UNWE Presented the Administrative Capacity Index of the State Administration for 2024, Indicators Point to a Deterioration

“The state administration does not make the most of the capacity of the scientific community”, said the Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov, who was an official guest at the presentation of the Administrative Capacity Index at the UNWE. He outlined the usefulness of this type of research to incorporate the best practices in the system. "One of my goals will be to improve this communication. This important study with a clear and precise methodology shows data that are not optimistic. One of the main reasons for the deterioration that has been highlighted is the political crisis and the absence of an appropriate tone from the politicians. The current government has the ambition to overcome this political instability and to bet on a long horizon of stability and governance. We look forward to the report being sent to all administrations so that its findings can be carefully considered and used to improve work in line with the public expectations", said Atanas Zafirov and explained that 55 drafts of law and several reforms are foreseen by June, including increasing the effectiveness and the efficiency of spending in the field of e-government and IT with the incorporation of the integrated financial information system in all administrations, switching to a fully electronic internal document throughout the administration, as well as reducing the administrative burden for citizens and businesses and strengthening the role of the electronic document and internal electronic administrative services.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yanko Hristozov, Vice Rector for International Affairs and Director of the UNWE Institute of Economics and Politics, the Rector of D. А. Tsenov Economic Academy of Svishtov Prof. Dr. Marin Marinov, Atanas Zafirov, Deputy Prime Minister, the Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Pavel Ivanov, Executive Director of the Institute of Public Administration and Prof. D.Sc. Borislav Borisov /from the left to the right/

The event was opened by the Rector Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, who reminded that the official ceremony was held at the UNWE, where the prizes were awarded to the excellent performing state administrations, and today the full picture of the research would be presented. “We are happy that the research has become traditional and has confirmed itself in the public space”, outlined Prof. Dimitrov.

The assessments of citizens and civil servants in the public administration show a deterioration of its administrative capacity in 2024, according to the survey, which the UNWE has been conducting for eight years. The administrations themselves rate their administrative capacity lower than in previous years, and the ratings of their socio-economic partners are even lower.

The authors of the Administrative Capacity Index are Prof. D.Sc. Borislav Borisov, Researcher at the UNWE Institute of Economics and Politics, and Chief Assist. Dr. Yulian Gospodinov from D. А. Tsenov Economic Academy of Svishtov. The research is supported by both universities and by the Institute of Public Administration at Council of Ministers.

The Rector of D. А. Tsenov Economic Academy of Svishtov pointed out: "For a consecutive year Prof. Borislav Borisov proves that it is able to grasp the trends in the work of public administration and reflects the real situation and I believe that next year the results will be different".

Pavel Ivanov, Executive Director of the Institute of Public Administration, pointed out that the results will give an impetus to improve the administrative capacity.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yanko Hristozov, Vice Rector for International Affairs and Director of the UNWE Institute of Economics and Politics, made two appeals - the research should not remain only on paper and the results should be taken into account and he appealed for more activity and involvement of the administration in the future research. “It is also important what and how the tone will be set by the leadership of the public authorities to the administrations regarding their efficiency.” Assoc. Prof. Hristozov added that the eighth research shows the importance of the relation between the higher education, the public authorities and the business.

Prof. Dr Sc. Borislav Borisov, Head of the research on the Administrative Capacity Index of the Public Administration in Bulgaria for 2024, pointed out that it shows worrying results - the level of the Administrative Capacity Index drops below the baseline values of 2017. He clarified that the number of civil servants is comparable to the EU, but it is important what results are achieved and the research is aimed at assessing these results.

The research has been conducted since 20 February to 15 March 2025. All studies are based on a single methodology that is unique and not borrowed from other works, organizations and countries, but it is endorsed by a sufficiently reputable team of scientists and practitioners. It is also in line with what has been learned so far - surveys, analyses and evaluations in the field of public administration and the public sector in general. 76 administrations from 9 different groups - ministries, state agencies, state commissions, executive agencies, administrative structures, specialized territorial administrations, regional and municipal administrations, as well as 112 socio-economic partners of the administrations, including public and advisory councils, NGOs, business organizations, trade unions, etc. has participated in the eighth research on the administrative capacity of the public administration.

The average assessment of the administrative capacity of the state administration for 2024, calculated on the basis of the answers of its representatives to the 43 questions in the survey, is 2.8018, compared to 2.9025 for the previous year 2023.

Prof. Borislav Borisov also presented the average score of the different groups of administrations.

Municipal administrations employ the largest number of employees - 35.67%, of all employees in the public administration. Their average score is 2.4378, which is significantly lower compared to the score in 2023 /2.9086/ and 2022 /2.844/. “The large relative share of municipal administrations and the large decrease in their score predetermine the decrease in the overall average score of the administrative capacity of the state administration in the country for 2024”, outlined Prof. Borisov.

The average scores of the administrative capacity of the executive authorities for the period 2017-2024 were also presented.

Prof. Borisov made a summary of the results.

• The highest scores indicating very good administrative capacity are in the areas of internal control, management of internal work processes, risk management and opportunities for corruption reporting.
• The lowest scores, corresponding to satisfactory capacity but very close in value to unsatisfactory, are in the areas of the use of alternative energy sources to cover the administration's demand and the application of public-private partnerships.
• Satisfactory is also the capacity of administrations to carry out impact assessments when introducing new regulations and implementing policies, including analyses of tax, administrative and regulatory burdens, financial health, the application of sustainable development principles, the use of artificial intelligence, follow-up of implementation and effective monitoring of the achievement of objectives with the involvement of stakeholder representatives.

The research presents the reasons and gives recommendations on how to improve the results. The reviewers of the report are Prof. Dr. Valentin Vasilev, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexander Valkov and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michael Chipriyanov.

You can watch the full event video HERE.

ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY INDEX OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA FOR 2024