Brazilian Public Administration Research Articles

Operation Car Wash: Uncovering Corruption Pathways in the Brazilian Construction Industry Through Bid Law Blind Spots

We carried out this study in the construction industry, one of the sectors that contributes significantly to the economic growth of most countries and maintains a strong relationship with the government in infrastructure projects, making it susceptible to corruption. Our objective was to identify the characteristics of the Brazilian Public Administration’s bidding processes for awarding contracts for works that may facilitate corrupt practices. Through a multiple case study, we researched investigations and audits of public works under Operation Car Wash to identify the main mechanisms used to circumvent the law. The results were obtained using an iterative explanation construction technique. With results that contribute to the development of public policies and anti-corruption and project management literature, we conclude that corruption will persist until adequate measures are implemented to combat overpricing and other underlying causes.

The implications of competitive dialogue for the Brazilian public administration

Competitive dialogue, introduced in Brazil by Law No. 14,133/2021, represents a bidding modality that allows for negotiation between the public administration and bidders, aiming to achieve the best technical and economic solution for the contracted object. This approach can foster innovation, creativity, and efficiency in the procurement of complex works and services, promoting transparency, equality, and competitiveness among bidders. However, it poses challenges, such as the possibility of manipulation and increased administrative costs. The article in question analyzes the purposes of competitive dialogue, seeking more democratic and efficient administrative decisions, highlighting the associated benefits and challenges, including the need for training of public servants and the definition of clear and objective criteria for choosing the best proposal.

Knowledge Retention and Loss in Brazilian Public Administration

Knowledge Retention and Loss in Brazilian Public Administration

PP30 The Fast Track In Drug Registration By ANVISA – Brazil And Possible Consequences

IntroductionThe fast track in drug registration by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, ANVISA, began in 2017 and is intended to prioritize analysis related to drugs relevant to public health. This process is appropriate in situations where there are no therapeutic alternative available or for technologies show significant improvement in safety, efficacy, or adherence to treatment.MethodsThe Brazilian public administration has a tool for accessing information called Transparency Portal. Thus, data on the number of drugs approved by fast track between 2018 and 2021 were requested through this tool and evaluated.ResultsThe data received by the Brazilian transparency portal shows that the number of requests for fast track had an increase from one in 2018 to 32 in 2021. There is an important increase of registrations, being drugs with phase II trials and with single-arm clinical trials. With registration based on a phase II trial, these patients are in fact receiving drugs in a context similar to clinical trials, but with funding from the healthcare system. Given that phase II studies are conducted in a limited population, there has been an increase in the registration of drugs with suboptimal efficacy and safety concerns. This scenario of uncertainty leads to non-adherence to treatment and a discrepancy in real-world outcomes in comparison to the clinical trial. About 70 percent of phase II trials, show no benefit, and only 30 percent proceed to later phases. It is noteworthy that about 50 percent of the studies that move on to later phases fail to show benefits. Nowadays the number of drugs approved by the fast track has increased, many probably with phase II studies and no comparator group.ConclusionsGiven the uncertainties in the efficacy and safety of a drug registered via fast track, often based on phase II studies, implementing provisional registration with real-world evaluation of outcomes, and coupled with financing based on risk-sharing agreements, may be a sustainable alternative for health systems.

Governance of public contracts: the materialization of efficiency and planning principles in law 14,133/2021

This article seeks to elucidate the Governance of public contracts provided for in article 11, sole paragraph, of Law 14,133/2021, as the formalization of the efficiency and planning principles. Thus, it presents the historical search for professionalization, planning and efficiency in the Brazilian Public Administration, from the bureaucratic reform until the advent of the law 14,133/2021, with emphasis on the management reform from the 1990s. Afterwards, the subsequent approximation of private management mechanisms to public management is presented, with emphasis on corporate Governance, which, based on the agency theories, resulted in the concept of the organizational public Governance, based on the notions of leadership, strategy and control, widely present in the 2021 law through various instruments. The methodology used was that of bibliographic research.

