LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM INSIGHTS FROM RECENT COUNTRY EXPERIENCE AUTHORS Aris Molfetas (amolfetas@worldbank.org) is a Private Sector Specialist in the World Bank Group’s Global Business Regulation Unit. He advises governments in a range of areas relevant to business regulation and construction regulation reform. John Wille (jwille@worldbank.org) is a Lead Private Sector Specialist in the World Bank Group’s Global Business Regulation Unit. He advises governments on the use of e-Government solutions to improve government to-business service delivery, in support of business regulation reform. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors appreciate feedback and advice received from Joyce Ibrahim, Private Sector Specialist, Marie Lily Delion, Private Sector Specialist, Markus Kimani, Private Sector Specialist, Matina Deen, Senior Private Sector Specialist, Michael De Lint, Consultant and Trimor Mici, Senior Operations Officer. DISCLAIMER This note is published by the Global Business Regulation Unit of the World Bank Group. It discusses practical considerations and approaches for implementing reforms that aim to improve the business environment. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this note are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. ABOUT THE GLOBAL BUSINESS REGULATION UNIT The Global Business Regulation Unit of the World Bank Group supports client governments through analytics, advice and lending operations, to implement reforms designed to promote an efficient, transparent and predictable business environment for growth. JUNE 2018 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM INSIGHTS FROM RECENT COUNTRY EXPERIENCE Governments have engaged in reforms aimed at improving building control and accelerating issuance of construction permits, which in turn can help improve the competitiveness of their business environments. To that end, national and local authorities increasingly leverage information and communications technology (ICT) solutions to improve processing times, transparency, and predictability for the private sector; increase compliance by the building industry; enhance efficiency and accountability for the public sector; and lower costs for all involved parties. A recent survey conducted by the Global Business Regulation Unit in the World Bank Group’s Macroeconomics Trade and Investment Global Practice examines the experience of 27 national and local authorities that have deployed ICT solutions to support more effective building control. Good regulations, combined with sound property tax revenue.3 Unpredictable, lengthy, enforcement mechanisms and an efficient, and expensive permitting procedures influence transparent, and affordable permitting process, entrepreneurs’ decision making. A recent can ensure safety standards for the community, competitiveness report on the US, for example, facilitate investment in new building stock, and found that construction costs and the permitting contribute to capital formation.1 A recent study process were among the top 20 factors in shows that long delays in obtaining permits determining the location of a start-up.4 Given the can lead to higher transaction costs and fewer relevance of this area for both communities and transactions.2 Similarly, an earlier study in the investors, governments have sought to leverage United States (US) found that accelerating permit technology to enhance permitting service delivery approvals by 3 months in a 22-month project and improve availability of zoning requirements cycle could increase construction spending and and building regulatory information. 1 Modern technology solutions enable building departments and other agencies involved in BOX 1: SERBIA’S FAR-REACHING REFORMS IN administrative decisions regarding planning, CONSTRUCTION REGULATION CULMINATED IN A zoning, and building to streamline and automate NATIONAL E-PERMITS PORTAL IN 2016 their procedures and to improve transparency and accountability in government service delivery. The emergence of nationwide platforms for construction permit Electronic permitting has evolved since the early 1980s when only a few pioneering jurisdictions administration is one of the notable trends highlighted by this survey. in the US and Europe had their own self-created With the increasing use of cloud-based technologies in government, software on mainframe computers.5 Today, software deployment of nationwide transactional portals has become a cost- vendors offer sophisticated technology solutions effective approach to standardizing delivery of permitting services within that can be tailored to each jurisdiction’s needs and a country. Serbia provides a good example. budgets. These range from customized software to off-the-shelf packages and from task-specific systems to more integrated solutions that coordinate Until 2014, developers seeking to obtain a building permit in Serbia faced all building department activities, connect to other high costs and a long, convoluted process involving several agencies with stakeholder agencies, and provide end users with a limited coordination. Following a set of reforms implemented between public interface through which to submit permit 2014 and 2016, Serbia has addressed some of the major challenges and applications and monitor the review process. now offers developers a more transparent and efficient system, enabled by a