The new leadersip of Georgia inherited:

1. The new leadersip of Georgia inherited: Weak and disorganized public administration institutions lacking transparency and accountability; Inadecuate coordination among key state institutions; Low strategic planning and policymaking capacities of governmental institutions; Unmotivated and poorly managed cohort of public servants; Widespread problem of corruption;

2. Improving governance represents of the priorities of EDPRP, including: Clear determination of state regulating role and functions in economic and social spheres; Enhancement of effeciveness of executive branch institutions not only by strenthening their administration capability but also strategic analysis and policy making capacity, together with raising professional culture of policy implementation; Clear differentiation of institutional, regulating and operational functions within public administration; Enhancement of the effectiveness of interaction between central and local governing and self-governing authorities by rational decentralization and further delegation of duties and responsibilities concentrated at the central level; Improving human resources management systems in public Service

3. Government of Georgia committed itself to improving public administration to enhance its capacity for designing and implementing appropriate public policies and delivering adecuate services to the population. In its Reform and Development Program (2004-2009) the governments communicating objective was to establish: A professional public sector; Boost the morale of the public servants; Eliminate institutional sources of corruption; Optimize the staff size in line with the new functions assigned to each ministry; Increase public participation in political decision-making;

4. In the program particular attention has been paid to the necessity of resolution of the following tasks: Establishing of compact and flexible Public Administration by getting rid of duplications, delegating certain duties and responsibilities to the local level and optimazing human resources; Establishing transparent and accountable Public Administration; Ensuring equal opportunities, fair employment and merit based promotion policies within public Service; Elaboration of the public Servants Ethics Code; Salary administration reform; Introduction of ICT and e-governance system in the Public Administration Establishing modern local governance.

5. First important steps already made in the reform direction include: The new Law on �Strucuture, Functions and Responsibilities of the Executive Branch� was adopted by the Parliament in February, 2004; The Law on �Public Service� was amended by the Parliament in June, 2004 in order to establish the public Service Council and the public Service Bureau as the key state bodies to lead the public service reform agenda; The Ministry of Finance has undertaken initial measure toward strengthening public expenditure management system and introducing medium-term expenditure framework; The Law on �State Audit� was modified to ensure independence of the Chamber of Control, the supreme audit institution and the new management of Chamber of Control has initiated radical institutional reforms;

6. According to the old version of the Law on �Public Service� public Service Bureau was formed and had been operating within the structure of the State Chancellery of Georgia. Existed institutional establishment and organizational capacity was inefficient conditioned by: Lack of sufficient status to fulfill obligations defined by the formal mandate for CSB represented one of the ordinary sub-divisions of the State Chancellery and its recommendations and proposals were not perceived as an obligatory by other executive or other branch institutions; Lack of sufficient financial resources for both organizational hardware and software as well as staff development;

7. The new leadership of Georgia, committed to improve public sector performance intends to undertake a comprehensive public administration and public service reform program. In this context, the Law on �Public Service� was amended to provide establishment of: Public Service Council, a high level policy advisory body chaired by the President of Georgia; Public Service Bureau, a technical entity responsible for elaboration of a state public administration/public service policy to be agreed by the council and approved by the President to ensure its implementation in the whole public service shpere.

8. Public Service Council, headed by the President is composed of: Three members of Parliament: Three representatives of Judicial Branch (Judges); Three represantatives of Executive Branch (Deputy Ministers of Finance and Justice, State Minister on Reforms and Development Issues); Three represantatives of local self-governing authorities (Heads of city councils); Secretary of the Council, who at the same time hold the position of Head of Public Service Bureau.

9. Public Service Bureau is composed of: Human Resources Management Division; Institutional Development Division; Human Resources Development Coordination Division; Legal Division; Administrative Division. In the structure of PSB there are also two permanent positions of PR Expert and Press Secretary.

