Proposal for Expanding the ERA’s Financial Benchmarking System and Implementing Performance Agreements

The project was implemented in April 2013, with the goal of creating a transparent and customer-oriented system. The OSS service centers in Ulaanbaatar were designed to provide a single point of contact for citizens seeking construction permits. The current construction permitting procedure in UBM was found to be highly bureaucratic and complicated, involving at least 7 institutions and 18 interactions with citizens. The process took approximately 200 days to obtain a construction permit. In contrast, the proposed OSS system aimed to reduce the number of institutions involved and interactions with citizens, making the process more efficient and transparent. The organizational structure for construction permitting in Ulaanbaatar involved the UBM, its agencies, and other stakeholders. The stakeholder environment showed no direct resistance to reform, but key stakeholders would need to be reassured about the benefits of reform to ensure their support. The Citizen Service Center at the capital level was established to provide OSS services, but its current processes did not reflect the essence of an OSS principle, which emphasizes close cooperation and regular communication with stakeholders. The proposed OSS system would require changes within UBM and its agencies, as well as outside the municipality, resulting in a sensitive "change" process. Leadership was identified as a key driver of implementing the OSS system, and the current leadership demonstrated expertise, capacity, and willingness to manage the change. However, strong delivery assurance and sufficient, timely, and constant communication among key managers and stakeholders were crucial to the success of the project. The implementation of the OSS system would involve several transitional phases, including re-engineering internal processes, dual decrees and/or MOUs, information flow, and streamlining construction permitting procedures. The system would also require the establishment of an auction process, authorized operators, human resources, infrastructure, and public relations and branding of UBM. The project would require a united and collaborative team with collective actions, working jointly on a new process, and would involve continual reassessment of its impact and the institutions' willingness and ability to adopt the next wave of transformation.