Outsourcing of Social Services in Bulgaria

1. Outsourcing of Social Services in Bulgaria

2. Social Services – basic facts • Providers of social services – municipal authorities, state, NGOs, commercial entities; • The State as a provider – the Child Protection Departments; • The private service providers – donor funded and contracted by municipal authorities; • Municipality – service provision and outsourcing. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

3. Financing of Social Services at Municipal Level • State-delegated social services – state subsidy on the basis of per capita standards for a government determined list of social services; • Financed by own revenues. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

4. Legislative Framework on Outsourcing of Social Services • Special Procedure different from the public procurement law • Social Assistance Act – 1998 • Implementing Regulations for the Social Assistance Act – amendments in 2003 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

5. Initiation of Outsourcing • International donor – USAID and WB involvement; • Outsourcing under the Child Welfare Reform Project in 10 pilot municipalities. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

6. Outsourcing Bidding Procedure (as outlined in legislation) • Legislation regulates mainly the bidding procedure. It doesn’t go into the relationships after contract signing. • Described very broadly; • Competitive procedure (single source selection only in exceptional cases); • No requirement for separate technical and financial proposal. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

7. Outsourcing Practice • More than 20 (out of 262) municipalities have contracted service provision to private providers; • Municipalities prefer to contract out newly established community-based services; • Bidding procedures – modifications in different municipalities; • Contract duration – from 1 to 5 years; 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

8. Outsourcing Practice • Principle of funding – monthly tranches; • Reporting – different practices, but in general monthly and bigger accent to financial reporting. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

9. Regulatory Mechanisms in the Process of Outsourcing • Minimum quality standards; • Licensing for private service providers; • Inspections and control. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

10. Conclusions – main achievements and advantages • Outsourcing has generally gained acknowledgment both by the Government and the municipal authorities; • Better quality of service provision – flexibility (in terms of staff structure, salaries, management practices, financial management, etc.), regular supervision, access to best practices, new approach to beneficiaries; • Helped dividing case management from service provision; 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

11. Conclusions – main achievements and advantages • Relieved municipal authorities from service provision, freed capacity for service monitoring and planning; • Introduced proper monitoring of service quality for the first time. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

12. Conclusions – main challenges • Unification and improvement of procurement procedures; • Linking financing to quality of services in order to encourage municipalities to outsource; • Introduction of unified financial per capita standards for all state-delegated social services; 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

13. Conclusions – main challenges • Introducing a more flexible financial mechanism and reporting procedures for contracts; • Introduction of specific quality standards in order to provide common ground for objective monitoring of quality; • Developing capacity of NGOs for service provision; 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

14. Conclusions – main challenges • Developing capacity of municipal authorities for management and monitoring of service provision; • Contracting out existing and especially residential type social services. 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria

15. Thank you for your attention! 3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria