Progestão Tocantins: Public Sector Management Efficiency

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Progestão Tocantins is the fifth operation in a Series of Projects (SoP) under the Program designed to assist Brazilian States implement reforms to improve efficiency in public resource management. The objective of the Progestão Program, as stated in the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Secretariat of Treasury (Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional, STN) and the World Bank (WB), is to develop the fiscal budget and asset management of the Brazilian State governments through actions that aim at reducing and rationalizing public spending with long term results to contribute to the fiscal sustainability of state governments. The Program, available to all Brazilian States regardless of their fiscal situation, will provide technical assistance to help participating States modernize and improve efficiency in whole-of-government functions and strategic sectors through investments in management reforms and information systems. The Federal Government has requested that the Bank supports the Progestão Program through a series of investment project financing (IPF) operations in order to ensure technical assistance from the World Bank during project implementation. The Tocantins Progestão project addresses five whole-of-government functions (human resource management, pensions, procurement, public investment management, and asset management) and three strategic sectors (health, education, and social assistance). These focus areas were selected by applying the Progestão Program selectivity criteria: strategic alignment, implementation capacity, and impact on beneficiaries.The proposed IPF operation support of investments in management information systems and reforms for whole-of-government functions and in strategic sectors in the State of Tocantins. The project will support management systems in health, education, and social assistance. The project will have three components.Component 1. Whole-of-Government Management Systems (US$37.8 million)Sub-Component 1.1: Human Resource Management (US$12.5 million). Implementing Agency: SECAD. Activities include: (i) carrying out a technical assistance program for strategic workforce right-sizing of selected agencies and departments; (ii) design and implementation of a workforce right-sizing p latform integrated with the human resources management system to identify core competencies of public officials and the appropriate hiring needs of organization; (iii) implementation of a personnel management platform, including dynamic distribution of the workforce, replacement alarms, and automated official documentation of reallocation; (iv) development and implementation of a management analytics and artificial intelligence system for automated payroll audit to reduce errors and fraud; (v) design and implementation of new functionalities to the State’s HRMIS, including frequency control, documentation management, public officials portal, performance and development, probationary phase, job opening control, and training to public officials; (vi) automation of human resources management services and other processes identified through the strategic workforce planning; (vii) redesign and implementation of human resource services and processes based on strategic workforce planning; (viii) periodic staff surveys to assess reform implementation and support change management; (ix) communications and capacity building to support the rollout and implementation of new tools; (x) virtualization of functional documents to support the implementation of HRMIS functionalities; and (xi) procurement of hardware to support the rollout and implementation of the abovementioned activities.Sub-Component 1.2: Pensions (US$2.2 million). Implementing Agency: IGEPREV. Activities include: (I) design and implementation of a pension management information system functionalities that support auditing the pension payroll and unifying management of benefit concession for all branches of government (legislative, judiciary, and executive) based on remuneration history and verification of actual contribution payments; (ii) expansion and update of the pension record management information system to increase efficiency and enable operational, actuarial, and financial analyses, thus reducing costs and allowing for better long term financial planning; (iii) procurement of hardware to support the deployment of these systems; and (iv) communications and capacity building to support the rollout and implementation of new tools.Sub-Component 1.3: Public Procurement (US$8 million). Implementing Agency: SEFAZ. Activities include: (i) development of a procurement strategy that considers the lifecycle of products and groups of items to help embed efficiency procurement across the State's purchases; (ii) improvements to the integrated system for e-procurement, including the redesign and automation of key processes, flows of budgetary and financial control, and reviewing the regulatory framework and institutional arrangements to increase transparency and smart procurement; (iii) design and implementation of integrated dashboards with reliable data for planning; (iv) apply artificial intelligence using electronic invoices to identify and reduce fraud and corrupt practices; (v) design and implement strategic sourcing methodology to help identify demand for goods and services across the government; (vi) capacity building program for officials working in procurement across the state; and (vii) procurement of hardware to support the deployment of the abovementioned activities..Sub-Component 1.4: Public Investment Management and Budgeting (US$5 million). Implementing Agency: SEPLAN. Activities include: (i) development and implementation of a public project management system for State’s investments, integrating project preparation, screening and appraisal; (ii) preparation of a portfolio of technically appraised, implementation ready projects; (iii) design and implementation of a governance strategy to manage project portfolio execution; (iv) design and implementation of a methodology and support plan that considers the lifecycle of project investments, focusing on the maintenance of infrastructure projects after the execution; (v) design and implementation of improved budgeting systems and practices; (vi) improvements in the management system for the transfer of resources from the State of Tocantins to municipalities and non-governmental organizations, allowing for digital monitoring of project preparation, implementation and accounting, and integrated to the budget and financial system; (vii) customization of the debt management information system; (viii) capacity building for State officials on public investment and expenditure management practices, to support the rollout and implementation of new tools; and (ix) periodic staff surveys to assess reform implementation and support change management.Sub-Component 1.5: Asset Management (US$10.1 million). Implementing Agencies: SECAD. Activities include: (i) te chnical support to assess up-to-date information of real estate properties, including geospatial data, area, occupation rate, valuations and the registry’s status; (ii) development and implementation of modules in the public asset management system that includes information for decision making on real estate properties and fleet management; (iii) development and implementation of a system for mapping costs of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including identification of synergies between government-to-government systems, interoperability, as well as a governance strategy for new acquisitions and maintenance; (v) capacity building for asset management practices and support for the rollout and implementation of new tools; (vi) procurement of hardware to support the rollout and implementation of the above mentioned activities; and (vii) improvements in server storage to guarantee enough space for information technology tools and systems implemented under th