Questions/Answers

In 2013 an executive order directed establishment of a Government Performance Management System (GPMS) with the objectives to: a) Assign measurable annual results to all government agencies and hold them accountable on an annual basis; b) Establish a rigorous and effective mechanism of monitoring and problem solving of implementation bottlenecks; c) Effective allocation of annual financial resources; and d) Provide a clear accountability framework for civil servants to carry out their individual functions. Seizing this opportunity, the RCSC also initiated a new performance management system called Managing for Excellence (MaX) in 2016 aligning individual civil servants performance to their organization’s objectives and ensuring accountability for agency’s results by cascading agency’s performance, evaluated based on GPMS, to individuals . The key objectives of the MaX system are: i. Alignment: To align individual performance targets with the organization’s strategic vision/missions/objectives; ii. Accountability: To ensure organizational effectiveness by cascading institutional accountabilities to the various levels of the organization’s hierarchy; and iii. Differentiation: To enhance Agency’s overall performance by differentiating performer from non-performer.

The GPM System is a “whole-of-government” approach which requires Agencies to integrate National level Five Year Plan Objectives into their Agencies’ Annual Performance Agreements (APA). The APA is used as the tool to monitor implementation of Agencies' planned activities annually. Civil Servants are required to develop individual work plans aligned to the targets of their divisions derived from their agencies’ APA. The evaluated Agencys’ performance scores are used as a basis for HR decisions. Hence, the linked systems provides an end-to-end Performance Management System from the highest level of the organization of the management right down to an individual.

The SDGs are well aligned with the goals of National Five Year Plans. The GPMS and MaX ensure the implementation of the FYP outcomes and their KPIs thereby ensuring implementation of the SDGs. It contributes to SDG target 16.6 "Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels" as the objective of the GPMS and MaX, is to ensure that all public institutions and civil servants perform and achieve targets in transparent and accountable manner. Targets 17.18 and 17.19 require countries to strengthen their capacity on data and monitoring. It is the requirement of GPMS that agencies at all levels should collect timely data for regular monitoring.

An assessment of the earlier Performance Management system of the civil service showed that performance output identified lacked objective indicators, weak linkages to organizational objectives, with minimal strategic planning and no differentiation in performance assessment of staff. Further, Performance Management System of Agencies also suffered from similar issues of alignment, co-ordination and accountability. With the Whole of Government approach of the GPM system, Government agencies now increasingly work collaboratively across sectors to achieve relevant cross cutting targets like poverty reduction, gender equality, improved service delivery, anti-corruption strategies etc. The GPMS system reserves 15% for the Prime Minister to assign cross cutting thematic issues such as women empowerment, anti-corruption, addressing needs of vulnerable groups of people including the disabled as mandatory performance indicators to relevant agencies. For the past four years, as a result of including such mandatory KPIs, child creches have been established in 80% of public institutions for working mothers, policy for people living with disabilities has been developed, anti corruption measures have been put in place in all Government agencies, 14 different vulnerable groups have been identified through a vulnerability assessment mapping and a gender equality policy has been drafted.

The reforms on PMS is considered extremely challenging as it brings objectivity in defining PM targets and a great degree of accountability. Bhutan is the first country in the South Asia to link organization’s performance to individual level with distinct accountability at various level in the organization. The introduction of two linked systems has brought great synergy and complementariness which may not have emerged independently. Bhutan is also the first country in the region to digitize its performance management systems by introducing online systems thereby reducing administrative burden and adherence to performance cycle deadlines.

The PMS of Bhutan is first of a kind in the region in that it is the only system where organizational performance is linked to the individual. However, similar approaches of managing performance of organization and individuals, without the linkages between the agency and individual PMS, do exist in many countries. Accordingly, some of the best practices in countries like Austria, Singapore, Malaysia etc. in identifying objective targets at agency level and general PMS practices were referred during the design and formulation stages.

The GPMS initiative has been transferred and adapted in several state-owned enterprises and private entities in Bhutan. We have shared the concept papers, frameworks, manuals, performance appraisal forms and other documents to these agencies. In particular, the Royal University of Bhutan, adopted almost similar frameworks which was earlier implemented in the Civil Service. The Government of Bangladesh invited our civil servant to share our experience on the GPMS. They also sent a delegation led by the Cabinet Director to Bhutan to observe the GPMS in operation on the ground both at the central Government Agency level and local Government level.

