Business reasearch company

Task 10: Develop one-stop-shop solutions for selected permits and implementation action plan

Developing one-stop-shop crosscutting concept, including solutions for front office
As the experience of other countries suggests, the best solutions for nationwide coverage are IT platforms, which provide access from large number of access points, including: computers, smart phones, tablets and public terminals that can be connected to Internet and can ensure a transparent interaction between the businesses and public authorities regardless of their location.
To standardize the processes of issuing permissive documents and ensure the implementation of a Single Window for issuing permits, a single information system for issuing and managing the permissive documents needs to be developed. During the first stage, the system would cover the process of issuing the permissive documents envisaged in this study – 29 permissive documents issued by central public authorities and 7 permissive documents issued by local public authorities. It is recommended to also include the licenses issued by the Licensing Chamber because the current E-Licensing application does not cover all the functionalities that are described below. The system will allow gradual expansion with additional permits as other authorities will prove their commitment to become a part of the One Stop Shop system. Thus, the system can become platform for creating the One Stop Shop for issuing all permissive documents.
To minimize the costs and time for implementing the Information System for Managing and Issuing Permissive Documents, the IT solution will be developed on the Government Enterprise Content Management Platform (ECMP) provided by the E-Government Center. Below is the high level concept of the proposed IT solution that describes the basic principles, architecture and functionalities of the system. The detailed concept of the system is presented in Annex 5.
Basic components of the Information System for Managing and Issuing Permissive Documents are presented in the graphic below.

The system for issuing permissive documents will be called “Information System for Managing and Issuing Permissive Documents”. The short name and abbreviation is IS MIP.

The IS MIP will consist from two components:

1. 
   Front office component that will serve as the interface between the applicants and will be accessed through:
   
   1. 
      Government Public Services Portal that will serve as the single point of online access to submit the applications for permissive documents. The portal will contain all the information regarding the conditions of obtaining permits, their fees, description of procedures and contact data of the institutions involved. The portal will integrate the IT system that will manage and automate the process of applying for and issuing permissive documents. As mentioned above, having the support services/shared electronic services integrated in the portal such as Mpay, Mconnect, Msign and Mpass, the applicant will have the possibility to apply for permits, pay the fees, authenticate and sign documents electronically in one place, by using the services of the Public Services Portal (www.servicii.gov.md)
      
   2. 
      Public terminals will be installed in high people traffic areas of the city and will be available publicly to all the applicants for the permissive documents. The public terminals do not have the functionality to attach files to the applications and use only mobile signatures, and therefore, will be used only for those permits where the attachments are not necessary and applicants possess only mobile signatures. Additionally, the public terminals have the functionality of accepting cash for the services fees so that the applicants will have the possibility to pay the fees with cash money directly at the terminal. The user interface of the system for managing and automating the process of issuing permissive documents will be integrated in the public terminals’ user interfaces.
      

For the businesses that will not use Public Services Portal or public terminals, in order to submit an application for obtaining a permissive document, the following options of front offices will be available:

1. 
   Territorial Post offices will act as physical front office where the applicants can submit the paper based applications and attached documents which will be later transferred for processing to the public authorities responsible for issuing permits. Contracts for delegating the function of receiving, accepting application documents and submitting them for processing will be delegated to State Enterprise Posta Moldovei. Territorial post offices are located in all localities of Moldova which can provide the maximum accessibility for businesses to make applications for obtaining permits without visiting the offices of public authorities. For applicants of permits that do not have digital signature required for signing electronic documents, in the post office they will sign an agreement with the Post Moldova by which it will delegate the function of representation of the applicant in relation to the issuing authority in the application process and obtaining of permits for the applicant. Thus, under these agreements, post officers will submit their applications for obtaining of permits on behalf of applicant electronically through IS MIP. To implement this method of submitting applications within IS MIP will be implemented a separate interface for specialists from post office functionalities that will allow the submission of requests on behalf of permit applicants. The terms and conditions for submission of applications on behalf of the applicant will be established in the service delegation agreements between the Post Office and public authorities responsible for issuing permits. For applicants who have digital signatures within post offices will be available for public access computers through which they will submit applications for obtaining permits. If necessary, applicants will be assisted by specialists from post office to ensure correct completion of application in IS MIP.
   
