site.btaDeputy PM Donchev: Shared Administrative Services Will Lead to Savings

Sofia, September 25 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and World Bank Country Manager for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia Tony Thompson Monday presented at the Council of Ministers a project for introducing the principle of shared services in the central administration's organization and work.

Under the present model, each administration has an organisation unit but good practices show that administrations' similar activities can be carried out by separate centres. Such activities usually include management of finances and human resources, information services and public procurement preparation, Donchev explained. The use of the shared services model will lead to savings because of the change in scale and the introduction of uniform standards, he noted. It is expected that many people in the common administrations will become redundant but the practice in other countries is to requalify them and transfer them to other job positions, the Deputy PM went on to say. He expressed certainty that there will be a decrease in the number of employees and in expenditures but did not mention specific sums and percentages.

The World Bank will cooperate fully with the Government in this important reform, Thompson said. Bulgaria is among the few EU countries that do not apply the shared services model; at the same time, there is no common model for all states: each country has its own experience and way of introducing shared services, said Krassimir Bozhanov, Director of the Modernization of Administration Directorate at the Council of Ministers.

Within the project, two pilot administrations will be selected for the introduction of shared services. The selection will be a political decision which will be discussed at the Council for Administrative Reform, Bozhanov specified. He said they expect to achieve integration of the departments' databases and a drop in the common and personnel expenditures. The project is funded with 5 million leva, around half of which will go for the work of the World Bank experts and the other, for the administrations wishing to participate in the reform.