Reform Index 123. Medium-term Road Construction Planning and Competition Rules for Civil Servants

Among the events of the round are the law on medium-term financing for road repairs, simplifying the rules for competitions for civil servants and strengthening the liability for falsification of medicines.

Main events of the round

New opportunities for financing road construction.

Law on medium-term budget planning of construction, repair and maintenance of roads, +1,0 point

Law on sources of financing of construction, repair and maintenance of roads, +1,0 point

Investment projects are often implemented in terms substantially longer than 1 year. However, the financing mechanisms for such road construction projects have not yet been working.

In December 2018, the Verkhovna Rada amended the budget code to introduce medium-term budget planning. However, it has not yet worked in the implementation of road construction and maintenance projects. In order for this to happen, a number of changes were required to allow Ukravtodor (State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine) units to enter into medium-term contracts with contractors.

Laws 282-IX of 12.11.2019 and 283-IX of 12.11.2019 solve this problem for road maintenance projects.

Simplifying competition rules for civil servants, +1.0 point

In order to become a civil servant, you need to pass a competition, which involves tests for analytical skills and knowledge of the law, resolution of a situational task and job interview.

Competition rules often change, and there are many complaints about the quality of the selection process. In order to attract people from other spheres – business, military, academics, public figures, etc., to the civil service, competitive tasks must be feasible for people who have not previously worked in public service. Tasks should not require people to have specific knowledge and skills that can be acquired exclusively through public service. On the other hand, these tasks should check whether a person is ready for public service and whether he or she clearly understands what it is.

The competition rules changed substantially in March 2016  after the government began reforming and adopting a new civil service law. Since then, the government has amended the contest rules 15 times in 3.5 years. In particular, in July-November 2017, when the government started creating new directorates, the government amended the rules monthly (5 times). In the first 3 months of the Honcharuk government, in September – November 2019, the rules changed 5 times. In particular, this was done in order to implement the law on “restarting power” . We did not evaluate the previous changes because they were either introduced to implement changes to the civil service law or did not substantially change the “rules of the game”.

Recent changes to the rules introduced by the government by Resolution No. 962 of 11/27/2019  simplify competition procedures and make them more flexible.

Resolution on creation of a unified system of processing of citizens’ appeals, +1,0 points

By decree № 976 of November 27, 2019, the government set a “one-stop-window” rule for receiving claims from citizens and responding to citizens. When these rules are put into effect, it will be possible to contact the authorities through a contact center, who will, if necessary, direct an appeal to the authority that will prepare the response directly.

Enforcement of criminal liability  for medicine falsification, +0.3 points

Law 284-IX of 12.11.2019 was adopted to resolve the problem of counterfeit medicines. Legislation has not previously clearly defined how to establish that a drug is a forgery, and there are no mechanisms to hold responsible for selling counterfeit medicines online.

The law solved these problems and increased responsibility for the procurement of counterfeit medicines using the state budget.