national e-permit portal. A 2014 law on planning and construction To assess the current state and level of effectiveness of these efforts, the Global Business Regulation Unit introduced a new governance framework, including a new standardized in the World Bank Group’s Macroeconomics Trade procedure with strict timelines for review. A clear supervision hierarchy and Investment Global Practice has undertaken a and sanctions were also established, allowing an independent central survey of the ICT solutions deployed by 27 national agency to monitor performance at the municipal level. A year later, a and local governmental authorities. This note new integrated system was launched, and migration was initiated by reviews the main findings of that study. digitizing records. The new system attributed a “leading agency” role to the municipalities, which had become the single access points for developers, consistent with a One-Stop Shop approach. In 2016, a national online THE SURVEY AND REFORM CONTEXT platform was launched with a wide scope of functionalities, such as electronic filing, archiving, electronic exchange of information between the A World Bank team identified approximately 60 various authorities, automatic notifications to reviewers about upcoming cities globally that currently employ ICT solutions deadlines, and monitoring of all statutory deadlines. The platform in the area of building control and permitting. Out of these, 27 jurisdictions6 were surveyed for the automated the new standardized process across municipalities, improved study. Among the surveyed regimes, early adopters controls during construction, centralized the system for utility approvals, had begun rolling out their ICT solutions for and introduced a new information system for end users and a monitoring permitting in the early 2000s. This cohort includes mechanism for the authorities. The Serbian Business Registry Agency primarily high-income countries, such as the platform now connects more than 7,000 employees and 1,200 institutions Netherlands, which launched the omgevingsloket in and offers 30 different business processes online. Doing Business 2018 2010, and Singapore, which launched CORENET in 2001. The majority of surveyed jurisdictions, reflects these results: Two years after concluding these reforms, Serbia’s however, deployed their systems more recently, economy leapfrogged from the global rank of 152 in 2016, to 10 in 2018. primarily between 2014 and 2016. 2014 2015 2016 2017 onw rd Almost half of the surveyed platforms were implemented within a broader context of legal and Construction Int r tion & N tion l regulatory reforms in building control. In Serbia, R ul tion On oin St nd rdi tion E-P rmit Fr m work (OSS) S st m R forms for example, the national portal for construction L w permitting was implemented following a set of far-reaching reforms between 2014 and 2016 (see Box 1). 2 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM When ICT is combined with broader reforms The survey further revealed that about a third in construction regulation at the national level, of the technology platforms surveyed have a governments can reap the full benefits of new national scope (see Box 2). Several reformers technologies by integrating back-office procedures in the Balkans region, for example, recently through software solutions linking the stakeholder implemented centralized national portals for agencies and offering integrated service delivery construction permits.7 In most other cases, the to the private sector. In about a third of the cases system covered multiple jurisdictions within the surveyed, the ICT solution was implemented economy’s commercial capital. Lastly, several When ICT is combined in the context of downstream reforms aimed at of the jurisdictions included in the survey with broader reforms in improving service delivery for construction permits implemented a technology solution developed and were accompanied by other simplification and by the World Bank Group for use in developing construction regulation streamlining initiatives. In fewer instances, the regions in which no local commercial offering was ICT solution was implemented independently of available; this application is further described in at the national level, other reforms. Box 3. governments can reap the full benefits of new technologies by BOX 2: THE EMERGENCE OF NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS integrating back-office FOR BUILDING CONTROL, A NEW TREND? procedures through The emergence of national platforms for building control is one of the notable trends software solutions highlighted in this survey since an increasing number of jurisdictions have implemented (Serbia) or are currently implementing (Albania) technology platforms that allow linking the stakeholder applicants across the country to submit permitting applications online. agencies and offering Although building code implementation is devolved to local governments, national integrated service portals can offer several advantages, particularly in jurisdictions with uneven capacity delivery to the private and resources for building control. For example, deployment of national transactional sector. portals is a cost-effective approach to standardize service delivery of permitting services across a country. At the same time, national technology platforms can help building departments in under-resourced local governments