Creating technical criteria for the hierarchization of public works: Case study in Paraná state, Brazil

Public works in general play an important role because of their expressive value and considerable social relevance. In this respect, it is necessary to establish criteria/indicators for defining the hierarchy of works that must be conducted by a public entity, mainly for works considered ordinary, that is, those that do not stand out from a set of alternatives by degree of emergency or importance. Specifically, the hierarchization of engineering works to be carried out by the Public Administration in Brazil usually adopts the political approach to decision making without the application of rational technical criteria. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present a methodology to define the hierarchy of engineering works with the judiciary branch of power through the creation of technical criteria/indicators, followed by the application of the Fuzzy-Delphi technique to define the indices/weights that comprise the indicators. The technical criteria were created based on Resolution 114 of the country's National Council of Justice (Conselho Nacional de Justiça; CNJ), whose weights were obtained through the aforementioned method, which was applied to a panel of experts, in two stages, with the adoption of triangular fuzzy numbers. The results, which were clear and objective, provide the General Hierarchization Index (GHI), with the ordering/ranking of the works included in the process. The methodology was validated in a case study applied to 162 alternatives (districts), containing 192 buildings of the Court of Justice of Paraná State (Tribunal de Justiça do Paraná; TJPR), proving to be an important tool to support decision making. The optimization of resources through the determination of priorities converges to the sustainable hiring applied to public contracts. Institutions of the other Powers of the Republic could and should also be encouraged by public authorities to conduct technical studies similar to the proposal presented here, always clarifying the need for a clear and objective definition of the criteria and weights to be applied in the development of solutions for multicriteria decision making.

Brazilian Nursing Team: Quality of Working Life and The Leadership Influence

Objective: Analyzing the relation between the nurses-in-chief managerial styles with the Quality of Working Life (QWL). The balance between quality of life and work brings some sub-dimensions between life outside the workplace and work itself. Most of the investigated studies address the impact of work on life and the impact of life on the job. This analysis is important, as it contributes to several aspects, such as, for example, to increase the level of activity or participation. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional, qualitative, explanatory, and descriptive study. The sample was 61 nursing professionals (RNs) who held board positions, heads of department, managers, unit areas coordinators or supervisors, executive boards and/or departments, and 134 Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) at a hospital with a direct public administration in Brazil. The data collection was based on The Quality of Working Life Questionnaire (QWLQ-brief) and the Scale of Evaluation of the Managerial Style (SEMS) forwarded electronically. Results: The indices considered satisfactory begin from 55 points. The QWLQ-brief average was 46,39% (neutral position), and the physical/health aspects were considered unsatisfactory (mean 44,89%; 44, 13%).Conclusion: The conclusion showed relational possibilities between the Nurse-in-chief managerial style and the perception of the Quality of Working Life. The perception of the neutral life quality and some unsatisfactory sub-dimensions was related to the managerial style based on tasks.

HRM AND PUBLIC SERVANT’S HEALTH: EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES

The objective of this theoretical essay is to reflect and present epistemological and methodological possibilities about the processes of health, illness and normality in the human resource management practices adopted by the Public Administration in Brazil. The Circle of Epistemic Matrices was used, with its dimensions of technical, practical and emancipatory interest. The analytical approach adopted allowed the identification of alternatives for each of these dimensions, besides discussing the new arrangements of service delivery due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in face of the implementation of telework and the use of new technologies in people management.

Breves ajustes à contribuição da sociologia histórica ao constitucionalismo latino-americano

Abstract The main objective of the article is to present the historical sociology as a method capable of generating innovative approaches to the field of Latin American constitutional law. Considering the logic of long term (long durée), the article problematizes the need to overcome the constituent dynamics only as a construction of the future to reach a strategy of unveiling continuities. Based on elements of the Brazilian reality, the article presents two cases in which the potential for applying the method of historical sociology to constitutionalism in the region is indicated. First, the permanence of authoritarian legality through the performance of courts after the democratization of the region. Second, the normative constitutional and infra-constitutional formation of the public administration in Brazil. The methodology used is the analytical essay and its foundation, for indicating the concrete historical problems presented, is the opening of the method of historical sociology to the hybridization of disciplines.

