Project “Improvement of performance-based management”
(No VP1-4.2-VRM-01-V-01-001)
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Summary
In March 2009 the Office of the Government (since 15 September 2009, the Office of the Prime Minister) launched a project aimed at implementing performance-based management after making use of the best foreign practices. The project’s successful implementation will contribute to the enhancement of activity efficiency of the Government and of institutions accountable to it, help improve the monitoring and accountability of performance of these institutions, the functional analysis of institutions and the assessment of their budget programmes as well as the system of decision impact assessment. The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania and financed by the European Social Fund.

Why is this project needed?
♦ To orient the activities of institutions accountable to the Government to a result but not a process;
♦ To implement the Government’s priorities in a timely manner and achieve the envisaged results;
♦ To aim that the activities of institutions accountable to the Government are reviewed and assessed on a regular basis, thus ensuring a more efficient decision-making and use of taxpayer funds;
♦ To make sure that every civil servant is responsible for his performance and understands the benefit of his activity to the general public.

Goals
♦ To achieve the highest possible productivity of the Government’s activities under the existing economic circumstances;
♦ To improve the performance of institutions accountable to the Government in the priority areas set by the Government through the orientation, to the fullest extent possible, of their activities to a result but not a process;
♦ To improve the assessment system of performance monitoring at institutions accountable to the Government;
♦ To improve the system of programme assessment at institutions accountable to the Government;
♦ To create the best possible conditions for the application of information on institutional performance monitoring and assessment in Government decision-making;
♦ To gain as much as possible experience in performance-based management from the best foreign practices.

Objectives
♦ To improve the monitoring system of the performance of the Government and of institutions accountable to the Government (by implementing a general information system of monitoring);
♦ To improve the functional analysis and the assessment of budget programmes of institutions accountable to the Government;
♦ To improve the system of draft decision impact assessment.

Main stages

1. Improvement of the system of Government performance monitoring:
♦ Development of a monitoring concept of strategic action plan implementation results and of the plan of its implementation;
♦ Improvement of the performance measures necessary for result monitoring (development of a methodology of performance measures, and organisation of training);
♦ Development of a general information monitoring system and its introduction at the Ministry of Finance.

2. Improvement of the functional analysis and of assessment of the budget programmes of institutions accountable to the Government:
♦ Development of a methodology for the functional analysis and the assessment of budget programmes of institutions accountable to the Government;
♦ Testing of the methodology for the functional analysis and the assessment of budget programmes of institutions accountable to the Government in three ministries, and organisation of training.

3. Improvement of the system of draft decision impact assessment:
♦ Supplementation of a methodology for decision impact assessment, and development of a methodology for the final assessment;
♦ Carrying out of extended impact assessments through the testing of the methodologies;
♦ Designing of a training programme on the application of the impact assessment methods and methodologies, and organisation of training.

Envisaged results
♦ The implemented systems of institutional performance monitoring and institutional programme assessment will furnish the Government with the required information that will be helpful in adopting reasoned decisions having an influence on state administration and on every citizen;
♦ The developed new methodologies (for the establishment and application of performance measures, programme assessment, draft decision impact assessment) and the organised training with regard to application thereof will help civil servants to improve their administrative capacities and seek better results;
♦ The carrying out of functional analysis at institutions accountable to the Government will result in the reduction of the duplication of functions between or inside institutions and in the streamlining of their distribution;
♦ Project implementation will ensure continuous improvement of budget programmes and enhancement of the activity efficiency and accountability of institutions;
♦ The improved draft decision assessment and monitoring of decisions being implemented will provide conditions for avoiding the situations when effective decisions are being replaced solely on the grounds of failure, at the time of their adoption, to assess their likely impact on the respective areas of public life or to analyse the possible alternatives of decisions.