Public Body Research Articles

Quantifying the economic value of a national hydrometric network for households

This study reports the results of a Choice Experiment to quantify households’ willingness-to-pay for river gauging programmes in Scotland. The hydrometric network is operated and maintained by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scotland’s principal environment regulator, a non-department public body of the Scottish Government. Results from mixed logit and latent class modelling show that most households (‘Hydrometric Maximisers’ − around 70 %) have significant, positive willingness-to-pay values for river gauging programmes, but a minority (‘Hydrometric Satisficers’ − around 30 %) do not view this as a major public policy priority. On average, hydrometric data collection delivers non-market benefits worth £84,625,562 to the Scottish economy, with a minimum economic Benefit-to-Cost ratio of 25:1. This is in addition to the infrastructure value and any private returns made by commercial users of the data. The findings demonstrate that traditional approaches to assessing the benefits of hydrometric networks often underestimate their value. The research also highlights the importance of public information campaigns and household engagement initiatives to increase awareness of hydro-meteorological services, and to develop the business case more fully for public investment in environmental observation networks.

Коммуникативные приемы управления цифровой репутацией органов исполнительной власти

The article considers the concept of digital reputation in relation to the executive authorities of the Russian Federation, as well as identifies the technological and communicative methods of its formation and maintenance. The digital reputation of a public administration body is a multicriterial assessment of its activities. It appears in media space and reflects the opinions of socially active population. Digital reputation is not identical to digital image. The authors revealed the following discursive factors that shape stereotypes about public administration. For instance, an indefinitely wide range of addressees lack basic knowledge in public administration; public assessments are flexible and unpredictable; some Internet users practice provocative speech behavior, etc. The research featured internet posts made by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the social network VKontakte. The service Popsters.ru made it possible to rate them by user involvement. A discursive and stylistic analysis of the posts with a high engagement coefficient revealed the following effective tools for managing the digital reputation of the authorities: hashtags as means of data distribution and systematization, dialogical and personalized presentation, interactive forms of communication (voting, polls, etc.), timely reaction to user comments, etc.

Пределы усмотрения органов местного самоуправления в случае отмены административного акта в сфере градостроительства

The publication reviews the definition of the limits of discretionary power of local self-government bodies in the field of urban construction in case of autonomous cancellation of administrative act, which was previously issued. It was recognized that in the practice of Constitutional Court of Russian Federation and Supreme Court of Russian Federation in 2022 legal positions were formulated, connected to defining the limits of discretionary power of public administration body in case of cancellation or changes introduced into administrative act autonomously in compliance with the concept of trust protection. Summary of judicial practice materials allowed to set the perception of legal positions, which were formulated by Russian senior courts, courts when assessing the limits of discretionary power in the event of autonomous cancellation by act in the field of urban construction previously issued.

Institutional and legal prerequisites for the formation of the highest authorities of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of the Directory period during the Hetmanate (May 21 - December 14, 1918): historical and legal research

A historical and legal study of the institutional and legal prerequisites for the formation of the highest authorities of the UPR during the Directory during the Hetmanate (May 21 – December 14, 1918) was carried out. The process of formation of bodies that have gone through the evolution from public to the highest state bodies of the UPR during the Directory, began during the functioning of the Ukrainian State. The struggle for the restoration of the UPR was carried out by: the Ukrainian National Union, the Directory, the Council of Heads of State Affairs, the Council of Commissars, the Revolutionary Committee. Of greatest importance in the struggle against the Hetman was the creation of party and trade union organizations on May 21, 1918. Ukrainian National-State Union, which in August 1918 was renamed the Ukrainian National Union – an alternative public body to the existing state apparatus, which claimed to be transformed into a constituent state power. The directory was created on November 14, 1918. Ukrainian National Union. Links of this public institution were: the head of the Directory and members of the Directory, one of whom was the Chief Ataman. At the beginning of December 1918 departments were established under the Directory. In the process of struggle for the creation of the UPR in December 1918 the Council of Commissars was created – a public authority, which in fact was a prototype of the executive body of the UNR. After the abdication of power by the Hetman of Ukraine on December 14, 1918 The Directory, the Council of Commissars acquired the legal status of the highest bodies of state power of the UPR. Soon, instead of the Council of Commissioners, the Directorate created the Council of People’s Ministers – the government of the UPR. The formation of the UPR during the Directory was facilitated by the revolution in Germany, the support of the Entente. The stage of the struggle between the supporters of the Directory and the Hetman (May 21 – December 14, 1918) can be considered as the preparatory stage for the formation of the highest authorities of the UPR during the Directory, which was imposed on the period of the existence of the Ukrainian State.