The Role of Compliance System in Monitoring and Controlling Public Administration


 
 
 Objective: The objective of this study is to survey the state of the art of Public Administration Compliance in the national scientific domain, analyzing its scope, evolution, and authorship network.
 Problem: While there are several studies and surveys on Compliance, they are primarily aimed at the private administration, with limited attention given to its application in the public sector. As such, this study aims to address the gap in knowledge regarding Compliance in Public Administration and contribute to the understanding of its current state of the art in the national context.
 Method: This study employs a quantitative and descriptive approach, utilizing bibliographic research to collect data. The content analysis technique was applied to selected scientific journals from the SPELL electronic library to analyze the state of the art of Compliance in Brazilian Public Administration. The study also utilizes bibliometric laws to verify the authorship network and identify trends in publication over the years.
 Results: The study identified the Revista de Administração Pública as the journal that most reported on the subject, with a significant growth in publications over the years, particularly in 2019 and 2020. The analyzed articles fitted Lotka's law, but there was no applicability of Bradfort's and Zipf's law. The authorship network had a density of 0.037, which is considered weak. The study also identified the most cited articles on Compliance in the national domain, serving as an introductory guide for researchers in this area.
 Conclusions: This study contributes to the mapping and identification of the state of the art of Compliance in Brazilian Public Administration, highlighting its evolution over the years, the contributions, and the authorship network. The findings serve as a useful guide for researchers in this area and provide insights into the current state of knowledge on the subject in the national context.
 
 

Configurações explicativas do desenvolvimento da resiliência nas redes de suprimentos da administração pública

Abstract Social capital is an important theoretical lens for explaining interorganizational relationships and building resilience in supply networks. This study corroborates this perspective, aiming to identify which attributes of social capital contribute to explaining the development of resilience in public administration supply networks and how they combine in this explanation. A qualitative and descriptive research was carried out, using interviews with the repertoire grid technique for data collection. Data were analyzed using Honey’s content analysis and coincidence analysis (CNA). The research results indicate that social capital proved to be fundamental to developing resilience in supply networks in public administration, through the attributes of sharing technical information, precision in communication, anticipation in communicating relevant information, reciprocity, trust, transparency, and commitment. The originality of the study lies in the use of social capital theory in studies on resilience in public administration and in the adoption of a robust data collection and analysis method that has not yet been explored in research in Brazilian public administration. The main contributions of the study were: (1) to highlight social capital as a multilevel construct that influences the development of resilience, (2) to expand studies on resilience in public administration, (3) to provide information that public managers can use to avoid or minimize the risks that jeopardize the provision of public services, and (4) to adopt an unprecedented research method in the Brazilian public administration.

The (In)Tolerance in the Application of Penalties in the Brazilian Public Administration

RESUMO Objetivo: a opção de celebrar um contrato para bens e serviços tem sido utilizada pelo setor público desde tempos remotos, e, para melhorar a produtividade desses contratos, atores envolvidos têm recorrido a diferentes formas de incentivos. No Brasil, a única forma de incentivo admitida formalmente é a sanção, mas evidências empíricas sugerem que alguns tipos de descumprimento de contratos vêm sendo superados por meio de negociação. Pretende-se identificar quais fatores influenciam a (in)tolerância da administração quanto aos desvios de conduta na execução de contratos/compras governamentais. Métodos: foram realizados estudos de casos múltiplos, aplicou-se a reflexividade dos autores (conhecimento de causa) e a lógica abdutiva para a análise de entrevistas com gestores da área, análise de publicações nos diários oficiais, informações da internet e documentos internos, em 14 instituições governamentais. Resultados: apresenta-se uma lista de fatores que são (in)toleráveis pela administração na gestão dos contratos/compras e suas razões subjacentes. Como contribuição teórica, este estudo amplia a literatura de administração pública existente ao incluir, de forma inovadora, a teoria da tolerância e o misconduct e relacioná-los à gestão de contratos administrativos. Conclusões: tendo como preocupação precípua melhorar a produtividade dos contratos administrativos, este estudo esclarece que tolerar pode ser legítimo e oferece medidas que podem ser tomadas para inibir a ocorrência de desvios de conduta nas aquisições e contratações governamentais, a partir das recomendações dos servidores envolvidos na gestão de contratos administrativos. Ainda, uma agenda de pesquisa faz propostas de análises de novos fatores e explicações eventualmente não capturadas neste estudo.

