Other Public Sector Study
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Publication
The World Bank's Support for Subnational Governance in Large Federal Countries: Lessons Learned from Argentina, Brazil and Nigeria
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)Limited local tax revenue and low public sector efficiency are two critical problems of public sector management and key constraints for the economic and social development of many subnational governments in large federal countries. To create fiscal space without compromising macroeconomic stability and fiscal sustainability, there is a need for reforms that lead to better use of public resources and improved expenditure efficiency through reforms in budgeting, procurement, and tax administration. This note presents lessons learned from the World Bank’s subnational governance projects in three large federal countries - Argentina, Brazil and Nigeria - between 2008-2017. These lessons learned can be useful in shaping the design of future subnational governance projects in other federal countries, particularly those projects seeking to improve service delivery, public expenditure systems and core governance institutions. -
Publication
Brazil : The SOL-ution for Smart Community Procurement: Simple, Efficient, and Transparent Government Systems
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022)SOL is the Portuguese acronym for Online Bidding Solution (Solução Online de Licitação). SOL is a GovTech solution for community-level procurements carried out under community-driven development (CDD) projects, and it addresses the procurement challenges that the communities usually face. Piloting SOL in selected projects in Brazil showed the app’s potential to increase the efficiency, transparency, and governance of the procurement process. The app facilitates the connection between community associations and their suppliers and automates the full procurement process. In addition, as all procurement data is generated and safely stored in the app, the app enhances the audit capacity of governments and the World Bank. Given the many positive results, SOL is to be upgraded with new features and translated into other languages to facilitate scale-up and use by other countries, including in Latin America and the Caribbean. -
Publication
Ethics and Corruption in the Federal Public Service: Civil Servants' Perspectives
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-09)This Survey on Ethics and Corruption in the Federal Public Service was held online from April 28 to May 28, 2021, in partnership with the Office of the Federal Comptroller General (CGU), the Ministry of the Economy, and the National School of Public Administration (ENAP). All civil servants were represented in the sample, totaling 22,130 respondents. The sample covered all federative units and ministries. Most civil servants report having witnessed some sort of unethical practice during their time in the public sector. Of all respondents, 58.7 percent stated that they witnessed some unethical practice during their career in public service. The most frequent practices were using one's position to help friends or family and bending the rules under pressure from one’s superiors. Over the past three years, around one third of all civil servants (33.4 percent) witnessed some unethical practice, according to their reports. Corruption in the public service is multifaceted, thus requiring granular information about its nature, prevalence, and vulnerable actors. In view of its scope, thematic scope, and representativeness, the data generated by the study could become a valuable source for the development of knowledge about corruption in the federal public service. We hope that this Survey on Ethics and Corruption in the Federal Public Service becomes a tool to complement current and future efforts to fight corruption. -
Publication
Lei das Agências: An Analysis of Draft Law on Regulatory Agencies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017)Since 2013, a new legislation was being drafted by the Senate of Brazil, in response to the perception that the Agencies often lack financial, administrative and decision making autonomy, are subject to capture by both overt and tacit political interference, with appointees lacking the necessary skills and independence. In infrastructure, regulatory uncertainty and the resort to the court of law in matters that should normally be decided by the agencies and accepted by affected parties is particularly harmful when government faces excess (and growing) demand for infrastructure services. After being discussed and approved in two key Senate commissions, the draft law (DL) was approved unanimously by the Senate Special Commission on National Development with no need to go to the floor. The DL provides the agencies with considerable formal autonomy, being no coincidence that this is made explicit at the outset of the legislation (Article 3). While the DL provides substantial autonomy to the agencies, it also defines the mechanisms for external control and accountability in its second chapter. The fundamental reason for the support of the DL is the high degree of autonomy conferred on the agencies, guaranteeing independence of political interests, technical excellence, and greater transparency and accountability. Finally, the DL strongly encourages inter-agency cooperation, partly in response to a recurrent criticism regarding barriers facing firms when dealing with different government agencies both national and subnational. -
Publication
Review of International Practices for Determining Medium Term Resource Needs of Spending Agencies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-05-01)This volume presents two research reports carried out with the objective of advancing practical knowledge in costing and use of cost information in the public sector. Both reports were carried out with support of the Governance Partnership Facility Trust Fund and in partnership between the Brazilian and Indonesian country offices of the World Bank. The first report aims to review international practices for determining medium term resource needs of spending agencies (what is also referred to as bottom-up costing for medium term expenditure frameworks). The principal objective is to compile comparative information on practices and methodologies used by selected OECD countries to determine program costs as part of their medium term expenditure planning. The second report details the experiences of three selected subnational governments in Brazil: Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Pernambuco with the development and use of cost information. The main objective is to present comparative information on practices adopted by these jurisdictions. It is expected that this volume helps to fill a gap in the technical literature by presenting practical examples of the development and use of cost information within budgetary and fiscal planning frameworks in advanced and developing countries both at the national and subnational level. -
Publication
Ceará PforR : Technical Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2014-01)The Government of Ceará has asked for the Bank s support in implementing its multi-year plan (Plano Plurianual or PPA) for 2012-15. The objectives of the Plan are to promote equitable social development, sustainable economic development and to contribute to the emergence of a more efficient and participatory public sector.The activities to be supported have been chosen on the basis of the importance to these goals, the state s commitment to and the Bank s capacity, in view of its experience in other Brazilian states and elsewhere, to contribute to improving their design and execution. The PforR will build on previous Bank support for public sector reform by strengthening results-based management within sector agencies and providing incentives for collaboration among agencies and with the private sector. This will contribute to strengthening the implementation of Government programs in the following areas: skills development, early childhood development and water quality. -
Publication
Brazil : Issues in Fiscal Federalism
(Washington, DC, 2002-06-04)The globalization of financial markets, has increased international pressure on the federal governments to maintain a hard budget constraint, with respect to sub-national governments. Because growth in sub-national deficits undermines investor confidence, the federal government is under pressure to enforce the new debt control system, if only to keep the foreign investment flowing, and, political support for enforcement of the fiscal rules may also have increased. Nevertheless, there is the case for shifting the system of sub-national debt control from one that depends on central regulation, to one that relies more on markets. The report looks at institutional models for doing so, which include bond markets, and specialized banks. If the market model is to prevail in Brazil, changes in the credit environment must occur: private long term funds must become available, at interest rates compatible with infrastructure investment returns. But continued macroeconomic stability, and declining federal deficits are required before implementing the market model; private lenders must have a level playing field, and, limitations on subsidized government lending is necessary to attract private sector interest; the federal government should refrain from extending implicit guarantees on private loans to sub-national governments, while establishing a pattern of non-interference in sub-national defaults to private banks; and, reforms should remove obstacles that prevent sub-national governments from becoming creditworthy. Likewise, the growing state pension liabilities challenges the present system of fiscal controls.