Early career researchers in Madrid Salud: Exploring intersectoral dialogue between arts and health

Madrid Salud, a public body of Madrid City Council responsible for prevention, promotion and community healthcare, initiated an early career researcher (ECR) in arts and health programme in 2017. This ongoing programme, in collaboration with Complutense University of Madrid, funded fellowships for Ph.D. students, supporting their training and research in the application of artistic methodologies within Madrid Salud’s teams and centres. This article outlines the programme’s implementation, emphasizing the significance of intersectoral actions for its success. Furthermore, it describes the experiences of ECRs within Madrid Salud, exploring how the arts contribute to contexts of prevention and health promotion.

The Adoption of Electronic Procurement and Readiness Assessment in Central Ethiopia Regional State

Electronic procurement is a digitalized means of procurement processes. This study aims to assess its applicability in the central Ethiopia regional state by studying the hindrance factors and the opportunity that can come for the construction sector of the region. A descriptive and explorative study approach has been performed. Qualitative data from public procurement administrators, IT professionals, and construction stakeholders were collected through interviews. -P nor eGP has not been introduced to the region yet. Also to use it factors such as the knowledge gap, lack of infrastructure provisions, and collaboration works with fear of losing competitiveness were probable hindrances. On the other hand, resource-saving, increasing transparency, and accuracy of bid evaluation were found as main probable opportunities. Incorporating practitioners, and combining system development with an adaptability test can provide useful input for further. Timely support from the federal government, capacity-building programs, facility and infrastructure development, and government enforcing mechanisms were found as necessary matters to implement the e-P system for the construction sector. This research is the first study in the area with this topic and also it is a very new topic as a country in general. Hence, in a way, it introduced the system for the pubic construction procurement of the region and stakeholders. The findings contribute as a source to the public body for the launch of the eGP Ethiopia in the region, and a lead for private developers. Additionally, it implements the very nature of the research which is multidisciplinary by incorporating IT professionals.

Традиционализм и прагматизм в административно-правовой науке

The features of reforming the fundamental institutions of administrative-legal science in modern political and legal conditions are considered. The conceptual apparatus of administrative law currently does not meet its purpose, especially in the category of “public administration”. Using the example of German administrative law, the coexistence of various educational courses is substantiated, including “the doctrine of management”, “general administrative law”, “police law” and “public order law”, which are independent academic disciplines. Corresponding differences are also accepted in Germany when conducting scientific research. In the new political and legal conditions, the subject of administrative law lies primarily in the study of the basic institutions of executive power, while theoretical postulates must correspond to their pragmatic purpose. The subject of study of the new course of administrative law should be not only its traditional categories, but also the concepts of “public property relation”, “special public body or organization”; in relation to the latter, the study of the organizational and legal forms of activity of state corporations in their relations with the executive power.

AICTSL: Sustainable Capacity Planning by Cash Flow Management

The case study introduces Atal Indore City Transport Services Limited (AICTSL), a public transport management body in Indore, at a crucial juncture pertaining to fleet capacity management. Located in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in India, Indore has been a popular destination for industrial activity. Amid a cash crunch, increasing travel demands, the need for route expansion and myriad socio-economic factors, Rahul Shrouti, the senior operations manager, has to make a strategic decision to increase the number of buses. The dilemma faced by Shrouti is formed by the investments required, time period to recover the investment, operating expenses and the variability of the associated costs. Hence, the case highlights a context of capacity expansion, which calls for efficient change management. Besides, macro factors, concepts such as the time value of money, payback period, internal rate of return and linear regression have been brought about explicitly. The case study will drive multi-faceted classroom discussion through MS Excel-based number crunching. The case study will help the practitioners in making decisions for capacity planning and support change management.

Modeling Cost-Estimation Factors for Public Building Projects with Hybrid Approach in Addis Ababa

Assessing the most important cost-influencing factors is essential for enhancing the predictive ability of cost estimation for building construction projects. The goal of this study is to examine and design a valid cost prediction model for assessing factors that impact the cost estimation of public buildings in Addis Ababa. This research solves these issues that typically arise in predictive cost estimation models in two major processes. First, the insights of 133 professionals gathered on the 38 cost-impacting elements, and 15 top factors design, time or cost, and parties’ experience were determined. The suggested hybrid approach is based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and principal component regression (PCR) employed, coupling a stepwise linear regression model. According to the findings of the study, principal component analysis reduced important factors to 14 and efficiently solved the problem of multicollinearity with a variance inflation factor of less than 2, while stepwise cross-validation solved the overfitting problem at the lowest AIC. The cost prediction model sorted out five factors: design completion by the public body when bids are invited; completion of the project scope definition when bids are invited; level of construction complexity; importance of project completion within budget; and subcontractor experience and capability have all been identified as the main cost-determining factors. The study’s contribution is the first approach (PCR–AIC) utilized in this work to explore numerous cost-estimating components, eliminate those that were related to one another, and identify the most crucial ones that consisted of the majority of the original variables’ attributes.