deliver adequate services, when they lack resources or relevant expertise. The urban building stock is expected to double in developing countries by 2030 and this may put local governments in urban areas under increased pressure. When building authorities lack the staff or expertise to evaluate complex project proposals, a national technology platform can help leverage experts elsewhere, in government or the private sector, to review these designs. A centrally-managed technology solution can also help reduce the technology management burden on local governments by outsourcing this function to a designated authority and reaping the benefits offered by scale. Lastly, a national technology platform can help strengthen oversight and performance management. For example, the central authority managing the platform can monitor service delivery by local building authorities and technical review agencies (if these are connected to the system) or even track performance of individual reviewers. INSIGHTS FROM RECENT COUNTRY EXPERIENCE 3 BOX 3: THE WORLD BANK GROUP’S TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION FOR BUILDING CONTROL In 2011, the WBG supported the pilot deployment of an online system supporting construction permit administration in Nairobi, Kenya. Due to the lack of commercial software alternatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, the WBG teamed a local software developer with international building control experts to develop a technology solution using open source technologies (PHP, Symfony, MySQL). This approach enabled the WBG to retain the intellectual property rights and provide the system license- free to the Nairobi County government. This has proved to be a cost-effective and sustainable approach, particularly when the application is hosted in a government or public cloud environment, and it has since been replicated in several other developing countries. The WBG system automates the entire application and review process and supports several permit types. These may include construction and occupancy permits and development permits (change of use, land subdivision, demolition permits etc.). It can be integrated with electronic payment systems through a variety of online payment channels, such as debit cards and bank and mobile money transfers. Once registered in the system, building professionals can submit their permit applications online as well as upload blueprints and supporting documentation. Applications can be reviewed online by various government departments either sequentially or concurrently. Tracking and monitoring tools, such as SMS or email notifications and a personalized web interface, inform applicants at key milestones of the approval process (such as when a payment is due), and the actual permit document can be issued online when the review is completed. The application supports activities during construction as well. Field inspectors can upload information using mobile devices, for example, and the system generates preconfigured checklists to ensure consistency in building control. This documentation can then be used in issuing the occupancy permit. A flexible reporting module enables users to generate specific reports and statistics. In some jurisdictions, the system has been integrated with land management and GIS systems. Users can thus more easily leverage existing land and geospatial data in the permit review process. A searchable archive helps ensure all captured information is secure and instantaneously retrievable. Various encryption mechanisms ensure that all stored information, as well as system messages, are protected. A robust user-management module ensures that users receive only those system privileges they need to perform their tasks. Where nationwide authentication (single sign-on) is in place, the system can also be integrated with external authentication mechanisms. Moreover, secure audit trails capture all actions performed by users, strengthening accountability. Today this system is deployed in more than eight jurisdictions across four countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, and Lesotho. In Rwanda, the system supports permit administration in the nation’s seven largest cities and will eventually be rolled out nationwide. The costs per deployment average between US$120,000 and US$140,000 for system configuration, localization, and staff training, not including any needed upgrades to ICT infrastructure. The benefits realized include increased transparency of permitting processes, reduced compliance costs for businesses, and, for governments, increased ability to handle growing permit volumes with existing staff and increased revenues through improved compliance and fee collection. 