To roll out the GPMS, a team consisting of 4 officers worked to garner the support of the Prime Minister, Senior and mid-level civil servants. Simultaneously, training on the results based framework and the IT based GPM system were also carried out. GPM System cost approximately USD 1 million to implement. Similarly the MaX Framework was spearheaded by a 5 member team. Further the senior management of the RCSC supported by small teams conducted mock PM exercises in all 65 agencies. Further key staff in all agencies were all trained. A total of Euro 173,955 was spent on implementing MaX.

The MaX initiative is sustainable as it is incorporated into Bhutan Civil Service Rules and Regulations 2018 which ensures that all Civil Servants have to adhere to its processes and outcomes for any HR actions. The HR development requirements needed to support this initiative will be covered under the Five Yearly and annual HRD plans and programs. The GPM System has been implemented for the past five years and before its existing form, implemented in some key agencies in the form of signing compacts. Today, it's draft policy is ready to be presented to the new Government. It is also effectively linked to the annual budgeting process by way of indicating its key annual targets without which it will not receive any financial resources for the year. Further Individual civil servants have to derive their divisions/units objectives from the Annual Performance agreement objectives. This close intertwining of the agency's targets with the budget and individual's targets ensure end-to-end performance management, thereby ensuring its usefulness and relevance and most importantly its sustainability. The development of GPMS and MaX online system has reduced use of papers tremendously as 30,000 plus civil servants no longer require to print out their appraisal forms .

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The MaX system was supported by the Austrian Development Agency which required evaluation of the intervention was carried out. An external agency conducted the mid-term evaluation as Austrian Development Cooperation Bhutan Country Strategy 2015–2018. In this report, the evaluation of the "Institutionalization of the Performance Management System and Leadership Development Program" was evaluated under the component Good Governance( Copy of evaluation report enclosed). Further, an independent agency, the Royal Audit Authority carried out auditing of the reform initiative and Auditing report covers financial aspect of the project and some key deliverables. The GPM System has not been formally evaluated.

1. Impact: Improved efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery Target value(s) : 90% Citizen perception on public service delivery by Civil Service above average by 2018 2. Outcome 1: Professional and quality services delivered by the civil servants Target value(s) (%) : 95% of agencies scored above 90% in the GPMS scores by June 2018 3. Output 2: New PMS tested and endorsed for rolling out to all other agencies Indicator 1: No. of Agency in Which PMS is tested, Target value(s) : 65 agencies by 2016, MaX rolled out in all 65 agencies

1. Impact: Improved efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery Target value(s) : 90% Citizen perception on public service delivery by Civil Service above average by 2018 Evaluation is not carried out as of now, and scheduled for next year 2. Outcome 1: Professional and quality services delivered by the civil servants Target value(s) (%) : 95% of agencies scored above 90% in the GPMS scores by June 2018: All agencies score 90% and above as of June 2018. 3. Output 2: New PMS tested and endorsed for rolling out to all other agencies Indicator 1: No. of Agency in Which PMS is tested, Target value(s) : 65 agencies by 2016: MaX framework rolled out in all 65 agencies with effect from 1st July, 2016

The MaX system took two years in the making, where extensive efforts were invested in engaging the stakeholders in designing, piloting and reviewing the system. A Task Force was constituted to implement the MaX system comprising of 22 members who provided guidance to the agencies and developed the draft MaX manual. MaX system was piloted from July 2015-June 2016 for one complete appraisal cycle The piloting exercise led to several rounds of consultations and covered 22,706 civil servants of diverse professional background. The piloting exercise surfaced many practical and other considerations that lead to further review and refinement of the system. Before initiating the GPMS, consultations were carried out with Cabinet Members by the Prime Minister. Subsequently, detailed consultations were held with the heads of agencies and leaders of the Local Governments. The Prime Minister travelled to all the 20 districts and 205 blocks to get feedback on the system after it was piloted for the fiscal year 2014-15. Positive feedback was received in terms of GPMS strengthening accountability and enhancing effectiveness in implementation of and delivery of services, following which the Government rolled the system out across all agencies and drafted a policy to institutionalize the system.

1. There is no one-size-fits-all PMS framework that could be adopted off-the-shelf. We had to review many PM system and based on applicability adopted and customised to our needs. 2. GPMS' effectiveness is determined by the quality of the Five Year Plans and their targets. Therefore, the Five Year Planning must be crafted carefully. 3. Any system wide change requires consistent capacity building of people involved. It also requires consistent outreach and advocacy on the system for the first couple of years. 4. For smooth implementation and institutionalisation, constant monitoring and debottlenecking any kind of problems must be done consistently.