United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

-Korean contractors have been recognized for their excellent construction prowess, but many faulty constriction accidents, ranging from the collapse of the Seongsu Bridge over the Han River 15 years ago to the lately cave-ins of subway construction sites, have been reported. Even in the United States, the collapse of the rooftop of a primary school and a multipurpose dam have claimed many lives and caused huge property damages. The reality is that safety-related accidents, caused by shoddy construction, have posed social issues, thus prompting citizens’ distrust over public construction projects and administration.
-In particular, contractors and supervision officials have lacked systematic process management approaches for implementing public projects. Besides, a personnel system of reshuffling construction-related officials at an interval of two to three years has brought about such problems as insufficient management of such diverse data as blueprints. Diverse demands from residents and the handling of civil complaints and petitions have resulted in shortening supervision officials’ on-site inspection time, partly contributing to substandard construction, caused by negligence of management.
-Citizens - taxpayers and most beneficiaries of administration - have no access to information and suffer from a lack of institutional systems for their participation that eliminates their involvement in the process of construction, incurring public mistrust over administration. Public demand has been mounting for transparency of society and their participation.
-We had to develop methods of managing construction sites in a systematic and rational manner and institutionalize residents’ participation to prevent shoddy construction of public projects and satisfy residents’ rights.
-Making the most of Korea’s strong points – Ranking No. 1 in terms of computer supply among OECD countries, Internet penetration rate of 80 percent and Koreans’ computer proficiency- we have developed and put into practice a system designed to ensure IT-related management of construction sites and inform residents of all processes ranging from an initial ground-breaking stage of construction projects to post-completion management via a Web site.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
1.Quality improvement of public projects -Development of the system and its manual designed to manage all stages of construction projects – planning, design, construction, completion and post-completion management. -Checking the work process of construction sites in real time via the Web camera (multi-screen), gathering residents’ opinions,; providing a warning function by indicating the traffic signal colors according to the quality management of each site,; tracking down design changes,; checking the daily work progress of each contractor,; introducing a real-name system of major engineers of each construction site,; building up an e-Manual for searching electronic payments among project participants (ward office, contractor, supervisor and designer, etc), auditing and shoddy construction cases,; registering and managing diverse data ( design documents, blueprint, photos),; recording on-site inspections and decision-making via mobile PC system; and providing the Short Message Service (SMS) for announcing emergency notices regarding construction in order to improve the quality of public projects. 2.Improvement of officials’ work efficiency -By capitalizing on the system of inspecting construction site via Web cameras, officials in charge of projects can cut down on the frequency of site inspections from four to five times per week to once to twice. They will be allowed to focus on-site inspections on major work processes to prevent substandard construction. -Building a database of design documents, blueprints and cases of shoddy constructions can raise work efficiency. -The development and publication of the e-Manual of the public project quality management program that enables a feedback system for utilizing information for the execution of similar projects. -Introducing a function of work navigation and a function of issuing a warning against the slow pace of projects makes it easy to control complicated processes. -On-line processing of all work documents and support for electronic settlements leads to time-saving and clarification of responsibility. 3.Citizens’ right to know and participation -Any resident of the Yeongdeungpo-gu area can suggest his or her views in real time through the ward situation room of the Public Project Quality Management System built on the ward office’s Web site. -Residents’ wider opportunity for evaluation and participation contributes to enhancing customer satisfaction, meeting residents’ right to know and raising transparency of administration.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
-The Yeongdeungpo-gu Ward Office adopted prevention of substandard construction of public projects as one of its innovative tasks in March 2005. -In February 2006, it launched the “Public Project Quality Management OK System Project,” an innovative brand project designed to manage construction projects. -Public project quality management forums in which academicians, civilian experts, contractors and officials participated and leaders’ consulting meetings were convened starting from May 2006. -A construction project quality management task force with 38 staff members was inaugurated in January 2007. The task force was composed of an institutional improvement team with 19 officials from construction-related departments, including architecture and civil engineering, and a system reinforcement team with 19 officials from such departments as auditing and computer. A civilian expert group of 10 engineers, civil engineering contractors and professors and a Business Process Re-engineering/Information Strategy Planning (BPR/ISP) team were inaugurated to step up collaboration between civilian and government circles. -Outside consulting experts were invited to offer consulting on the development of the system and its manual, meetings were held to brief on the process of the task, monitoring sessions, workshops were convened to collect the opinions from the involved parties and surveys were conducted to reflect views on quality improvement. -A residents’ auditing system was introduced to ensure residents’ participation in the whole processes of construction. Eleven professional resident/auditors and 22 general resident/auditors were appointed. Professional resident/auditors joined ward officials in inspecting major processes and constructions sites more than once per week, while general resident auditors frequented constructions sites to ensure ward residents’ rights and transparent administration.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
