was to be achieved by implementing three result indicators and 33 sub-activities.
"In the period 2016–2020, out of a total of 33 planned sub-activities, 14 or 42% were implemented. The result of the above is that the target value of only one of the three indicators was achieved. In the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2022 - 2026 (Action Plan 2022-2024), an operational goal was set - Optimal Administration, which was to be achieved by implementing two indicators and eight activities. In the period 2022–2024, out of two result indicators, one indicator was implemented, while no target value was set for the other," the statement reads.
The SAI said that the audit procedure determined that the two operational structures formed to monitor the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2022-2026, by the time of the audit, had not carried out their tasks in the manner established by their founding acts.
"The operational structures did not provide a complete analysis and assessment of the level of implementation of the activities envisaged by the Strategy and did not inform the Public Administration Reform Council about the challenges and delays in the implementation of the Strategy. The State Auditor determined that the proactive role of the Public Administration Reform Council in establishing a functional coordination structure for monitoring the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2022-2026 was not ensured," the SAI said.
According to them, essentially, the implementation of public administration reform strategies in the area of public administration optimization was mainly reduced to normative changes and formal document development, while activities requiring interdepartmental cooperation, IT integration, implementation of supervision, capacity development and cultural changes remained completely or partially unrealized.
"This indicates that the public administration reform was accompanied by a pronounced formalization, but without a substantial transformation of the system, which seriously questions the sustainability and achievement of planned results. Due to the importance of the findings determined by the audit, the Audit Report was submitted for information to the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget of the Parliament of Montenegro. The interested public can familiarize themselves with the content of the final Performance Audit Report 'Efficiency of Establishing Optimal Administration in the Process of Public Administration Reform' on the official website www.dri.co.me", the announcement reads.
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