Data governance: proposal for a conceptual framework for Brazilian public administration

Data Governance (DG) has become a topic of outstanding importance in modern organizations, since the amount and complexity of data generated and stored has increased exponentially in recent decades. In this context, an effective GD becomes essential to guarantee the quality, reliability and security of information. This dissertation, through a literature review and research methodologies: content analysis and document analysis, identified 55 DG mechanisms in the literature review and sought evidence of their application in a sample of Government Constitutive Acts. For the selection of the sample, a survey was carried out on the World Wide Web in January 2023, where 12 documents were selected, 5 Normative Acts establishing policies and GD committees. As main results, it was possible to identify 167 GD mechanisms in the governmental context, yet, it was found that 76% of the mechanisms contained in the literature are present in the Constitutive Acts. Based on these mechanisms, it was possible to present a conceptual framework for Government Data Governance (GDG) applied to PSB. The GDG subordinate to public governance was represented through the mechanisms of leadership, strategy and control; the interaction between the PSB and the 167 GDG mechanisms distributed in four dimensions: Governance, Quality, Management and Compliance. It is expected that the proposed framework will serve as a reference for future research on GDG and allow both the PSB and other GFD Bodies to implement the GDG mechanisms that are most appropriate to their realities.

Entrepreneurial Action in Public School Managemen

Research objective: Besides identifying actions developed by municipal public actors in the education department of a municipalitylocated in the south of Minas Gerais to fulfill the National Education Plan, this article seeks to explain and analyze them fromthe theory of entrepreneurial action.?eoretical framework: ?e study of entrepreneurial action seeks to fully understand an enterprise, its driving motives,development, and actors involved. ?e entrepreneurial action can occur in different environments, being inherent to any processmodified by creativity despite not being an innovative concept and being present in school management in Brazil, its effectivenessposes a challenge for the public managers. In the public sector, entrepreneurial action can be defined as a successful result of theintertwining between public agents, organization, and society, resulting in new goods and services, or restructuring processes thatmeet public demands. Methodology: ?e research has a qualitative approach, with explanatory objectives, becoming a case study. ?e goal of thisstudy is the education department of a municipality in the south of Minas Gerais, which stands out for the creative way inwhich it manages its demands. ?e research actors are public workers assigned to the municipal education department. Datacollection took place through in-depth interviews and focus groups. Initially, a focus group carried out with four actors from themunicipal education department enabled to map out the potential entrepreneurial actions. A?erward, six in-depth interviewscollect thorough information about them. ?e data collected were analyzed by the methodological procedure of content analysis.Results: Data analysis allowed us to identify four entrepreneurial actions linked to the service of students, parents/society, teachers,management, also goals 4, 18, 19 of the PNE-2014/2024; being the creation of the service of attendance and support to theinclusion, the young permaculturist fair, the time-activity regulation, and the outsourcing of school meals the ones identified.?e actions emerged from tensions in the institutional logic, being carried out by research actors mobilized in creating innovativeexchanges that led to improved management.Originality: ?e entrepreneurial action investigation is a new topic with few studies developed in Brazil. Studying schoolmanagement from the entrepreneurial action perspective with all action steps detailed to understand how public managerscreatively and innovatively articulate to solve existing demands can help promote the already shaken public policy managementstigmatized by its inefficiency and improve the theoretical development of entrepreneurial action. ?erefore, this article providesa new way of understanding public entrepreneurship through the study of entrepreneurial action, investigating the intertwiningof various actors and how it allows the creation and use of opportunities.?eoretical and practical contributions: ?is study contributes to the field of social sciences, notably, to the study of publicadministration, by highlighting the assumption of entrepreneurial action as an identifiable phenomenon in public institutionsthat makes it possible to improve management. It also contributes by discussing the phenomenon of entrepreneurial actionand providing a theoretical framework for application in other studies. In terms of practical contributions, the identifiedentrepreneurial actions demonstrate the public managers' search for effective, competent, innovative school managementcommitted to social results, being a phenomenon of extreme value for the Brazilian public administration. Besides, the use ofcreativity, dialogue and innovation allows the public managers to bring about changes and improvements in facing the existingtensions.