-Customer-oriented and performance-oriented strategies were worked out under the catchphrase “Sloppy Work Is Zero, Satisfaction for Ward Residents Is Infinite.” -From a customer’s perspective, such systems as resident/auditors and residents’ evaluation were put into practice to make public projects transparent through residents’ participation. Residents’ views were collected from the planning stage until the dedication stage to raise satisfaction of facility users. -Performance-based evaluations have been made to select contractors with a track record of good performances, while a substandard construction penalty system has been inaugurated to strengthen post-completion management based on performances. -Public projects are being implemented so that customer’s expectations can be met beyond the only prevention of sloppy construction. Take a look into specific strategies: 1)A residents’ evaluation system, a resident/auditors system, an innovative brand business guidance, a consulting advisers’ group, and an experts’ group have been formed and operated to encourage ward residents and civilian experts’ participation. 2)Surveys, a task force, fraternity groups, workshops and forums and contests were held or inaugurated to induce system users’ interest and participation. Outside expertise institutions offered consulting services, innovative brand business guidance consultants provided assistance and consulting and involved interest parties, including an auditors’ body and contractors, were encouraged to proposal their views and participate in the development of the system and its manual through work standardization. 3)A navigation function of guiding the complex construction flow the way people can understand without difficulty has been developed to raise work efficiency.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
 Introduction Period (2005) -Its adoption as an in-house innovative task and the declaration of the launch of a drive to eradicate substandard construction of public projects -Formation of a body designed to drive out shoddy construction of public projects and invigoration of a resident/auditors’ system.  Execution Period (2006) -The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs’ designation the project as an innovative brand project, supplement of a mechanism for pushing the project and strengthening of educational and training activities. -Contests of studies on quality management of public projects -Organization of forums and sessions designed to receive consulting from outside experts on the development of the system and its manual. -Development of the system and its manual  Spread Period (2007) -Upgrading such systems as e-Manual, tracking and management of design changes, and electronic settlements. -Management systems and guidelines tailored to meet the conditions of the ward office, including a quality improvement committee, a substandard construction penalty system and mandatory enforcement of a prior completion inspection system. -Frequent convening of quality improvement and institutional improvement teams and guidance/consulting committee meetings. -Spread of the system and its manual to local governments across the nation  Settlement Period (2008) -Organization of forums for inviting model institutions and would-be benchmarking organizations in Korea and abroad. -Presentation of the system to domestic seminars and the American Society for Public Administration’s (ASPA’s) 69th Annual Conference, to be held March 8-11, 2008 in Dallas, Texas and realization of a goal of becoming a top-rate quality management institution.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
1.Officials in charge of construction projects and relevant industries -Tended to avoid the public revelation of work, including know-how related to the development of the system. -Increasingly worried about additional work arising from work computerization beyond the existing work. -Lacked their understanding of the innovative brand project and branding experiences. -Worried about disadvantages auditing might bring about due to the transparency of work. -Worried about the public disclosure of the whole processes of construction via the ward office’s Web site. 2.The Yeongdeungpo-gu Ward Office has taken the following steps in order to solve these problems. -Has formed the “Public Project Quality Management OK” task force and encouraged officials in charge of construction to join forces. -Has prodded relevant industries’ participation by holding public project quality management forums and contests. -Has collected opinions through workshops, invited outside experts’ consulting and surveys and set the direction of the development of the system the way work efficiency can be enhanced and additional work can be minimized. -Has persuaded officials in charge of construction to benefit from such prior surveillance as the prevention of work process omission via the navigation function rather than having disadvantages from post-completion auditing due to work transparency. -Has solved the problem of lacking the understanding of the innovative brand project by setting the direction of steps to raise awareness toward the project and supplementing contents through the operation of the innovative brand project guidance/consulting committee.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
