Standard Summary Project Fiche
1. Basic Information
1.1 Publication and Twinning Number: (Year 2006): BG2006/018-343.08.04, BG 06 IB FI 01
1.2 Title: “Sustainable Development of the National Statistical System” – Reorganization of NSI regional structure
1.3 Location: Bulgaria, National Statistical Institute (NSI)
2. Objectives
2.1 Overall Objective(s):
The Project aims to fully integration of the National Statistical System (NSS) into the European Statistical System (ESS).
2.2 Project purpose:
Further development of the National Statistical System by:
· Reorganization of the NSI regional structure in order to strengthen the administrative capacity and in connection with the absorption of the Structural Funds;
· Statistical Data production according to the new aligned NSI regional structure in connection with the absorption of the Structural Funds;
· Adjust the capacities of the RSOs and NSI to produce these data.
2.3 Contribution to National Development Plan/Cooperation Agreement
Main objective for strengthening the institutional and administrative capacity for utilization of the structural funds at the moment of accession (Axis 1, NEDP) is to harmonize and elaborate planning region statistical data according to EUROSTAT standards by establishing and adopting a system of indicators.
The Law on Statistics defines as “Basic information with public significance” the information gathered from constantly conducted surveys, which are included in the National Programme for Statistical Surveys and which are necessary for the preparation and monitoring of the National Economic Development Plan (NEDP).
The regional development main objectives, as stated in Axis 5 of the NEDP, are the creation of prerequisites for sustainable and balanced development of the separate regions in the country, decreasing the inter-regional discrepancies related to the employment and incomes, realization of regional and cross-border cooperation and European integration. For the purpose of completion and monitoring the NEDP, it is necessary NSI to collect, process and submit statistical data about the regional development to the Council of Ministers, Minister of the Regional Development and Public Works, regional governors and the municipalities.
Providing planning region statistical data according to NUTS contribute to elaboration of NDP and preparation for the Structural Funds assistance.
3. Description
3.1 Background and justification:
The Bulgarian Law on Statistics places on the National Statistical Institute the responsibility to coordinate the State’s statistical activity. Furthermore, the NSI is responsible for giving methodological assistance to and controlling the statistical surveys carried out by the other producers of official statistics in Bulgaria.
The project is in compliance with the priorities of the Bulgarian Mid-Term Programme for Development of Statistics, 2003 – 2006.
The permanent contact with Eurostat gives the possibility to follow all trends and planned changes in the acquis communautaire concerning statistics. The principal statistical priorities for the Community statistics for the years 2003-2007 are:
· Macro-economic statistics for EMU;
· Enlargement – to support accession process;
· Competitively, sustainable development and for social agenda (labour market, environment, services, living conditions, migration, eEurope);
· Structural indicators, new economy and information society, short term statistics;
· More effective management and administration.
Aiming at further integration of the candidate countries statistical systems into the ESS, Eurostat has elaborated a Strategy for Statistical Co-operation with these countries, covering the period 2003-2006.
On the other hand, in the EC Comprehensive Monitoring Report 2005 for Bulgaria under Chapter 12 “Statistics” the following conclusions are made: Bulgaria is generally meeting the commitments and requirements arising from the accession negotiations in the area of statistics and is expected to be in a position to implement the acquis as from accession. Bulgaria should pay attention to further methodological development and to improving the quality, timeliness and completeness of data in certain areas such as national accounts, business statistics and agriculture statistics.
The essential task of the project is the reorganization of the NSI regional structure.
The project is planned to provide implementation in the national practice of the following Acquis:
· Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS);
· Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999
· Decision No 2367/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on the Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007.
The reorganisation of the NSI structure is an essential part of the institutional framework for integrated development, both for determining eligibility and for programming and monitoring purposes in relation to applications for the EU structural funds assistance. The Law on Regional Development defines six regions for planning and regional policy implementation in respect to Structural and Cohesions funds absorption. This requires building of specific regional databases and new methodologies, improvement of the analysis at regional level. In order to provide reliable and adequate statistical information NSI needs to concentrate more statistical capacity for the fulfilment of that task, either aggregating statistical activity in less regional offices and/or enhancing the capacity in Headquarters.