2. 
   Besides the front-office solutions proposed above, such as post offices and Public Services Portal, the public authorities that issue permissive documents will continue to receive applications for obtaining permits in their offices or their own service centers. For example, the applications for obtaining construction permits will be possible to submit through the Public Services Portal, post office or directly in the local public administration. The public servants that will be responsible for receiving applications for obtaining permits will use the IS MIP for entering the application in the system and submit for processing to responsible specialist from the home-office/home-institution or to other public authority involved in the process for issuing the specific permit.
   

The front-office location will be served by the following types of employees:

1. 
   Generalist: Front-office employee that provides information about all the services and permissive documents issued by the institution, organizes the flow of applicants and directs them. The generalist does not participate at the process of application processing and issuing of permits.
   
2. 
   Servant for assisting clients or permits’ applicants: Front-office employee that manages the process of receiving applications and necessary documents for obtaining permits, issues the permits and produces some simple services such as primary processing and analysis of the applications.
   

2. 
   Back office component will be a component part of the IS MIP. All the public authorities that issue permits and are involved in issuing the permits will use the IS MIP. The back office component will be used by the employees of the public authorities to automate and manage the issuing of permissive documents.
   

To optimize the costs of creating one-stop-shop, information systems in other public authorities used to automate the process of issuing of permits will be integrated with IS MIP. Thus, applicants interface for applications will be unique to all permissive documents and workflows to be triggered after making their applications under IS MIP will be taken up by existing information systems from other authorities. For example, the single license registry of the Chamber of Licensing will be integrated with IS MIP. The applications filed through IS MIP will be automatically retrieved for processing by the single license registry.

3. 
   The component of support will ensure functionality of one-stop-shop and will include two types of support:
   

3. 
   Technical Support type functionality related to technical operation of IS MIP. This type of support will be appealed by applicants of permits in cases where technical problems can occur such as type errors in the authentication process, attaching documents, technical failures in the process of sending requests, etc. Type technical support will be provided by the State Enterprise Centre of Special Telecommunications and E-Government Center.
   
4. 
   Support related to the procedures for submitting and completing applications will be provided by each institution responsible for issuing of permits because only these institutions are able to address and consult applicants in the fields of activity of specific permits. All application forms submitted electronically via IS MIP will contain contact information for professionals involved in the issuing of permits institutions concerned, who will be responsible for providing support and advice on applications and obtaining of permits.
   

The back-office location will be served by the following types of employees:

1. 
   Specialist: Back-office employee that processes the applications, analyzes the submit-ted documents, verifies data from other public authorities based on the One Stop Shop principle, provide consultations and detailed information regarding a specific permit or service upon request from the clients/applicants.
   
2. 
   Superior specialist and decision maker: Back-office employee, who takes the final decision on issuing the permissive document, deals with atypical situations and complaints received from the permits’ applicants.
   

Public authorities involved in the implementation and functioning of the IS MIP will be:

1. 
   Owner of the IS MIP - State Chancellery that will establish a separate department responsible for implementation and monitoring the functionality of the One Stop Shop solution.
   
2. 
   Technological operator of IS MIP - State Enterprise “Center for Special Telecommunications” will host the One Stop Shop system and will ensure the technical and technological functionality of the IT solution. The IT solution will be hosted in the Government Cloud System (MCloud) and access will be provided to all the public authorities involved.
   
3. 
   Implementation coordinator - E-Government center will ensure the integration of the One Stop Shop IT solution into the Government Public Services Portal.
   
4. 
   Physical front office facilities:
   
   1. 
      State Enterprise “Posta Moldovei” (Moldova Post Office) is proposed to provide the services for receiving applications for obtaining permits and submit the applications to the public authorities responsible for issuing permits.
      
   2. 
      Local public administrations and public authorities involved in issuing permits will also provide “front office” services by offering support to the applicants in filling in the applications using the Government Public Services Portal and will receive the applications for permissive documents that they are responsible for issuing. Local governments shall become an important resource. For example, recently established Information and Service Provisions Centers, with support of USAID/LGSP project in Taraclia, Orhei and Sangerei towns are expected to help citizens and businesses to apply for local and central public administration services (including permits).
      