-The Yeongdeungpo-gu Ward Office has invested 200 million won over two years in developing the Public Project Quality Management OK System in cooperation with a system developer. -Has adopted such system hardware as UNIX SERVER (SUN). CLIENT (SPEC M5010P) and such software as DBMS (Oracle 9i), WEB SERVER (Tomcat 5.x), JAVA (1.4.2.05), and TOOL (SQL Net Version) and mobile PC (mobile Internet terminals, GVPN System). -Has installed more than one Web camera designed to view each work site in real time. -Has held a total of 15 task force and invited experts’ consulting meetings on the development of the system and its manual, eight meetings on the progress of the innovative task and training contractors and officials, and 21 educational programs for project participants, monitoring and workshops. The development of the system and its manual designed to manage all processes of construction via computer enables the following: -Management of major processes ranging from planning of projects, construction, completed and post-completion management. -Inspection of the work progress of construction sites via Web camera with ease. -Buildup of a database of diverse construction documents, including blueprints. -Disclosure of the progress of construction sites to ward residents via the ward office’s website. -Residents’ greater participation by gathering their views according to each construction stage, making an evaluation and disclosing the status of construction. -Selection of outstanding construction firms by tracking down and managing design changes and thoroughly screening qualifications. -Prevention of shoddy construction and clarification of the causes of substandard construction through real-time recording of major construction processes. -Development and operation of additional management systems  .Operation of the quality improvement committee designed to determine reconstruction and penalties on shoddy construction and introduction of the penalty system on substandard construction.  .Requirement of preliminary completion permission before 90 percent of the whole work progress.  .Operation of a pool of 64 experts in such construction-related fields as architecture and civil engineering  .Introduction of a real-name system of major engineers designed to prevent substandard construction  .Guidelines on the operation of the Web camera designed to prevent leakage of private information and infringement of human rights.  .Educational programs on the quality construction for contractors, supervisors and other project participants before the launch of the project after signing of a contract.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
-In Korea¸ 246 local autonomous bodies have similar construction regimes, budget and personnel systems enough to adopt the system and its manual. Internationally, it is possible to introduce the system if a given country or a local government meets some construction conditions and IT infrastructure. -As of December 2007, some 120 institutions across Korea wanting to utilize the system were mailed the pertinent documents on the system. Three Korean institutions have the system in place and 10 others consider introducing it during 2008. -The Public Project Quality Management OK System has been spread as a creative and exemplary municipal administration case to all departments of the Seoul Metropolitan Government and all subsidiaries in accordance with a directive by the Seoul mayor. The system has been presented as an “innovative and exemplary case” during 20 central government innovation evaluation rally, senior local government officials’ training program and other meetings. -In September 2007, a Japanese local government visited the ward office to look around the system and put an article introducing it on the November issue of its own magazine. -The Public Project Quality Management OK System was publicized during the 2nd UCLG World Congress, Jeju 2007, held Oct. 29 through Oct. 31, 2007 in Jeju. Representatives from 200 Korean and foreign institutions, including the ones from China, Iran, Pakistan, Demark, Sweden and Romania, visited the Yeongdeungpo-gu pavilion to take a look into the system. In particular, such countries as Romania, Nepal and South Africa have shown a keen interest and requested the detailed information. -The Public Project Quality Management OK System will be presented as a case of the ”anti-corruption public service and transparency category” during the American Society for Public Administration’s (ASPA’s) 69th Annual Conference, to be held in Dallas, Texas March 8-11. -In recognition of contribution to innovating local administration by developing the Public Project Quality Management OK System, the Yeongdeungpo-gu Ward Office was presented with the Presidential Award during the local government administration innovative practices contest, organized by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs in November 2006. It won five prizes during 2007, including the Grand Prize, awarded by the Civic Organization of Comparative Studies of Korean Local Autonomy in January 2007.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
-We recognized the need for facing up the reality of problems and scrutinizing them before the pertinent local government department overlook public distrust over administration or makes an excuse to it. The ward office conducted surveys of ward officials and citizens to take an in-depth look into public distrust related to shoddy construction, and it had active discussions and studies together with related civilian experts and academicians to explore solutions. -Contractors, the most important participant of public projects, takes to heart the view that they cannot survive if they go against the trends of the times toward transparent, anti-corrupt and just society. They are encouraged to participate in the innovative efforts by providing such institutional support as the real-time disclosure of public biddings and the progress of construction sites via the ward office’s Web site and banning contractors found responsible for shoddy constriction from their participation in construction biddings. -By meeting residents’ right to know and expanding their participation in administration, residents, together with the administration agency and contractors, share the need for the advancement of a transparent society by eradicating substandard construction and play their respective part in pushing the project in a dynamic manner. -By grafting the IT infrastructure, one of the times’ representative sectors, into the public administration field, we are able to upgrade public services corresponding to a ubiquitous era by implementing the project successfully, thus raising the quality of public projects as well as citizens’ public service satisfaction and public trust.


Institution Name:		Yeongdeungpo-gu
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Bong Keun Park
Title:		Public Project OK Team
Telephone/ Fax:		82-2-2670-3031
Institution's / Project's Website:		82-2-2670-3575
E-mail:		pbk733@hanmail.net
Address:		124 Dangsanro, Yeongdeungpo-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Postal Code:		150-723
City:		Seoul Metropolitan City
State/Province:
Country:

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information