4 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM SURVEY FINDINGS process, including both back- and front-office automation. In some cases, however, applicants must Common features and functionalities still visit the issuing authority’s premises to submit The surveyed entities’ ICT applications vary widely applications and blueprints, as in Kabul, Afghanistan, in capabilities, ranging from back-office systems for example. These situations perhaps arise due to intended to improve workflow to more sophisticated not yet adequate legal or local telecommunications enterprise systems. The latter category can typically infrastructures. The survey revealed, for example, serve many departments in a local government, that around 30 percent of economies deploying In terms of features and coordinate a range of activities,8 offer transactional ICT permitting systems have not yet enacted a legal functionalities, almost services to end users, and provide project tracking framework for digital signatures. In other cases, tools for both building control bodies and building internet connectivity may not be fast and reliable all surveyed technology practitioners. Figure 1 summarizes the scope of the enough to support uploading large files such as surveyed systems showing their level of sophistication, building designs produced through computer-aided solutions supported which in some cases may be higher in developing design (CAD) or building information modeling several construction- countries than in some high-income economies. For (BIM). example, although over 80 percent of the surveyed related procedures, systems allow applicants to track the status of their In terms of features and functionalities, almost all applications, this percentage is higher in developing surveyed technology solutions supported several ranging from zoning countries (89 percent). In most cases, the option construction-related procedures, ranging from and land use requests to track applications is available through a web zoning and land use requests to demolition permits interface, and in over one-third of cases this option and regularization of informal buildings. In some to demolition permits is also available through SMS notification. Only in cases, the system allows applicants to complete exceptional cases, however, can applicants track their procedures online even during the construction and regularization of applications through a smartphone application. phase. In about a third of the surveyed systems, for informal buildings. example, applicants can request on-site inspections The surveyed ICT systems offer both back-office online, and inspectors can upload information (such automation and public portals allowing end users as pictures) directly from the field using mobile to complete procedures online (Jamaica’s Amanda devices. Figure 2 summarizes the survey findings on system is an exception; it does not currently have a the main features and functionalities offered by the client facing feature). In addition, in 81 percent of surveyed systems. More than half of these systems surveyed regimes the application led to a paperless allow applicants to complete post-permit procedures, FIGURE 1: SCOPE OF ICT SOLUTIONS In some cases, applicants in low and middle-income economies captured in the survey must still visit the issuing authority’s premises to file applications, possibly due to inadequate internet bandwidth and ICT literacy. Int rn l onlin workflow llowin r l v nt ov rnm nt st ff to r vi w nd comm nt on pplic tions El ctronic pplic tion c n b submitt d onlin (without visitin th issuin uthorit ’s pr mis s) Abilit for pplic nt to monitor st tus of p ndin pplic tion throu h w bsit or SMS Abilit for pplic nt to fil n pp l to d cision durin th pl n r vi w or construction ph s 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Hi h Incom Countri s Low or Middl Incom Countri s INSIGHTS FROM RECENT COUNTRY EXPERIENCE 5 FIGURE 2: CORE FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITIES The advent and affordability of ICT has allowed small cities, such as Maseru in Lesotho, to implement systems with features comparable to those in high-income economies. S rch for onin r quir m nts th t ppl to p rticul r plot R qu st nd/or ppointm nt of sit insp ctors Applic tion for occup nc p rmits Zonin r qu sts nd/or pprov ls Onlin f p m nts D t xch n with oth r ov rnm nt nci s Acc ss to th s st m b multipl buildin uthoriti s On-lin pl n r vi ws Applic tion for construction/d molition p rmits (includin uplo din of buildin pl ns) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Hi h Incom Countri s Low or Middl Incom Countri s FIGURE 3: CONNECTIVITY AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE such as inspections and applications for occupancy WITH OTHER AGENCIES permits. More than a third of the systems allow applicants to notify authorities of commencement of works, while over half allow applicants to notify Information exchange is typically established between the land authorities and the authorities upon completion of works and request central GIS system when available. their occupancy permit. Most of these applications, in both developed and developing economies, also B nkin institutions support online fee payment. L nd pl nnin or onin uthoriti s Accessibility and information exchange with agencies outside the building authorities T x uthorit Nearly all the surveyed solutions enable data sharing but the degree of information exchange varies C ntr l GIS s st m significantly. Dakar’s TeleDac, for example, which covers 52 municipalities in the Dakar metropolitan Oth r nci s (fir , civil vi tion, nvironm nt, floodpl in control, tr nsport tion nd area, shares information with 96 agencies, ranging hi hw s, cultur l h rit ) from land planning, land registration, and tax authorities to forestry, fire, and civil aviation L nd uthoriti s (l nd r istr or c d str ) departments to utility services and banking institutions. In cases where a system has a narrower Utiliti s ( l ctricit , s, s w , t l coms, w t r) scope and covers one or a few municipalities, as in