5. 
   Institutions that are involved in issuing permissive documents:
   

No.	Institution
	National Food Safety Agency
	State Tax Inspectorate
	National Public Health Centre Agency
	Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service
	National Auto Transport Agency
	Drugs and Medical Devices Agency
	Local Public Authorities (Municipalities)
	Licensing Chamber
	National Agency for Energy Regulation
	General Police Inspectorate
	State Ecology Inspectorate
	National Financial Market Commission
	National Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology Regulation
	State Energy Inspectorate
	Laboratories involved in performing tests for issuing permissive documents

6. 
   Suppliers of electronic information necessary for issuing permissive documents analyzed and optimized within the current study:
   

• 
  SE CRIS ”Registru”
  
• 
  SE ”Cadastru”
  
• 
  State Tax Service
  
• 
  National Social Insurance House
  
• 
  National Medical Insurance Company
  
• 
  National Food Safety Agency
  
• 
  National Public Health Center
  
• 
  Licensing Chamber
  

Electronic registries that need to be developed for the appropriate functioning of IS MIP:

For an advanced functioning of the IS MIP, it is necessary to develop and get access to a series of electronic registries of other public authorities. This will allow the minimization of the number of documents requested on paper format and attached to the electronic applications within the IS MIP by substituting paper based confirmations with the electronic data access to the information possessed by the public authorities. To save time and financial resources, it is recommended to develop the necessary electronic registries using the Government Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMP) managed by e-Government Center and to be hosted in Government Cloud solution MCloud. For the functioning of the IS MIP it is sufficient to develop electronic registries that will store electronic records of data without integrated workflows for issuing permits. Therefore, it is recommended that some proposed registries (marked with *) will be developed as components of the IS MIP. Public authorities will keep electronic data regarding the issued documents and will provide electronic access to data for other public authorities in the process of issuing permissive documents.

Below is the list of electronic registries necessary to be developed:

State institution	Electronic registry necessary to be developed in 2016-2017	Will be component of the IS MIP (*)
National Public Health Center	Registry of issued sanitary authorizations for business functioning	*
National Food Safety Agency	Registry of phytosanitary products and fertilizers use
National Food Safety Agency	Registry of biological products
Ministry of Regional Development and Constructions	Registry of attestation certificates of construction and design specialists
Local public authorities	Registry of issued trade authorizations and other local permits	*
All institutions	Registry of incoming documents	*
All institutions	Registry of issued documents	*

Authentication into IS MIP

The authentication into IS MIP will be done using the Government Authentication and Access Control Service (MPass) provided by the e-Government Center. MPass will allow the authentication using the electronic signatures, mobile signatures, electronic identity cards and username and password. This will ensure the security of the IS MIP and will protect against unauthorized access to IS MIP.

For the applicants who do not have an electronic signature, mobile signature or electronic identity cards, access to IS MIP will be limited. They will not be able to sign electronically the applications. The applicants will be able to view the status of applications, list of requirement for obtaining permissive documents, list of submitted applications, pay the fees for obtaining permissive documents and basic functionality to fill in the applications. The functionality to submit the applications for processing will be available only to the users that have advanced electronic authentication tools such as electronic and mobile signatures and electronic identity cards.
The authentication into IS MIP through the public terminals will use username and password and mobile signatures.
The applicants who will request the permissive documents through the post offices or directly at the physical location of the public authority, will not be required to have username/password or electronic signature. The operators of the post offices, based on the agreement signed between the Post Office and the public authority responsible for issuing permits, will agree to receive the applications from the applicant and then submit the application for processing based on the post office’s signature. The applicant will sign the paper based application filled in at the post office, and based on it the post office employee will fill in the application in IS MIP, sign it, and submit it on behalf of the applicant for processing to the responsible public authority.
Filling in the application to obtain the permissive documents

Applicants that will access the IS MIP through the Public Services Portal will have access to all the permissive documents, information and instructions how to fill in each application.

The applicant will be able to fill in the electronic application and attach the scanned or electronic versions of the documents necessary for obtaining each permit.

The applicant will have a “Personal office” in IS MIP where all the applications will be stored.

Each application document for obtaining a permissive document will have four distinct statuses:

1. 
   Draft – the application that is partially or fully filled in but not submitted for processing. The applicant will be able to work with the application in the draft status, change it and add, remove or change the attachments of the application. The draft application listed in the personal electronic office of the applicant will be marked as draft. After saving the application in draft status, it will not be submitted to any public authority.
   
