MORE than 75 government service centres were assessed by undercover “agents” as part of a government evaluation programme.
The appraisal of the 78 centres took place under the government service centre evaluation programme, Taqyeem, which was launched in 2017.
Details were revealed by iGA chief executive Mohammed Al Qaed during a meeting with the Press yesterday.
The conference was part of an initiative launched by the National Communication Centre (NCC) called ‘Conversations with a Government Official’.
According to Mr Al Qaed, Taqyeem strives to achieve a substantial shift in the quality and mechanism of services provided to end-users at government service centres in line with the Government Action Plan.
Mr Al Qaed revealed that in the first edition of Taqyeem, 89 government service centres were evaluated, leading to the closure of 11 which he highlighted is evidence of government bodies striving to enhance their performance and provide excellent services.
“The second edition of Taqyeem was launched in September 2019 and a total of 78 government service centres were evaluated in that month with the help of undercover clients and shoppers,” he said.
“Four new government service centres were listed on the evaluation list while 14 centres weren’t included in the exercise as eight were shut down, three were under maintenance, one was excluded and two couldn’t be evaluated.
“Eleven centres were closed down this year reducing the total of evaluated centres to 78 because these centres weren’t benefiting citizens with no possibility for development; so, they were shut down.
“This proves that the government is also working on developing its services because it invests its time and staff in centres that are able to provide excellent service as it is an issue of quality and not quantity.
“One government body has four service centres – and one previously received a gold classification. However, following an assessment two centres were closed down because although they had the budget not enough visitors were frequenting them.
“Employees at these centres were moved and funds were used to further develop existing centres to excel in services provided.
“New criteria were also included for the evaluation process and now the guide includes a total of 94 criteria – 64 are standard while the rest are advanced.”
Mr Al Qaed revealed that certain criteria were also changed to ensure higher quality services such as allowing a maximum waiting time of 15 minutes at service centres as well as developing a plan to transfer transactions and processes to an electronic platform.
He added that the team of undercover shoppers who visit the centres unannounced and apply for a service to evaluate the quality, provide an objective evaluation as they are not members of the iGA.
“A service centre is evaluated on five main factors: ease of reaching the service centre, excelling in providing the service, adequacy of the centre’s environment, the smooth processing of clients and the effectiveness of the administrative processes.
“Taqyeem has played a crucial role in reducing the waiting time at centres as 75 per cent of the centres don’t report a waiting time exceeding 15 minutes and has paved the way to go digital with services further enhancing the quality, speed and decrease in bureaucracy.”
reem@gdn.com.bh
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