Istanbul, Turkey, information exchange with other Th solution supports onlin inform tion agencies is typically more limited. Figure 3 illustrates xch n with oth r nci s the percentage of systems reporting information 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% sharing with select authorities. Broadly, the higher the 6 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM number of stakeholders connected to the system, the FIGURE 4: TRANSPARENCY BEFORE CONSTRUCTION (A), greater the benefits for building authorities, referral AND TRANSPARENCY DURING CONSTRUCTION (B) agencies, and end users. When building authorities can share plans online, for example, reviews occur significantly faster than manual processes. Permit A. Wh t t p of inform tion is v il bl b for construction? applications can be routed directly to reviewers D cision Crit ri us d b th in other relevant agencies, allowing concurrent p rmittin / pplic bl l w nc performance of reviews. This unlocks opportunities for greater service integration, as users may be R l v nt f sch dul s able to submit applications through a single access point (typically the municipality) without needing Docum nt tion r quir m nts for to visit each stakeholder agency independently, pr limin r pprov ls nd pl n r vi ws thus lowering private sector compliance costs and agencies’ administrative costs. Applic bl l ws nd r ul tions 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Transparency Greater access to regulatory information is B. Wh t t p of inform tion is v il bl durin construction? consistently associated with more efficient regulatory processes.9 In the context of construction permitting, No, tr ckin m ch nism is not v il bl for nd-us rs/ pplic nts this is relevant both to enhance legal certainty for developers regarding where and what they can build Applic nts c n tr ck th st tus of th ir and to enable applicants to complete the application pplic tion vi mobil pplic tion (iOS, Android) process without incurring “facilitation fees.” ICT can Applic nts c n tr ck th st tus of be leveraged to improve transparency both before th ir pplic tion vi w b int rf c and after filing a permit application by making zoning and building regulation information easily Applic nts c n tr ck th st tus of th ir pplic tion vi SMS notific tion accessible to users and by providing applicants with an “architect’s portal” for finding comprehensive 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% information on permitting requirements. The majority of surveyed systems offer such services, as shown in Figure 4A. Similarly, good practice applications allow users to track the status of their government budgets, while the rest use a combination The higher the number applications during the review phase, a feature of of internal resources and transaction fees to ensure almost 80 percent of the surveyed systems (Figure sustainability. The implementation cost varies of stakeholders 4B). In most cases this option is available through greatly depending on the systems’ scope. Solutions connected to the system, a web interface, although several technology implemented in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin solutions provide SMS or e-mail notifications at key American regions generally cost in the range of the greater the benefits milestones in the approval process. US$200,000 to US$800,000, with some outliers above and below those figures. Solutions developed for building authorities, more recently in the Balkans region typically range Procurement and management of the referral agencies, and between US$250,000 and US$500,000, but most technology solution of these have a national scope. Systems in middle- end users. According to all the respondents from developed and high-income economies tend to require larger economies10 and just under half of the respondents investments, ranging from US$600,000 to over from developing economies, government budgets US$20 million, although most fell between US$2 funded the implementation of the technology million and US$10 million. solution.11 The remaining solutions in developing economies were funded by donors or by a The technology platforms are managed and combination of donor and government budgets. maintained in a variety of ways as well. About half At the same time, no clear pattern emerges between of the surveyed regimes opted for government- funding the systems’ maintenance and national owned technology managed by government IT staff. income levels. About half of the systems rely on The remaining systems were equally distributed INSIGHTS FROM RECENT COUNTRY EXPERIENCE 7 between government-owned platforms managed by The ability to track permit workflow and contractor IT staff and technology platforms hosted administrative performance through management offsite and managed either in-house or by contractor dashboards helped improve accountability and IT staff. An interesting trend revealed by the survey performance management. Some respondents is that while most developing economies typically also cited improved record and data reliability due rely on government staff for platform management to digitization and increased capacity to perform and maintenance, developed economies are likely building control activities, such as scheduling Technology solutions to outsource these functions to contractors. At the inspections. Notably, where the technology solution same time, almost all the