2. 
   Submitted – the application that is fully filled in with all the information and attachments, signed electronically with digital signature and submitted to the public authority responsible for issuing the permissive documents. After submitting the application, the public authority will perform a primary check to verify that the application contains all the necessary information and attachments. If the submitted application does not comply with all the requirements, the representative of the public authority responsible for processing will refuse the acceptance of the application. The applicant will be notified regarding the refusal of the application.
   
3. 
   Refused – are the applications that are refused by the public authority because the application does not meet all the requirements, has missing necessary attachments or contains false information. The applicant will be notified about refusal of the application. The refusal submitted by the representative of the public authority will contain an obligatory description of the cause of the refusal.
   
4. 
   Accepted – are the applications that passed the primary check of the public authority and will be considered as accepted. The time for processing and issuing the permissive document will start counting after the application is marked as accepted. The applicant will be notified about the acceptance of the application.
   

After filling in the applications, the users will have the possibility to submit the application for processing to the responsible public authority and monitor the status of the application.

Every event regarding the status of the application will generate notifications that will be sent to the applicant using the Government Notification System (MNotify) through email or SMS.
The applications submitted through the post offices or service centers of the public authorities will have a unique identification number that will be used to monitor the status of the application through the IS MIP or by SMS by sending the identification number to IS MIP and receiving the message of the application status by SMS as well. The post office employee will perform a primary check of the application regarding the correctness of filling in the application and attachments. The applications that will not be fully filled in, will not be possible to be submitted for processing.

If one or more documents that are necessary to be attached to the application for a permissive document are missing or needs to be obtained, the IS MIP will provide the functionality to request/apply for obtaining the missing documents. This will allow the implementation of the „One Stop Shop” principle by allowing the applicant to perform the visit to only one authority and request all the necessary documents for obtaining the permissive document in one place. Below is a graphic that depicts the approach that will be used in the IS MIP. The documents that are necessary to be attached to the application will be either attached or will be requested from other public authorities to be obtained.

Back office application processing

After the application is submitted to the public authority responsible for issuing the permissive document, it is received by the specialist within the public authority responsible for receiving applications. The specialist for receiving application then forwards the application to the responsible specialist. IS MIP will send notifications using MNotify to the public authority responsible specialist to inform about the incoming application. After the application is processed in the back office, the positive or negative decision to issue the permit will be recorded in the system. In case when the decision will be positive, the public servant will fill in the form of the permissive document in IS MIP and prepare the document to be issued to the applicant. In case when the decision will be negative, the public servant will enter in IS MIP the reasons for rejecting the application and notify the applicant.

Electronic data exchange between IS MIP and information systems of other public authorities

Information exchange will be a model of collaboration between institutions that will minimizes the need of the permit applicant to serve as documents and information delivery media in delivering documents from one state institution to another. The information exchange will introduce the procedures of accessing information directly from the institutions either manually on paper format or electronically by integrating with electronic registries and information systems.

For implementing IS MIP, it is necessary to establish electronic data exchange with the following state institutions:

Institution	Information type
SE CRIS ”Registru”	Business registration information (State Register of Legal Entities) State Register of Population State Register of Vehicles State Register of Drivers
SE ”Cadastru”	Real estate information (Electronic registry of real estate)
State Tax Service	Taxpayer’s information on tax liabilities (Taxpayer Current Account System)
	Taxpayer registration information (ex. Registered bank accounts)
National Social Insurance House	Confirmation of payments to the social insurance budget
National Medical Insurance Company	Confirmation of payments to the medical insurance fund
National Food Safety Agency	Information regarding the registration of biological products
	Information regarding the use of phytosanitary products and fertilizers (Electronic registry of phytosanitary products and fertilizers use, will be developed in 2016-2017 as component of the Digital Agriculture Registry)
	Information regarding the issued sanitary-veterinary certificates (will be developed in 2016-2017)
	Information regarding the issued phytosanitary certificates (will be developed in 2016-2017 as component of the Digital Agriculture Registry)
National Public Health Center	Information regarding the issued sanitary authorizations for business functioning
Licensing Chamber	Information regarding the issued licenses (Electronic registry of licenses)

The abovementioned institutions and their information systems will be connected to the IS MIP via the Government Interoperability System Mconnect provided and managed by the Moldova e-Government Center.

