National Survey Finds Out That the Administrative Capacity of State Administration Declines

The Administrative Capacity Index of State Administration for 2022 is 104.65 compared to 109.2 in 2021. It was announced by Prof. D.Sc. Borislav Borisov - the author of the national survey of the administrative capacity of state administration. He presented the results of the study at the UNWE.

The study is supported by the UNWE, D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov and the Institute of Public Administration at Bulgarian Council of Ministers. The survey is conducted for the sixth consecutive time and in the current year 54 administrations were involved. The event was attended by representatives of ministries, state agencies, institutions and universities - UNWE, D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov, St. Climent Ohridsky University of Sofia, etc.

The survey covers 54 administrative structures, including ministries, state agencies, state commissions, executive agencies, administrative structures under the Council of Ministers and those under the National Assembly, regional and municipal administrations and specialized territorial administrations.

The survey covers 54 administrative structures, including ministries, state agencies, state commissions, executive agencies, administrative structures under the Council of Ministers and those under the National Assembly, regional and municipal administrations and specialized territorial administrations.

The reasons for this decline of the administrative capacity lie in the multiple crises that have accompanied the country in the past 2022 - foreign policy related to the war in Ukraine, domestic policy related to the inability to run a regular government with consistent priorities and the lack of a National Assembly and hence the delay in the adoption of important laws for the country, the energy crisis, high inflation in 2022 and the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. Another group of reasons can be found in the slowdown of the modernization processes of the public administration. The Strategy for the Modernization of the State Administration 2003-2006 has already been out of force as well as the more recent Strategy for the Development of the State Administration 2013-2020. An updated version of the Strategy for e-Government Development in the Republic of Bulgaria 2019-2025 has been developed which foresees the preparation of sectoral strategies for e-government development in 23 areas but only the Justice Sector, the Customs Agency and the National Social Security Institute have such strategies.

The study report is 56 pages long and provides detailed explanations of the levels of administrative capacity of state administration by groups of administrations and by areas of administrative capacity.