regimes surveyed receive had a national scope, some respondents stated that brought significant some services from external vendors, even when the automation helped push broader standardization efficiency gains by governments own the technology and manage the and uniformity in building control procedures platform in-house. across the country. allowing authorities to In terms of software, the survey revealed a preference Furthermore, it was widely reported that efficiency process higher volumes for custom-developed solutions over off-the-shelf gains trickled down to service delivery and of applications at lower packages, while none of the surveyed systems translated into faster processing with lower volumes employed a software-as-a-service12 approach. As of interaction at a lower cost for the community. administrative cost. a result, the majority of governments own the Singapore, for example, estimates that CORENET intellectual property (source code) of the software contributed to compliance cost savings of about applications, making them less dependent on US$250 million for the private sector since its external vendors. Respondents cited as the most launch.13 Enhanced transparency and compliance important factors behind selecting a custom is almost universally cited by respondents as these solution the lack of specific features, the perceived technologies allow applicants to submit more difficulty of adapting packaged solutions to their complete applications and to track the progress of specific requirements, and lack of interoperability their requests. with other government technology platforms. Lack of local support for packaged solutions was a shared concern as well. By contrast, governments that opted for packaged solutions highlighted the application’s CHALLENGES AND security features and functionality as the determining LESSONS LEARNED factors; the application’s price was not as important. Some customization was still necessary in almost all Successful change management requires a cases in which a packaged solution was selected. clear strategy and staff training One of the recurring themes captured by the survey is the challenge faced by government stakeholders in Outcomes ensuring smooth transition from a paper-based to an Survey respondents were asked to discuss some of automated system. Capacity building and training the outcomes, main challenges, and lessons learned activities at all levels were almost universally cited by in implementing ICT solutions for construction- respondents as prerequisites for these reforms. Having related procedures. a comprehensive change management strategy is even more important in cases where the platform A strong consensus emerged regarding outcomes has regional or national scope and the high number realized by both governments and the private sector. of stakeholders increases the reform’s complexity. In Respondents highlighted that the technology Senegal, for example, the guiding and monitoring solutions brought significant efficiency gains by strategy laid out by the lead decision-making authority allowing authorities to process higher volumes of was vital to successful implementation of TeleDac, applications at lower administrative cost. The time which connected 52 municipalities in Dakar and required to issue a permit in Nairobi, for example, several referral agencies. Other respondents suggested dropped from three-to-six months to one month. starting the change management process early by Moreover, the number of construction permits ensuring staff are regularly updated on upcoming issued tripled, contributing to increased revenue changes and supported with ongoing training. This collection as well. can help reduce resistance from internal stakeholders 8 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM as well as facilitate the “cultural change” associated Automation and service integration is a with automation. continuing process Implementing an ICT solution is only the first step; automation and integration of government Launching the new system in phases can services is an ongoing process. This is even more help reduce risks relevant for construction permitting systems A system need not be perfect to have notable due to the multidisciplinary nature of building impact. In fact, adopting a phased approach to control activities. The inherent “gate-keeper” Implementing an ICT project implementation, including a pilot phase role of construction permits involves multiple solution is only the before scaling up, maximizes the chances of success. stakeholders, including municipal building Technical issues such as software glitches in the authorities; land use planning and zoning first step; automation initial launch phase, for example, were encountered departments; agencies mandated with protecting by almost all respondents. Some mentioned that the the environment, cultural heritage, and other and integration of project would have benefited from additional local public goods; and utility providers—among government services is IT support to resolve these issues. Furthermore, others. Accordingly, to reap the full benefits that some respondents found that system deployment technology can offer in this context requires an ongoing process. required more time than initially anticipated. coordination and interoperability among all In Istanbul, Turkey, for example, archiving and major stakeholders. Most reformers start