STRATEGY

Service Delivery Standard (SDS) is a statement listing the functions/services of an agency, the procedures required to comply along with submission of forms & documents, indication of time taken to provide the services and contact details of a focal person/officer/staff delivering the services. SDS also has the institution and indication of a redressal mechanism accountable to service receivers in case the services are not delivered within the standard time indicated.

One-Stop-Shop (OSS) is service centre (physical or virtual) that provide services through a single or "one window". They are conveniently located and equipped with modern facilities. Fees, procedures, and time needed for a specific request are clearly defined and publicized.

OSS improves accessibility, transparency, effectiveness, efficiency and relationship between service providers and service users.

AB & SCM
Administrative Burden (AB) is the hidden cost of compliance to procedures and information obligation due to regulations.

Standard Cost Model (SCM) is a tool to calculate AB. It defines AB as the costs of administrative activities that businesses are required to conduct in order to comply with the information obligations that are imposed through regulation. It is measured in Ngultrum per year.

AB is that part of the administrative costs which are only incurred as a result of the rules. The following figure illustrates what administrative burden is.

The Benefits of using SCM are:

The SCM method is a way of breaking down regulation into a range of manageable components of information obligation, data requirement and activities that can be measured. It helps locate and quantify burdens in regulations by identifying most influencing parameters (time, wage cost, frequency & population affected by Information Obligation) and enables to set cost reduction targets. The use of SCM has the following benefits:

a) By using the method it is possible to point out some specific parts of the legislation that are particularly burdensome for citizens and regulated firms to comply with;
b) A baseline measurement reveals where in business processes administrative costs occur, and thus where simplification can be accomplished to greatest effect, as what gets measured gets done;
c) The data collected is employed in analysing how amendments to an information obligation will affect the administrative costs: using a database it is possible to simulate changes in the regulation in order to examine the consequences for stakeholders;
d) The SCM provides inspiration for new system development/improvement or greater data sharing between government agencies;
e) The SCM assists in the identification of which department/ministry is responsible for burdensome regulation;
f) The SCM assists departments/ministries in identifying the total costs of administrative burdens;
g) Furthermore, the qualitative results from the baseline measurement are highly relevant. They can help identify which burdens provide the largest 'irritation' factor for citizens or areas of legislation inappropriate or difficult to comply with.
h) The SCM is used as one of the pre-conditions in policy making, law enactment and rule-making process in many European Countries because of its Ex-post and Ex-ante applicability.

Legislative Protocol
While existing policies, laws and Acts were largely coherent and consistent, many of the resulting rules, regulations, process and procedures are unclear, contradictory and even unnecessary at times. Instances of corruption and inefficient public service delivery are often caused by conflicting & ambiguous rules, too many regulations and unclear procedures. Citizen's act of availing public services involved lengthy processes, a lot of information obligation and unnecessary paperwork that irritates them and hinders overall socio-economic development.

Policy, legislation and rules & regulations are important governance instruments. It protects public interest, address social needs, preserve environment and foster country's socio-economic development. For achieving the intended objective, it is important that policy framework and its laws & regulations are focused to where it is needed most and do not impose unnecessary burden to the economy, environment and the society. A clear framework of protocol for Policy, Legislation and Rules & Regulation is necessary to address the issue of their incoherence and contradiction.

In order to institute and mainstream a clear protocol for policy and rule making, Standard Cost Model (SCM) and Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) are widely used tools. It helps to locate administrative burdens from regulations so that simplification, harmonization, standardization on the existing regulations is carried out and ex-ante application of the tool ensures quality to all new regulations.