Participatory budgeting in covid-19 times: a perspective from Paraná and portuguese municipalities

Purpose: The aim of this article is to explore the barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic to Participatory Budgeting (PB), considering the perspective of Brazilian and Portuguese Local Public Administration.
 Theoretical framework: Recent literature points out that the barriers imposed on PB processes arising from the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic are justified by many leaders due to social distancing measures and the expansion of financial constraints.
 Design/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was applied using a Likert-type scale to assess the perception of public officials, in Paraná and Portugal, about the barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic to PB. Through a quantitative approach, data were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test of adherence.
 Findings: The survey contributors from the Portuguese municipalities indicated that the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the conduct of PB processes. The possible restrictive consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the realization of PB in the future are not clear, according to the responses obtained in the two contexts analyzed.
 Research, Practical & Social implications: Future studies may include the perspective of the participants in the process and the possible reduction in the amounts available for the execution of the PB due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
 Originality/value: COVID-19 alone cannot bring citizens to the periphery of public policy decisions. Difficulties prior to the pandemic, such as the absence of an online platform contributed to limiting the participatory space.

Interações entre Tribunal de Contas, arbitragem e as autoridades administrativas nela envolvidas

It is in some way natural that, with the increasing use of arbitration by the Public Administration in Brazil, there will be instances where Court of Accounts and actors involved in arbitration proceedings will need to interact. Such actors include those in charge of inserting arbitration clauses in administrative agreements and those responsible for the appointment of arbitrators, as well as the parties, lawyers and arbitrators acting in the proceedings. The objective of this essay is to offer, from a theoretical and dogmatic perspective, a better understanding of the possible interferences that the Court of Accounts can promote in the arbitration sphere. Public law; Public Administration; account courts; arbitration; administrative agreements.

Possibilidades Epistemológicas das Teorias da Administração Pública: de Paradigmas a Matrizes Epistêmicas

Abstract This study aims to contribute to the literature on public administration by conducting epistemological research on the main trends in the field, updating them with the Circle of Epistemic Matrices proposed by Paes de Paula (2016). For this, (a) it starts from the essay written by Andion (2012), which carried out a critical study on the trajectory of the field of public administration in Brazil and the different theoretical lines that compose it, based on the paradigms model built by Burrell and Morgan (1979); and (b) it analyzes the main lines that compose the field of public administration, called State-centric, Pluralist, New Public Administration, New Public Service, and Digital Era Governance, in light of the Circle of Epistemic Matrices proposed by Paes de Paula. As results, it confirms that functionalist sociological approaches have a strong influence on the field of public administration. Greater dialogue is suggested between the lines that compose the field and the development of new matrix propositions – giving special attention to the digital transformation driven by Digital Era Governance and by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) health crisis – taking into account that the instrumental rational logic is insufficient to explain the phenomena of the reality, even if it is needed for streamlining public goods and interests. Finally, reflections are presented along with an agenda for future research.

