Outsourcing of Social Services in Bulgaria

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 July, Sofia, 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.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria 5 Initiation of Outsourcing International donor – USAID and WB involvement; Outsourcing under the Child Welfare Reform Project in 10 pilot municipalities.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria 6 Outsourcing Bidding Procedure (as outlined in legislation) Legislation regulates mainly the bidding procedure. It doesnt 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.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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;

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria 8 Outsourcing Practice Principle of funding – monthly tranches; Reporting – different practices, but in general monthly and bigger accent to financial reporting.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria 9 Regulatory Mechanisms in the Process of Outsourcing Minimum quality standards; Licensing for private service providers; Inspections and control.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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;

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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;

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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;

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 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.

Reform on the Child Care System: Taking Stock and Accelerating Action3-6 July, Sofia, Bulgaria 15 Thank you for your attention!