central state administration reform - description

Central State Administration Reform

The Government of the Czech Republic approved on 17 March 2004 by its Resolution No. 237 the overall strategic paper "Approach to Central State Administration Modernisation and Reform". This Resolution launched the implementation of the Central State Administration Reform in the Czech Republic.

Vision of the Reform
"Flexible and better functioning central state administration
responding better to global challenges and cross-cutting issues."

Why Central State Administration Reform?

The aim of reform is to ensure, through intervention into the current system, better enforcement of law adn more effective services provided by the central state administration serving the Government and society. Central state administration authorities should be focused more on the quality of their services and outputs they provide and react in a better and more flexible way on demand expressed by citizens. Tools providing for systematic use of cost-benefit analysis on public finance to economise central state administration operational expenditure should be introduced. Implementation of Government policies should be enhanced, as well as background information submitted to the Government for its decision-making. The reform should also support wider use of modern technologies and managerial techniques and enhance horizontal co-ordination and communication among central state administration authorities.

Project management tool is being used for the implementation of the whole reform process.

Why project management?

Exploitation of the project management is appropriate mainly because of the following attributes:

• higher flexibility
• suppression of departments´ own preferences
• better targets orientation
• greater team co-operation
• greater transparency
• increased responsibility for outputs

Project management consists of five main activities with their internal order of sequence, however, these activities do not have to be always implemented separately:

• project targets definition
• planning
• management
• monitoring
• project termination

Reform co-ordination

The main responsibility for the reform falls within the duties of the Prime Minister.

Co-ordination of activities within project management and respective tasks in the reform falls within duties of the Head of the Office of the Government. For this purpose, Department of Regulatory Reform and Central State Administration Reform within the Office of the Government is charged with implementation of particular tasks.

Top level operational body of the reform is the Central State Administration Reform Steering Committee which monitors work on the reform and approves its further progress. All project outputs are submitted to this Steering Committee in order to express its opinion on it.

Project teams are established to provide implementation of separate projects headed by appointed project managers. Practical implementation of tasks is assigned to project teams which are created to each project. A project manager is appointed as a head of each project team as the responsible person for the progress of a respective project. Among others, to his / her duty belongs e.g. keeping the records of project documentation.