NRP Portugal

to define financial counterparts attributed from the State Budget to finance entitiesprovidingservicesofgeneralinterestandtofinancepoliciesforpromotingeconomic,culturalandsocialactivities.Thiscontributestoboostingdisciplineandtransparencyinallocating financial counterparts, particularly in the compensatory sums awarded toserviceprovidersofgeneralinterest.Thus,itisforeseenthattheprovisionofageneralinterestservicemustbeentrustedtothereferredentitybymeansofacontractsignedwith the State which lays down the obligations of the parties, the duration of thecontract, the manner of calculating compensation and the procedures and entitiesresponsibleforsupervision,amongotherclauses.1.4. RevisionoftheBudgetaryFramework:BudgetingbyprogrammeThelongtermsustainabilityofpublicaccountsnecessarilyinvolvesmakingbudgetaryconsolidationlonglasting.Torespondtothischallenge,theGovernmentsubmittedascheduled plan of works to the Assembly of the Republic in 2006, aiming atrestructuringtheproposalforStateBudgetbyprogramme.Budgetingbyprogrammeconsists of a pluri‐annual cycle of planning, programming, budgeting, control andevaluationoftheState’sperformancesoastoguaranteetaxpayers’contributionsarebetter applied, that is, a quality public expenditure that triggers the socio‐economiceffectscapableofimprovingthelevelofwell‐being.Therefore, in March 2007 the Government formed the Budgeting by ProgrammeCommittee(COP)whichdependsdirectlyontheMinisteroftheStateandofFinance;its main mission is to propose a model to the Government and the respectivemethodologyforthestructuringoftheStateBudgetbyprogramme.COPpresentedaninterim report in May 2007, which was submitted to the Assembly of the Republicfollowing analysis in the Council of Ministers and presented to the ParliamentaryCommitteeforBudgetandFinance.Akeyfeatureofbudgetingbyprogrammeisthatthebudgetfocuschangesfrombeingresource‐centred to result‐centred. Therefore, the anticipated definition of theobjectives associated with the budget allocated to a body takes on a greaterimportance.Thoseobjectiveswilllaterallowtheefficiencyoftheexpenseincurredtobe monitored. At the beginning of 2008, the significant step was taken ofimplementing a new evaluation model of public services (SIADAP), based on QUAR,thusprogressivelyguidingpublicmanagementtowardsperformance.Parallel to the conceptual work of the COP, it proved essential to prepare theimplementation and operationalisation of the theme, namely by launching pilotsalreadyinthepreparationoftheStateBudgetfor2009.TheWorkGroupforthePilotImplementationofBudgetingbyProgramme(GTIPOP)wasformedandittookcharge,in articulation with the CBD and with the various services and entities of the PublicAdministrationwithcompetenciesintheareaofbudgetprogrammingandexecution,of the operationalisation of the three pilot programmes which will be part of theproposedStateBudgetfor2009,namelypilotsintheareasofPortugueseCooperation,IntegratedContinuousCareNetworkandSocialActioninHigherEducation.10