The sustainable development of the National Statistical System in Bulgaria, under the conditions of a functioning market economy, requires sufficient capacity building for implementation of its fundamental mission: effective production and dissemination of high quality statistical information & satisfying the users’ needs on the state and changes of economy, demography, social sphere and ecology.
3.2 Linked Activities:
The National Statistical Institute works in accordance with the European Agreement for Association and follows the principles, priorities, intermediate objectives and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with the Republic of Bulgaria.
Previous Phare assistance to the Statistical sector in Bulgaria has been given under the following Programmes:
· BG 9806.03.02 “Compliance of Bulgarian Statistical Practice with the Requirements of Membership of EU” (Project successfully completed);
· BG 00.06.04 “Institution building and development of the national statistics system” (Project successfully completed);
· Twinning Light Project BG/2001/IB/FI/04-TLF - “External Migration” (Project successfully completed);
· BG 0203.12 “Regional Statistics Improvement and Assessment of the Quality of the Statistical Data” (Project successfully completed);
· BG2003/004-937.12.02 (PPF 2003) “Elaboration of a Concept for Reorganization of the National Statistical Institute Regional Structure” (Project successfully completed);
· Twinning Contract BG2004/IB/FI/11 “Sustainable Development of the National Statistical System” (Sub-project started on June 2, 2005);
· BG 2004/016-711.09.05 / Sub-project 2 Service Contract “Conduction of statistical surveys in the field of statistics on information society, statistics on income and living conditions, and national accounts” (Sub-project consists of three lots – Lot 1 Information Society started in August 2006; Lot 2 SILC started in July 2006; Lot 3 NA planned to start in October 2006);
· BG 2004/016-711.09.05 / Sub-project 3 Technical Assistance “Strengthening the Administrative Capacity of the NSI” (Sub-project started in September 2006);
· BG 2004/016-711.09.05 / Sub-project 4 Supply Contract for delivery of hardware and software, and library furniture (Sub-project planned to start in November 2006);
· BG 2004/016-711.09.05 / Sub-project 5 Supply Contract for Development of an Application Software for Survey Processing System (Sub-project planned to start in December 2006).
Presently, NSI participates in the Multi-country Phare Horizontal Statistics Programme managed by Eurostat and financing four types of multi-country activities: Technical assistance, Ad-hoc Data Collection, Tailor-made expertise and Pilot projects.
Currently, the 2004 Phare Multi-country statistical cooperation Programme is ongoing.
The following projects are included: Purchasing Power Parities; Improvement of Coverage and Timeliness of Quarterly National Accounts; Production of Inward FATS; Research and Development Statistics; Business Register Improvements; Structural Business Statistics; Implementation of the Survey in Vocational Training in Enterprises; Improvement of Data Quality in Short-term Statistics in Compliance with STS Regulation; Transport Statistics; ICT Usage Survey by Enterprises; ICT Usage Survey on Households; A Statistical Time Use Database; Quality Improvement in Unemployment Statistics; Improvement of Quality for Labour Cost and Earnings Statistics; Improving the Quality and Availability of International Migration Statistics; Implementation of European Core Health Interview Survey; Improvement of Statistics of Causes of Death; Implementation of the Wave approach for the Labour Force Survey; Improvement of Quality for Meet Statistics; Implementation of Water Statistics; Implementation of Waste Statistics; Production of data for Urban audit; Improvement of the Farm Register.
The immediate objectives are outlined below:
· Improve the production, collection and dissemination of high quality statistics comparable with Community methods in key areas mainly related to new acquis;
· Improve the ability of Bulgaria and Romania to programme their activities in relation to the integration into the ESS.
The expected results are:
· Increased sustainable capacity to produce statistics in areas covered by the acquis, including the publication and dissemination of these statistics;
· Increased coverage of high quality data in Eurostat’s databases;
· Increased level of integration into the European Statistical System and its planning structures.
The proposed project will follow the results of the a/m described Phare projects, its results will be complementary with the former ones and will add further improvements to the Bulgarian statistics. The activities will not overlap the activities of the previous programmes.
3.3 Results:
Concept Paper for the reorganization of the NSI regional structure is elaborated under the Project Preparation Facility – project BG2003/2004-937.12.02 “Elaboration of a Concept for Reorganization of the National Statistical Institute Regional Structure”.