by digitization of building authority records proved to implementing technology at the local level, be more labor-intensive and time-consuming than adding agencies and business processes into the originally planned. Phased implementation becomes system over time. Frontier reformers, such as even more important given that nearly all of the Singapore, that have already established service surveyed economies reported a significant spike in integration, focus on expanding the system the number of applications following automation. features and functionalities, such as by developing mobile applications to support service delivery or moving from CAD to the more information-rich Communicating the reform and providing BIM format, which enables automated review of adequate support to end users are crucial plans for building code compliance. The common Cultural change not only challenges internal denominator among surveyed reformers is that stakeholders but the private sector too must adapt technology is a key enabler for integrating and to the new system. If change is not adequately automating service delivery, but developing a communicated to the community, the transition successful client-centric approach also requires will be unnecessarily painful. ICT solution ongoing reforms to the underlying legal implementation is often accompanied by major framework, business processes, and governance changes in administrative processes, presenting arrangements. authorities with the dual challenge of communicating both new procedures and an automated environment. Some respondents mentioned that inadequate communication measures led authorities to spend CONCLUSION significant time “hand-holding” applicants and training them on the new system following launch. The survey results highlight many good Even where adequate communication measures are international practices to consider when designing in place, end users may opt to conduct business in and implementing an online construction permitting the old way. In response, some reformers provided system. As the experience and insights of these incentives to the user community, such as lower fees jurisdictions show, non-technological factors must when filing applications online, at least for the first be addressed—legal reforms, re-engineering existing few months following launch. Others made use of the business processes, change management, and automated system mandatory for all users, making stakeholder communications—to fully realize the hands-on support for end users indispensable. benefits of the technology solution. INSIGHTS FROM RECENT COUNTRY EXPERIENCE 9 ENDNOTES in the pilot stage and that at the time of writing of this note a nationwide launch had 1 World Bank, Good Practices for Construction not been implemented. Regulation and Enforcement Reform: 8 These can range from planning, building Guidelines for Reformers, Investment safety, geographic information system (GIS) Climate (Washington DC: World Bank, services, finance, public utilities, fire safety, 2013), http://documents.worldbank.org/ environmental protection, cultural heritage, curated/en/662881468170967367/Good- and public health, among others. practices-for-construction-regulation-and- 9 Carolin Geginat, “How Transparent Is enforcement-reform-guidelines-for-reformers. Business Regulation Around the World?” 2 Sonia Hamman, “Housing Matters, Volume 1,” Doing Business 2013 (Washington, DC: Policy Research Working Paper 6876 World Bank, 2012). (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014). 10 In some cases, government budgets may also 3 PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Economic Impact include European Union funding. This was of Accelerating Permit Processes on Local the case in Greece and Serbia, for example. Development and Government Revenues,” 11 Including development, installation, and report prepared for the American Institute of training, but excluding cost of hardware, Architects, Washington, DC, 2005. operating system, databases, and other software. 4 KPMG, “Competitive Alternatives: KPMG’s 12 Software as a Service (SaaS) refers to a Guide to International Business Locations,” software delivery model in which a third- 2009, http://competitivealternatives.com. party hosts applications and provides access 5 US Department of Housing and Urban to customers over the internet. Development, Electronic Permitting Systems and 13 According to a report published by the How to Implement Them (Washington, DC: International Organization for Standardization National Institute of Building Sciences, 2002). in 2015, CORENET’s electronic submission 6 The sample contained 8 jurisdictions capability helped the construction sector save from high-income countries and 19 from approximately US$250 million between 2003 middle- or low-income countries: 7 from and 2012. CORENET, in combination with Sub-Saharan Africa, 6 from Europe and the IT standard CP83 (a CAD standard for Central Asia, 4 from Latin America and the technical drawings), improved productivity Caribbean, 1 from East Asia and the Pacific, and efficiency by enabling electronic exchange and 1 from South Asia. of drawings in the industry and electronic 7 This includes Albania, Greece, Macedonia, and submission of drawings for review and Serbia. Note that Greece’s platform is currently approval. 10 LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION REGULATION AND PERMITTING REFORM