| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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1. Extraterritorial status. Unlike the traditional approach whereby government services are provided at place of residence, in this project service centres operate like bank branches or chain stores, offering a standard selection of services across the network.
2. Offering customer friendly hours to the maximum possible extent: seven days a week from 8 am to 8 pm. Moscow is the only city in the world where government service centres operate this way.
3. A plethora of government agencies are represented within a single facility, making it possible for them to operate as one stop shop centres.
4. Maximum use of feedback when implementing the project. For example:
• In a number of cases, new features were first introduced in government service centres as pilot projects and became available across the network following positive user feedback;
• Crowdsourcing ideas to streamline operations within the centres and improve navigation experience;
• Government service centres are active on social media – answering questions, maintaining dialogue, etc.
5. Developing the mos.ru website as the city’s comprehensive online office: a single website featuring news, useful information and online government services.
6. Treating government service provider as a profession. Moscow has established a training centre for training and retraining employees of the service centres. It is the only facility of this kind in Russia.
Overall, the results of the project have been revolutionary so far: a new format of interaction between the government and the people has been created in Moscow.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The project was initiated by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and implemented by the relevant bodies within the Moscow Government (Staff to the Mayor and Moscow Government, Government Service Committee, Department of Information Technology).
So far, Moscow has 127 government service centres with a total of over 7,000 employees.
In addition, the project involves:
• Non-governmental organisations that hold various events on the premises of government service centres (computer literacy courses, educational and cultural activities, etc.).
• Businesses taking part in the project as contractors under government contracts;
• Moscow residents who contribute to the project by providing feedback (surveys in service centres, crowdsourcing projects, etc.).
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The project was launched in 2010 as part of Information City and Open Government long-term programmes of the Moscow Government. The project is funded from the city budget.
It was designed as an evolutionary project whereby the old, inconvenient system for providing government services in Moscow was gradually replaced by a new, customer-oriented approach. The most sought-after services were gradually moved to the government service centres as their network spread throughout the city. The same gradual approach was used to move government services online: taking into account customer feedback, starting with city residents (individuals), and then businesses.
Project timeline
2010: Government services website created in Moscow.
2011: Programme to open government service centres launched.
2012:
• Open Government city programme adopted, with the objectives of creating government service centres in every city district and moving government services online.
• First government services for businesses become available online.
2013:
• Consistent standards were introduced for all government service centres.
• Government services available through a mobile app.
2014:
• Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin approves the Moscow Government Service Standards, a set of rules and regulations stipulating the key principles for the new system of government services.
• Government service centres begin issuing all documents related to specific real-life situations (childbirth, probate, etc.) in a single visit.
• Number of users registered on the government services website showed record growth rates, tripling from 2013 and reaching 3.7 million users.
2015:
• The number of registered users on the government services website increased by another million.
• The first training centre for government services staff was created in Moscow, the first institution of its kind in Russia.
2016: Government service centres opened in all Moscow districts, including New Moscow.
2017: Government service website merged with the official website of the Moscow Mayor’s Office.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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• Federal government bodies. Government service centres operate under Federal Law on the Organisation of Government and Municipal Services, as well as Government directives.
• Moscow government bodies. The project was initiated by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and relevant Moscow Government departments were tasked with implementing it.
• Moscow residents, who actively contribute to improving the project by sharing feedback.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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1. The new system improved the accessibility of government services and made them more convenient for all Moscow residents by leveraging all available communication and interaction tools (offline, online, mobile app).
2. The new government service system is becoming increasingly popular with the number of services provided by government service centres up from 21.3 million in 2015 to 22.7 million in 2016. In addition, 5.8 million people, or every second Moscow resident, registered on the Moscow government services website. In addition, 1.8 million Moscow residents use mobile apps developed by the city that are related to government services.
3. High satisfaction rate. Opinion surveys show that over 90 percent of Moscow residents are satisfied with the quality of government services. According to a customer survey conducted in government service centres, 96.5 percent of people who visited them were satisfied with the quality of services they received.
4. Sharing experience. More delegations from Russian regions, as well as from abroad come to Moscow to exchange experience and see the city’s projects and achievements in the provision of government services. In its efforts to deploy a new system of government services, Moscow relied on best international practices, so that now Russian regions can follow in Moscow’s footsteps.
5. Evaluation by the international expert community. A PriceWaterhouseCoopers study has ranked Moscow among the top cities in the world in terms of provision of government services in accessibility, convenience, queue management and communicating with customers.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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1. Administrative and legal challenges. Regulations regarding the provision of government services failed to mention government service centres. There were also no regulations in place for providing government services online. Consequently, regulations had to be drafted and enacted in order to fill this regulatory gap.
2. Management issues were related to bringing together a plethora of services provided by various government agencies at different levels (federal and regional) in a one stop shop setting. In addition, these government agencies were not eager to transfer their functions to government service centres. These issues were resolved through lengthy and arduous talks and discussions on the transfer of authority, as well as by training staff to provide government services, and ensuring methodological and legal support.
In addition, making the processes transparent and less time-consuming was also a challenge. These issues were resolved by updating administrative regulations for the procedures and standards related to e-government services, as well as monitoring their execution.
3. Human resources. The new system meant that a new mindset in the provision of government services had to be embraced in order to move from a conventional applicant–bureaucrat scheme toward a more business-like framework where a customer deals with a service provider. Government service centres had to be staffed from the ground up. Candidates were required not only to master the workings of government bodies, but also to adopt a customer-friendly and welcoming attitude.
4. Psychological challenges. Psychological barriers were a major issue during the roll-out of online services, since very few people were ready to use the internet in their day-to-day interaction with government agencies. However, online government services have established a solid track record of reliable operation with ever-improving service quality, responsiveness and effectiveness.
That said, some users, especially the elderly, can experience difficulties with online government services, which is attributable to the lack of information and skills in working with online documents. The way to overcome this challenge is to promote education, including online courses, as well as mobilise consultants in service centres, etc.
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