3.3.1 Purpose
· Reorganization of the NSI regional structure in order to strengthen the administrative capacity and in connection with the preparation for the Structural Funds;
· Adjust the capacities of the new regional structure to produce statistical information in connection with the preparation for the Structural Funds.
3.3.2 Results:
3.3.2.1. component 1: Implementation of the new regional structure of NSI
o 1.1. Report on EU practices and know-how presented as regards regional reform in statistical system
o 1.2. Action plan with concrete steps for implementation of the reform (incl. plan for training activities) elaborated
o 1.3. NSI data production and dissemination capacities adapted to the new structure
3.3.2.2. component 2: Training of the NSI staff
o 2.1. Statisticians from Head Office, Regional Offices and branches trained and capable to:
2.1.1. apply sampling techniques
2.1.2.apply seasonal adjustment procedures
2.1.3. elaborate methodologies assuring implementation of EU legislation, requirements and standards
2.1.4. handle electronic questionnaires
2.1.5. apply methods for data collection, processing and data protection
2.1.6. use administrative sources
o 2.2. Staff from Head Office, Regional Offices and branches trained to work with:
2.2.1. statistical software
2.2.2. databases
2.2.3. standard application software
2.2.4. contemporary programming tools
2.2.5. administering operational system
2.2.6. EU standards (inc. data exchange and distribution)
o 2.3. Regional Directors and branch Supervisors trained to carry out their managerial functions according to their responsibilities
3.3.2.3. component 3: Establishment of a Reporting System (The system for cost calculation and follow up)
o 3.1. Needs analysis Report (incl. concrete conclusions, proposals and recommendations for a system to get real cost of product; to plan the activities in order to have the necessary resources for production available; follow-up in order to enable early action if the plans cannot be kept and basis for next year plans
o 3.2. Instrumentarium for a time reporting system created
o 3.3. List of proposals and recommendations for redesign of production processes, re-planning and management of statistical products
o 3.4. Time reporting system (cost calculation is based on the total cost from the accounting system and the distribution of them to the end products; aiming and introducing more flexible and efficient product organization, as well as to improving products quality.)
3.3.2.4. component 4: Reduction of burden of the respondents and regional statistical offices
o 4.1. Respondents and RSOs burden reduced useing more and reliable administrative information and new technologies and techniques
3.4 Activities:
Component 1 - Reorganization of regional offices and head office and strengthening administrative capacity
1.1. Presentation of “how to do” and step-by-step approach of the EU countries in respect to regional reorganization of the statistical office already implemented
1.2. Elaboration of action plan for smooth implementation of the regional reform (incl. plan for the training activities)
1.3. Definition of:
1.3.1. work and data flows between three level structure (Head Office – Regional Offices - branches)
1.3.2. work programme for each branch and region (issues: statistical production; dissemination; IT; administrative; budgetary; other supporting activities)
1.3.3. dissemination policy of statistical products and services at national and international level of Head Office, Regional Offices, branches
Component 2 – Training of the NSI staff
2.1. Statistical (subject-matter) Training by the means of seminars and workshops on the following topics:
2.1.1. sampling techniques
2.1.2. seasonal adjustment procedures (incl. data series)
2.1.3. elaboration of methodologies assuring implementation of EU legislation, requirements and standards
2.1.4. handling of electronic questionnaires
2.1.5. methods for data collection, processing and data protection
2.1.6. usage of administrative sources, inc. treatment of the results
2.2. IT Training by the means of seminars and workshops on the following topics:
2.2.1. statistical software
2.2.2. databases
2.2.3. standard application software
2.2.4. contemporary programming tools
2.2.5 administering operational system
2.2.6. EU standards for data exchange and distribution
2.3. Advanced Training by the means of seminars and workshops on HR management, financial and administrative management for the following target groups:
2.3.1. training for the new regional Directors and their teams
2.3.2. training for branch Supervisors
Component 3 – Establishment of a Reporting System (The system for cost calculation and follow up)
3.1. Assessment of the state of art in respect to the system for accountability of statistical products, services and activities in the Bulgarian NSI
3.2. Elaboration of a set of documents (templates), procedures, and rules, register of products and staff database for setting-up a time reporting system