Public authorities which have already implemented systems for managing processes for issuing of permits, will integrate those system with IS MIP. This will allow minimizing the costs of implementing the one-stop-shop. Thus, all applications will be submitted via IS MIP, but their processing will be undertaken by existing information systems of the institutions responsible for issuing the permits. For example, it proposes to integrate the single license registry managed by the Licensing Chamber with IS MIP. Applications will be submitted through IS MIP, but their processing will be undertaken by the single license registry.

Additionally, IS MIP will provide Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for connecting other electronic registries to be able to exchange information if needed in the future.

Interaction with laboratories involved in issuing permits

For issuing of a number of permissive documents, the laboratory investigations are needed in form of a laboratory test report. Each permit application will have a unique identification number which will be used to match the laboratory test report submitted by the laboratory to the application that requires the test report. After performing the laboratory tests, the laboratories will have a customized user role in IS MIP which will be used to submit the test reports that will be later assigned either automatically by the system or manually to the permit application.

When submitting requests for documents involving inspections and performing laboratory tests, applicants will request these services during application. For example, to obtain phytosanitary or sanitary-veterinary certificate, the application will contain the request for inspection, taking samples and sending them to the lab. After receiving the request/application, the employees of the responsible institution will visit the premises of the applicant to take samples which will be later sent for laboratory tests. After testing, the laboratory report will be sent via special interface within IS MIP, designed for laboratory test reports which will be attached to the application file using the unique identification number assigned to each application.
Issuing and delivery of permissive documents

The options for delivering the permissive documents will be selected by the applicant at the stage of submission of the application. The permissive document will either handed over by the public authority responsible for issuing the permit or will be delivered through a delivery service or by post offices to the address specified by the applicant. The event of delivery will be recorded in IS MIP and will be legally ensured either by applying a signature in a special registry within the public authority or post office, or will be delivered by recommended mail.

The permissive documents that a necessary to be delivered to other public authorities after issuance, will be delivered directly to them without the implication of the applicant. For example, the phytosanitary certificate for export that is necessary by the Customs for exporting procedures will be delivered there by the National food Safety Agency and the applicant will be able to pick up the certificate at the Customs post.
It proposes to use delivery services "Courier" offered by Posta Moldovei. The cost of postal items up to one kilogram (December 2015) sent to most remote area from Moldova costs about 41 lei (http://www.posta.md/ro/content/curier-rapid-0 ) . When submitting applications for permits from post offices, applicants will pay a tariff of up to 41 lei for permissive document delivery from the issuing authority to the address of applicant or other address indicated at the stage of completing the application.
Publishing all the issued permits in the registry of issued permits

After the application will be processed and permit will be ready to be issued, all the information about the issued permit including the scanned copy will be recorded in the IS MIP. This will allow the permit applicants and other public authorities to access the information about the issued permit. This will eliminate the need for holding the paper based permit and will eliminate the time and delivery related costs of the paper based version of the permissive documents. The IS MIP will provide an interface for the public authorities that will be able to access the information regarding the issued permits. Also, a public interface will be developed to provide open public access to limited information about the issued permits in accordance with the personal data protection regulations.

Paying the fees for obtaining permissive documents

The users of the IS MIP will be able to pay the fees for obtaining permits through the Government Electronic Payment System (Mpay) provided by the E-Government Center. Additionally, the payment functionality for the permits’ fees will be available through the public terminals that have the cash-in function. The payment terminals are placed in most public places on the municipalities. Payment through banks will also be available. The payment for obtaining the permissive document will be performed by the applicant after the authority responsible for issuing the permit will send a notification to the applicant regarding the acceptance of the application.

For applications at post offices, applicants will pay fees for obtaining legal licenses in post offices.
Generic scenario for obtaining of permits

Obtaining of permits generic scenario is comprised of nine distinct steps. Depending on the technical possibilities and the specific choice of the applicant of permissive act, there are several options for carrying out each step.

Step 1. Requesting the release of permissive act

• 
  Option 1: The applicant visits the Public Authority and requests permissive document.
  
• 
  Option 2: The applicant visits the territorial post office and requests permissive document.
  