The diffusion of innovations under normative induction in Brazil

Purpose Hierarchically superior bodies develop normative instructions to induce the diffusion of innovations, stimulating the adoption of management practices in supervised public bodies and seeking public administration efficiency increase. Despite this, the effectiveness of these normative instructions is unknown, as well as its inducing and lasting effects in the diffusion of these innovations, especially in Brazil. This study aims to understand the effects of normative induction. Design/methodology/approach The adoption of risk management, integrity & ethics and information security practices was evaluated over a decade (2009 to 2019), including the adoption behavior of more than 200 Brazilian federal agencies. Public open data were collected and analyzed with multinomial logistic regression. Findings The normative instructions’ effectiveness in propagating the evaluated practices is remarkable; however, its mere development by the superior bodies cannot be considered enough since the general adoption index can be considered good but not excellent. No evaluated practice reached a saturation level above 75%. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to bringing the international literature’s generic knowledge on the adoption of innovation to the specific Brazilian public administration context, providing insightful implications for policymakers, public managers and researchers. Practical implications This work is unique, as it systematically analyzes multiple innovation adoption and presents excellent opportunities for future researchers by reproducing all scripts and automation developed. Furthermore, all data are available and hosted on public platforms with detailed steps and documentation. Social implications The use of open data from governmental sources allows enhanced transparency and the discovery of affecting variables while observing innovation adoption in the public administration. Originality/value The presence of normative instructions and their adoption rate is rarely measured in the Brazilian public administration.

Do State capacity dimensions differently affect policy areas performance?

Research objective: To analyze the determinants of governmental performance, assuming that policy sectors have different state capacities and produce heterogeneous effects on their performance. 
 Theoretical Framework: Grounded in the neo-Weberian bureaucracy and public governance debates, the inquiry tests if policy sectors (government core; infrastructure; productive development; security/citizenship, and social/environmental) present different state capacities and produce heterogeneous effects on outputs and outcomes.
 Methodology: The research uses a survey applied to over three thousand civil servants of the Brazilian federal public administration to create composite variables of performance and state capacities dimensions, then descriptively compare these variables and run a multivariate regression to test the hypotheses. 
 Results: The paper confirms that the degree of state capacity development impacts the bureaucrats’ perception of performance and, secondly, these effects are quite diverse on the organizational outputs and outcomes. However, their variation among policy areas is not as expressive as expected. The findings reinforce recent studies that claim that governmental investment in state capacity became broader and more inclusive as it incorporated several agencies that do not belong to the classical “pocket of efficiency.”
 Originality: Based on an original dataset, the research shows insights at advancing the study of state capacity, governance, and public sector performance. The comparative analyzes are unprecedented as it encompasses simultaneously crucial dimensions of the public service in Brazil, such as meritocracy, autonomy, relationship, skills, resources and, accountability. 
 Theoretical and Practical Contributions: In theoretical terms, the paper tests essential hypotheses concerning the federal government bureaucracy and performance, mostly restricted to the international literature. It also explores the policy sectors' heterogeneity and how it affects their performance, shedding light on the need for a more inclusive and comprehensive civil service and management policy.

Integrated contract in Law 14.133/2021: new law, same problems? A study of comparative law

The purpose of this article is to analyze whether expansion allowed cases for design-build biddings might improve positive impacts on the efficiency of public procedures. Hence, both Brazilian and international experiences will be studied with attention to design-build and turnkey contracts. In integrated contracting procurements, basic and executive projects must be done by the same company that shall execute the project and its further execution. Consequently, public Administration must only provide a draft. Resolutely, the hypothesis is that these amplification allowances increase the risks of other contract failures. The methodology used was a dialectical-inductive method comparing both Brazilian and international cases of integrated contracts. Firstly, it is demonstrated when Design-Build procurements were first allowed in Brazil and how and why their uses have been amplified. Additionally, the international scenario shall be examined to determine if restrictions imposed by most countries have accompanied the use of integrated contracts for public Administration in Brazil. Subsequently, a comparative examination of several hiring public models will be examined to answer whether integrated contracts biddings might benefit public sectors. The conclusion is that significant expansion of possibilities of using the integrated contracting, forecasted in Law 14.133/2021, poses risks of reducing the efficiency of public administration unless several measures are to be adopted in the planning phase with particular attention to those related to the draft selecting requirements, just like most developed countries have already done.