Viešųjų paslaugų tobulinimas: jungtinių paslaugų centrų steigimas
Modernisation of the public services: establishment of the shared public service centres

Summary/Abstract: Single-window, public quality and strategic management has moved to the forefront of the public sector reform agenda. There are large number of innovations which should improve quality of the public services. Shared public services centres are one of these innovative models. The Western Countries were the pioneers for the implementation of the public services centres and have decade of the practical implementation experience. However, there are still some problems in the front line public service provision related to the accessibility, acceptability and fulfilment of the citizen needs. In order to avoid some threats, the practical implementation of the shared public services centres will require additional preparation and feasibility assessment. The aim of this study is to analyse trends of the modernisation in public services and to assess the feasibility of using the shared public service centres for the modernisation of the front line processes in the Lithuanian public sector. The first part presents the theoretical background of the public services, also, attention is given to the theoretical analysis of the shared public service centers and how it could improve the quality of public services. The main theoretical aspect of the establishment the front office shared centres is based on the idea of citizens’ participation in the service provision, creation of user-friendly service facilities, joining up fragmented government institutions and in this way to become more cost –effective governance. The second part of the paper offers a qualitative research (individual and focus group interviews was used). The essential criteria for the selection of respondents involved - the work practices in applying innovations on provision of the first line public services. Interviews were used to gain knowledge indepth of the issues raised and also for the exploration of feasible obstacles for the establishment of shared public service centres in Lithuania. According to results of the qualitative research the citizens orientation could be the most appropriate (in terms of accessibility, acceptability, fulfilment of the citizens needs)for the establishment of the public service centres. The results of the qualitative research also show that the lack of resources is one of the critical success factors for establishment of the public service centres. This problem could be solved by using redundant material resources in Lithuanian authorities. The need of first line service personnel could be solved by delegating employees from the each institution, which was a founder of the public service centre. However it would be still only a partial solution in the establishment of the public service centres, i.e. a new service unit would need more labour force in order to provide a high quality services. Eventually, Lithuanian public institutions will need to experience some capital costs on the reconstructions or renovation of the offices and equipment used in the rendering of the first line services. The amount of the costs experienced is directly correlated with the establishment of public centres as new units.

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