• 
  Option 3: The applicant accesses the portal of Public Services www.servicii.gov.md and authenticates himself through Government Access Control System Mpass.
  

Step 2. Fill in the application

• 
  Option 1: At the counter of public authority responsible for issuing permissive act
  
  • 
    The applicant completes the application on paper.
    
  • 
    If inspection or laboratory expertise is needed, the applicant shall request in the application those services (e.g. for phytosanitary certificate for export);
    
  • 
    If permissive document delivery is request, the delivery address is provided;
    
  • 
    The civil servant receives the application on paper and introduces it into the IS MIP system.
    
• 
  Option 2: At the post office counter
  
  • 
    The applicant shall complete and sign an application on paper;
    
  • 
    If inspection or laboratory expertise is needed, the applicant shall request in the application those services (e.g. for phytosanitary certificate for export);
    
  • 
    If permissive document delivery is request, the delivery address is provided;
    
  • 
    The applicant signs a delegation agreement between the applicant and Posta Moldovei for the applicant's representation for the release of the permissive act;
    
  • 
    The counter operator receives the application on paper and introduces it into the IS MIP system.
    
• 
  Option 3: On the Public Service Portal (www.servicii.gov.md)
  
  • 
    Select the service for issuing a permissive act;
    
  • 
    Complete an online application.
    
  • 
    If inspection or laboratory expertise is needed, the applicant shall request in the application those services (e.g. for phytosanitary certificate for export);
    
  • 
    If permissive document delivery is request, the delivery address is provided;
    
  • 
    Sign the application electronically.
    

Step 3. Attaching documents to application

• 
  Option 1: At the public authority or post office counter
  
  • 
    The applicant provides documents on paper;
    
  • 
    The operator at the counter scans documents and attach them to the application in. the IS MIP system.
    
• 
  Option 2: The Public Service Portal
  
  • 
    The applicant attaches the electronic versions of documents to completed application online.
    

Step 4. The application for documents to be attached to the application but missing.

• 
  Option 1: At the public authority or the post office counter
  
  • 
    The applicant submits an application on paper to obtain the missing documents which must be attached to the primary application. When completing the application, the address is indicated where the document will be delivered. In this case the document will be delivered to the post office or applicant that subsequently present the document to the post office to be attached to previously completed application.
    
  • 
    The post office operator scans the document and attach it to the application file in the IS MIP system.
    
• 
  Option 2: On the Public Service Portal
  
  • 
    The applicant presses the button for commencement of the application for the missing documents required to be attached to primary application;
    
  • 
    A form of new application appears which is filled in electronically by the applicant.
    
  • 
    The applicant signs the application electronically
    

Step 5. Submitting the application for processing

• 
  Option 1: At the counter of public authority
  
  • 
    Civil servant presents the bill to be paid for getting permissive act;
    
  • 
    Civil servant sends to the person responsible for processing the application a notification about new application for permits via the IS MIP system;
    
  • 
    The applicant goes to the bank, post office, payment terminal or access the electronic payment government services MPay for payment.
    
• 
  Option 2: At the post office counter
  
  • 
    The counter post office operator presents the bill to be paid for getting permissive document;
    
  • 
    The operator sends the application through the IS MIP system to the institution responsible for issuing permissive document;
    
  • 
    The person responsible for processing the application within the public authority receives notification via IS MIP system about the existence of new applications submitted for review.
    
• 
  Option 3: On the Public Service Portal
  
  • 
    After completing the application and attaching all necessary documents, the application is sent via IS MIP system to the institution responsible for issuing the permissive document;
    
  • 
    IS MIP system generates a bill for payment and submit the payment option through MPay.
    

Step 6. The payment for obtaining the permissive document.

• 
  Option 1: Payment at the bank
  
  • 
    The payment according to a bill obtained in Step 5 is paid at the bank;
    
  • 
    permit issuing public authority gets notified about the payment through electronic notification Government services Mnotify.
    
• 
  Option 2: Payment at the post office
  
  • 
    The applicant pays a fee for issuing permissive act at the post office counter;
    
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    Depending on the case, the applicant pays for the related services such as delivery of permit or laboratory tests;
    
  • 
    The permit issuing public authority is notified about the payment.
    