THE ROLE OF ADMINISTRATIVE CONTRACTS IN THE FIELD OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Background: This scientific paper aims to delve deeply into the concept of administrative contracts and their importance in the field of public administration. Therefore, our goal is to provide a clear and detailed analysis and interpretation for readers, ensuring that all those interested have the opportunity to gain a foundational understanding of the importance and legal consequences of administrative contracts. By means of this paper, treating administrative contracts broadly regarding their development, meaning and importance in the theoretical aspect will positively influence and facilitate their application in practice by the public administration. These contracts, often similar to classical ones, with their content and purpose, are so differentiated that now it is no longer possible to speak of their belonging to one of the existing groups of contracts but of new, independent types of contracts. Methods: This paper employs analytical, normative, historical and comparative methods. The analytical method will be used to analyse administrative contracts in the Republic of Kosovo and their application by state bodies. The normative method will treat the legal provisions that regulate administrative contracts, starting with those within administrative law and extending to provisions in other legal domains. The historical method will illustrate the history of the development of administrative contracts, detailing their past and how they work today. Lastly, the comparative method will compare the development and operation of administrative contracts in the Republic of Kosovo with those in other democratic states mentioned in the paper. Results and conclusions: The administrative contract holds significant importance in public administration, as its primary objective is always to serve the general state interest. Despite being a bilateral legal act, an administrative contract typically involves a public or state administration body as the contracting party, which inherently holds greater power or authority in relation to the other legal entity involved. This power disparity means there is no equal footing between the contracting parties, contrary to the principle of equality observed in civil law and generally required for concluding private contracts.

Legal Dilemmas of Drone Development in Poland

This paper aims to discuss in detail the legal aspects of drone use in Poland and demonstrate the need to establish a legal act (Drone Code) that would comprehensively regulate the principles of safe drone use, whether aerial, land or sea, as well as to show the importance of creating a public administration body competent for drone-related issues, or perhaps even an entirely new international organization to safeguard the legal and ethical use of drones.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Mediation in Resolving Disputes in the Indonesian Administrative Court

This study analyzes mediation in administrative dispute resolution in Indonesian Administrative Courts. The settlement of administrative disputes through mediation is not recognized in the Administrative Court procedural law. Mediation in the dispute resolution process in Administrative Courts is still a matter of debate. One of the parties to the dispute is a public body or official who is included in the realm of public law, so that mediation is not possible. The execution of Administrative Court decisions that have permanent legal force does not guarantee justice and legal certainty. This research aims to analyze the development and implementation of mediation in settlement of public disputes in Administrative Courts. The research method used is doctrinal research or library research with secondary data sources in the form of legislation on Administrative Courts, Supreme Court regulations on mediation, and scientific journals of research results. The results showed that mediation in public dispute resolution is used as an alternative to dispute resolution and has long been applied in several countries. Mediation in administrative dispute resolution can be carried out in two ways. First, mediation can be carried out outside the Administrative Court, and then the lawsuit is revoked. Second, mediation can be carried out through Court-connected mediation in the Administrative Court. There is a need to develop and strengthen the application of Court-connected mediation for administrative dispute resolution from the aspects of procedural law and Administrative Court resources that support the mediation process.

Treatment and reuse of water: Economic Feasibility and assessment of Water Pricing Policies in Ouardanine irrigation district (Tunisia)

Treated wastewater reuse is a valuable water source in water scarcity conditions. If its technical feasibility is largely demonstrated, less attention is paid to the economic assessment. By applying an ex-post Cost-Benefit Analysis to Ouardanine irrigation district, in eastern Tunisia, the economic feasibility of wastewater treatment and reuse in irrigation was assessed. Data on costs and benefits were evaluated throughout the lifespan of the project and four scenarios - no treatment, treatment, treatment with reuse, and treatment with reuse without considering the environmental benefits - were considered. The results prove that: the project is economically profitable for all scenarios except the first; it is still profitable with an increase in costs or a decrease of benefits up to 30%; farmers are the main beneficiaries of the project which is financially not viable for both the treatment plant company and the public body charged of the distribution of water; the affordability of the treated wastewater price depends on the cropping pattern: with increased water pricing peach growers will still have substantial benefit while olive growers will reduce significantly their benefits.