10. Under Guidance of the Council, the Bureau has been coordinating activities for developing guidelines for public administration reform to assist all the ministries with the reforms in their agencies. For the improved qualitative coordination of executive power institutions it is necessary to develop unified action plan � reform and development strategy for the system of governmental institutions; Executive power institutions should be structured in accordance with the development strategy. This approach could, on the one hand, orient these institutions at the solution of existing problems and on the other hand, balance their activities excluding functional duplication and parallelism; Formation of executive power structures should necessarily take into consideration the EU requirements on effectiveness, transparency and economy of these structures;

11. Under Guidance of the Council, the Bureau has been coordinating activities for developing guidelines for public administration reform to assist all the ministries with the reforms in their agencies. Executive power organizations of departmental level should be implementing only conceptual activities related to policy implementation, forecasting, planning, monitoring, etc. They should be deprived of all economic functions; these functions should be transferred to secondary level organizations (regulatory commissions); Strict definition of activities of executive sub-departmental organizations (tertiary level institutions) is necessary. Their necessity should be based on the primary principle: to what extent (how effectively) they support activities of higher level governmental organizations;

12. Under Guidance of the Council, the Bureau has been coordinating activities for developing guidelines for public administration reform to assist all the ministries with the reforms in their agencies. In order to implement modern approaches of administration in executive power institutions it is necessary: to delegate duties and responsibilities to as lower level as possible; to develop job descriptions and position requirements in accordance with new organizational technologies, etc; this requires the introduction of a brand new role-based organizational culture; Human Resource management in executive power institutions need to be improved to meet modern requirements.

13. The President and Cabinet is about to endorse the development and implementation by the Council and the Bureau of a multy year civil service reform program. The scope of the program would include: A review of the roles and functions of government entities; Development of a complete and current staff data base, to be the basis of an automated central payroll of the civil service; Working out comprehensive, medium-term pay reform for civil servants; Introduction of a stable professional civil service that is separated from political functions and interference; Introduction of a new mechanism of accountability for improved performance of the civil service; Improved use of IT in Government

14. For ensuring success of the civil service reform together with the stated activities the following steps are esseincial to be made: Organization and coordination by the Council and Bureau of external assistance provided to support civil service reform; Development of constituencies of support for civil service reform in Parliament, civil society and media by increasing awareness and understanding for the reform program and to mitigate the negative impressions of civil service reform caused by the ongoing redundancies;

15. Bureau�s start up activities directed toward establishment of Modern System of Human Resources Management in the Georgian Public Service

16. One of the critical issues of the ongoing reforms in the country�s public service is establishment of modern career planning, personnel selection and distribution systems Main problem - absence (or insufficiency) of job descriptions and employee specifications. To address the stated problem PSB has started the following activities: The team of independent experts was set up under the supervision of the Bureau; The groups of experts are being set up in each state institution; The ranged criteria compatible with every position in public service will be determined by specially designed questionnaires distributed to all state institutions; Result � Based on the analysis of the filled job descriptions and employee specifications will be developed for every position of public service.

17. The following activities are ongoing under the Bureau�s supervision: Processing of standard procedure of selection of public servants; Processing of standard procedure of attestation of public servants; Drafting of regulations of selection panels; Drafting of regulations of attestation panels;

18. Implementation of progressive psychometric methods of selection of public servants: Selection of psychometric test battery most compatible with the current tasks - occupational tests (Advanced Managerial Tests � AMT; Management & Graduate Item Bank � MGIB; Critical Reasoning Test Battery � CRTB, Personnel Test Battery � PTB, Occupational Personality Questionnaire � OPQ); Empirical adaptation of foreign tests with the ethnic, social and cultural conditions of Georgia and processing of original testing methods.

19. Creation of personified data base for the representatives of various specialties that could be recommended for the respective positions in the public service � creation of staff reserve; Establishment of computerized system for the search of candidates mostly compatible with the vacancy according to his/her professional and personal specifications; Elaboration of criteria of assessment of the performed work: on the basis of modern methods of work evaluation to determine the list of criteria acceptable for the Georgian public service; establishment of ranged criteria of work assessment for each position; elaboration of method of work evaluation.

20. Preparation of basis for the establishment of regional agencies of personnel selection and attestation: processing of the program for the preparation of qualified specialists in the field of professional selection and attestation; organization of training courses on modern principles and methods of professional selection and attestation for the specialists who will carry out assessment of public servants, elaborate scientifically justified recommendations on optimal use of personnel, perform research works for the creation of staff resources.