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  Option 3: Payment through the payment terminal
  
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  Option 4: Payment through Government Electronic Payment Service Mpay
  

Step 7. Perform inspections and collection of samples in the application process for permits. For some of permits, which include inspection and conducting laboratory tests (ex. phytosanitary certificate), application for permissive document include the request to perform these procedures as well.

• 
  The person responsible for processing the application within the permits issuing public authority receives notification via IS MIP system about the existence of new applications submitted for review;
  
• 
  The responsible person visits the business premises of the applicant, carries out inspection, takes samples and send them for laboratory tests.
  

Step 8. Sending laboratory tests report to the institution responsible for issuing permissive document

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  Option 1: Through IS MIP system
  
  • 
    The responsible person in the laboratory authenticates in the IS MIP system;
    
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    Attach the test report to the electronic dossier of permissive document according to the unique number assigned to laboratory samples and application.
    
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  Option 2: By email
  
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    Person in charge of the laboratory test sent by email the tests report to the specialist within the authority responsible for issuing permissive document;
    
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    Specialist within the responsible authority attaches the test report received via email to the dossier of permissive document in the IS MIP system.
    
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  Option 3: On paper by post, courier or fax
  
  • 
    Person in charge of the laboratory test sent the report by mail, courier or fax to the specialist within the authority responsible for issuing permissive document;
    
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    Specialist within the responsible authority receives the report of tests, scans it and introduces into the dossier of permissive document in the IS MIP system
    

Step 9: The processing of application and preparing permissive document

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  After examining the application and attached documents, the specialist from the institution responsible for issuing permit, prepares the permissive document in the IS MIP system;
  
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  Print and sign the permissive document;
  
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  Scans permissive document and attaches it to the permit dossier in the IS MIP system.
  

Step 10. Issuance of permissive document

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  Option 1: Issuance at the office issuing authority
  
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    The applicant is notified of the completion of the review and issuance of permissive document;
    
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    The applicant goes to the office of issuing authority and gets the permissive document.
    
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  Option 2: Issuance at the territorial post office
  
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    The permissive document is sent by the issuing institution to territorial post office;
    
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    The territorial post office notifies the applicant on the issuance of permissive document;
    
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    The applicant goes to the territorial post office and gets permissive document.
    
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  Option 3: Delivery of permissive document to the applicant's residence or other public authority requesting permissive document
  
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    The issuing authority sends the permissive document to the applicant or other public authority requesting the permit. The cost of delivery of the permissive document is paid by the applicant after the application.
    

Monitoring and reporting

IS MIP will have the functionalities to generate reports according to the defined report templates. The following types of reports will be generated:

1. 
   Performance reports for the audit and analysis of the IT system
   
2. 
   Monitoring reports for analyzing the performance and activity of the public authorities involved in issuing permissive documents. The reporting mechanism will contain a mechanism for report generation based on the criteria established by the owner of the system (State Chancellery). For example reports about the number of permits issued, average time for processing the applications grouped by permissive documents or authorities.
   

Functions of the institution that will implement and manage the IS MIP

To implement and manage IS MIP, the owner of the system has to possess the following resources:

- Staff with experience in dealing with issuing permits from various areas.

- Staff with skills in project management that will be necessary for implementing the IS MIP.

- Sufficient authority to pursue other public authorities to use the system.

- Sufficient skills to propose technical modifications to the system to change the document flows and redesign processes.

The owner of the system will monitor the functioning of the system and will continuously propose optimizations of the processes. The owner of the system will interact with all the stakeholders and will coordinate the activities related to implementation and functioning of the system. And most important, the owner of the system will serve as a project management office (PMO) and will manage the implementation of the system across the public authorities involved
Financial sustainability of the one-stop-shop

Financial sustainability will consist of the following components:

1. 
   Providing funding for maintenance and administration services of the IS MIP system.
   Warranty and maintenance services for the first three years of operation of the system will be offered by the company that will implement the IS MIP system under maintenance contract signed by the customer and the company. For the next year, after the expiration of the maintenance, funding for system maintenance will be provided from the state budget. State Chancellery will include maintenance budget in the sector expenditure strategy in the annual process of the medium term budgetary framework (MTBF). Thus, State Center for Special Telecommunications and E-Government Center will obtain the necessary financing for technical maintenance of the IS MIP system.
   