Economic and legal responsibility for anti-competitive collected actions in the form of correction of the results of tender, bids, auctions, competitions as a manifestation of collected behavior of procurement participants

The article is devoted to consideration of the issue of coordinated behavior of participants and customers of public procurement. The need to observe the principles of competition in the public procurement procedure is substantiated. The key point in conducting procurement is compliance with the conditions of competitive selection of the procurement winner, elimination of the possibility of victory of the "necessary” participants and overcoming corruption and speculation. Regulation of public procurement mechanisms is a combination of economic and legal and administrative legal aspects. Relations that arise in the process of procurement have different aspects of legal regulation, as well as the subjects of offenses in this area can be both business entities and bodies of state power, local self-government, management and control. It has been proven that public procurement involves a competitive selection of the winner, in compliance with all other procurement principles stipulated by the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement”. It was emphasized that the main purpose of the Law "On Public Procurement” is to ensure effective and transparent procurement, create a competitive environment in the field of public procurement, prevent corruption and develop fair competition. Public institutions must make purchases in accordance with special requirements of confidentiality and security, as well as taking into account national interests. It is argued that today the field of public procurement is quite corrupt, and many cases of violations of the main basic principles of the Law have been recorded, which leads to the distortion of the results of tenders, trades, and auctions. Distortion occurs due to the concerted behavior of procurement participants, or participants and customers. That is, concerted actions can be vertical and horizontal, mixed and conglomerate actions can also take place. Any concerted behavior during public procurement violates the terms of competition, is prohibited and entails liability in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. The article emphasizes that proving collusion in procurement and actually bringing violators to justice is a complex issue that requires improvement both from the point of view of theoretical points and procedural aspects. Of course, the state is interested in ensuring transparent implementation of public procurement, and this can be achieved thanks to the introduction of a clear mechanism to overcome the corruption component. It is argued that regulation and control by state bodies play an important role in this institute. The state acts as a special customer, which is an expression of public interests. The use of such a legal instrument as public procurement of goods, works and services gives the state the right to choose business entities that will fulfill the state order on the most favorable market terms, on the basis of compliance with the terms of competition. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to observe honest and fair procurement.
 Attention was drawn to the fact that overcoming a large number of conspiracies in the field of public procurement and ensuring compliance with the principles of fair competition during procurement is one of the tasks of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, as a public procurement appeals body. However, issues of combating and implementing effective mechanisms to prevent the occurrence of collusion between public procurement entities and, as a consequence, procedural aspects regarding appeals and prosecution of offenders for concerted actions that led to the distortion of the results of tenders (tenders) remain problematic.

Implementation of Environmentally Friendly Investments by Municipalities and VAT Status

The article deals with the judgment of the CJEU in case C-612/21 which answered an important question. Namely, under what circumstances can a public body be considered a taxable person for VAT. This case concerns a Polish municipality which organized the installation of renewable energy systems (RES) on its territory for its residents who own immovable property and who expressed a desire to be equipped with RES. The municipality was reimbursed with a subsidy of 75% of the subsidisable costs from the competent provincial authority. The CJEU ruled that in this specific case, the public body would not be carrying out economic activity and, therefore, should not be considered a taxable person for VAT.

'Free, optional and adaptable': Oak National Academy and the governing of teachers' choices

'Free, optional and adaptable': Oak National Academy and the governing of teachers' choices

Scale matters: unravelling the impact of Likert scales on political self-placement

Worldwide, Likert scales are used to measure ideology of both public opinion and individual voters, with the utilization of a self-assessment numerical scale as the most widely accepted tool, despite the multifaceted nature of the concept. However, in contrast to this prevailing consensus, there is a lack of agreement regarding what particular scale should be used and about the benefits of the different scales. This paper seeks to provide insights into these questions by analysing Spanish public opinion ideology as measured by CIS surveys. In 1976, the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), a leading public body for studies of Spanish society, defined the ideological self-placement scale as being from 1 to 10. Since then, a myriad of different scales has been applied by CIS in more than 1400 surveys (over 3.5 million interviews). In total, we identify 20 scales in studies with available microdata, with the number rising to 28 when all the CIS studies carried out are included. This research identifies which scale is used in each study and analyses whether this has an effect on the estimation of the ideological distribution of the population. After studying, from an empirical perspective, the relationship structures between the different scales, we conclude that the scale used does have an effect. We finish the paper by offering clear guidelines on how questionnaires related to ideology should be asked.

Legal regulation of human protection against the effects of ionizing radiation (implementation of EU standards in the legislation of Ukraine)

The legal regulation of human protection against the effects of ionizing radiation (implementation of EU standards in the legislation of Ukraine) is considered. The legal aspects related to the change of the existing system of radiation protection of a person from the impact of ionizing radiation, which is based on the approach - «practice» and «intervention», to the modern European system of radiation protection, which is based on situational analysis and the key concept of the updated system, have been studied. what is the exposure situation, which is defined as one of three situations: planned situation, emergency exposure situation, existing exposure situation.
 According to the results of the study, the need for a comprehensive approach to the implementation of EU legislation in the legislation of Ukraine «on the example of the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom» is substantiated. In particular, we believe that it is advisable to do this by one separate law, and not in parts, since without the implementation of the main provisions, the implementation of individual provisions leads to problems with their implementation. In our opinion, the Government of Ukraine should develop an «autonomous road map» for each EU directive, the implementation of which concerns the field of activity of more than one public administration body in the field of nuclear energy use, since some provisions of the Directive are not included in the draft laws on implementation, as they belong to spheres of administration of another state administration body. At the same time, aspects of the extensive legislation regulating relations regarding liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident should be reflected, in particular in the part of radiation protection, which cannot be reflected in the Directive, but belong to the scope of its regulation. Thus, it will simultaneously allow internal harmonization of legislation and avoid the situation of double interpretation of legislation, will contribute to overcoming contradictions, collisions and gaps in the current legislation of Ukraine.
 In some cases, it is important to carry out the synchronous development of other basic regulatory documents, in particular, new Radiation Safety Norms in order to make a harmonious transition from the existing to a new system of radiation protection of humans against the effects of ionizing radiation. In the future, this will contribute to a more successful systematization and harmonization of the entire array of normative legal acts of nuclear legislation in Ukraine.

Identifying where hospital and community trusts are managing general practices in England: a service mapping study.

Organisations providing secondary care in the NHS in England have historically not also provided primary health care, but this is changing. Data on where this kind of 'vertical integration' is happening are lacking, making it difficult to evaluate its impact. To compile a comprehensive list of instances of secondary care trusts running general practices in England, to enable evaluation of the impact of such arrangements. This service mapping study comprises review, collation, synthesis, and analysis of published information describing secondary and primary care provision in the NHS in England in March 2021. Desk-based collection, including hand-searching, of secondary care organisations' statutory annual reports. Triangulation via comparison with national data on general practices, the general practice workforce and practice contracts. It was possible to construct a database of all instances of trusts running general practices in England as of 31 March 2021. We have identified 26 trusts running a total of 85 general practices, operating across a total of 116 practice sites. These practices have on average fewer patients and fewer GP full-time equivalents than other general practices, and before becoming vertically integrated were performing less well in the Quality and Outcomes Framework. We recommend that national statistics recording the details of general practices contracting with the NHS should include whether each practice is owned by another organisation and whether that is an NHS trust, another public body, or a private organisation. Such data are required to enable evaluation of the impacts of this kind of vertical integration.

THE CONDITIONAL GIFT – INTERPRETATIONS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN APPLYING FOR THE EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE STATUS

European cities compete for the status of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC), as it is proven to enhance city visibility and the profile of cultural events in the city; it also allows addressing issues of strategic cultural development of the successful candidate. Importantly, the status comes with an explicit requirement to ensure sufficient public participation in developing the bid and implementing the cultural programme. Prior research demonstrates that meaningful participation is not easy to achieve; the research on that aspect is considered scarce. The article aims to analyse the interpretation of public participation, its challenges and shaping factors as seen by ECoC bid-producing teams. The main research question is “What did the bid development process uncover about the capacity of bid-producing teams to foster public participation in the Latvian cities – ECoC finalists?” The current paper examines the challenge of participation encountered in the process of developing the bid for the second round of ECoC 2027 by three applying cities in Latvia. The study was carried out between October 2022 and March 2023 using qualitative methodology. The theoretical starting point of the study is the four-part framework of factors influencing participation by Kaifeng Yang and Sanjay K. Pandey [Yang & Pandey 2011]. The study suggests that these factors are indeed useful in conducting an analysis of participation. In addition, the study supports the prior conclusions of scholarly literature pointing out that more nuanced language is needed to interpret participation and participants. The article pays special attention to the nuances of digital participation and the organisational characteristics of the public body in charge of participation in cultural planning.