2. 
   Covering the costs of delivery of permits
   

The costs of courier delivery of issued permits will be covered by applicants of permits. Applicants will request service delivery at the stage of completing and submitting applications and pay the fee for the delivery at the post office counter, through the payment terminal or through the Government Electronic Payments Service Mpay.

3. 
   Covering the costs of delivery of samples for laboratory tests
   

Costs for courier delivery of the samples will be covered by the applicants at the stage of completing and submitting application and will be paid at the post office counter, through the payment terminal or through the Government Electronic Payments Service Mpay. Costs will vary depending on the geographical area where the samples will be delivered and weight. For reference, the service offered by Posta Moldova for a referral from door to door weighing up one kilogram of the remotest area of ​​Moldova, the tariff could be 56 lei.

4. 
   Covering the costs of intermediation between applicants and issuers of permits, offered by Posta Moldova (the intermediary service for submitting applications and sending them to the authorities responsible for issuing of permits)
   

Cost of intermediation will be covered by the courier costs offered by post offices. Intermediation and assistance of applicants for submission of applications for obtaining of permits will increase the demand for courier services provided by Moldovan Post. The number of applications submitted through post offices is directly proportional to the number of requests for courier delivery of permits.

5. 
   Covering the costs for consultation and assistance to applicants in the process of obtaining permits.
   

Consultation and assistance to applicants will be offered by each institution responsible for issuing of permits under the existing functions and duties.
The Action Plan for optimization of permits and implementation of the Information System for Managing and Issuing Permissive Documents (IS MIP) is presented in annex 6.

Estimated budget of IS MIP and One Stop Shop implementation is presented in the table below.

No.	Budgeted activity/good	Units	Estimated Budget (USD)
	Description and documentation of the new proposed workflows	1	USD 3000
	Development of the detailed technical requirements of IS MIP	1	USD 6000
	Development of the technical requirements for developing the necessary electronic registries	3 registries x USD 3000	USD 9000
	Development of the IS MIP + 4 integrated registries	1	USD 250000
	Development of necessary electronic registries (not part of IS MIP)	3 registries x USD 30000	USD 90000
	Development and configuration of web services for connecting to MConnect for institutions that will use IS MIP	5 institutions x USD 2000 for connecting (IT consultant services)	USD 15000
	Procurement of hardware for IS MIP server/cloud	Cloud hosting services	Free of charge
	Procurement of hardware for IS MIP users (post offices)	1 workstation + 1 A4 scanner * 37 territorial offices	USD 500*37 = USD 18500
	Scanners	A4 flatbed digital scanner x 153 scanners	USD 100 *153 = USD 15300
	Training of IS MIP users	750 users x USD 30	USD 22500
	Implementation support consulting services (business process specialist, lawyer, IT consultant)	3 experts x 100 days x USD 200/day	USD 60000
	Annual IS MIP technical maintenance	15% of the system cost annually	USD 30000 per year
	TOTAL BUDGET		USD 519300

The budget for procuring hardware for post office operator is optional and will vary depending on post offices selected as priority for the first stage of implementation and the extent to which they will be equipped with necessary hardware at that moment.

Regulatory drafts and amendments to existing regulations to implement one-stop-shop solutions
In the current legal framework on the regulation by permits of business activity there are some gaps and obstacles for application and successful implementation of ICT solutions for one-stop-shop development proposed in this report, and namely:

1. The focus is on paper-based permits. Accordingly the permit is linked to the paper form. In most of the cases the paper itself (not the decision of regulator and not even the information itself) determines the existence of the rights conferred by the act in question, loss or damage of which, paradoxically, leading to practically losing the rights granted, at least until the paper is recovered by receiving a duplicate. It is necessary to complete the current framework (especially the Law no.160) with the following rule: confirmation paper or other means of information about the permit is merely the evidence of the existence of permit and the rights it grants to specific entity. Issuing that means of information (such as paper document) and/or destruction of such should not affect the rights and obligations which are confirmed by those means. Moreover, it should be excluded in parallel from special laws the provisions requiring businesses to have a hard copy to present proof of permit and where he has the hard copy, in case it was damaged or lost, to oblige them to obtain duplicates. In this case the hard copy would be optional for entrepreneurs, this will be obtained by the entrepreneur to request (or by accessing the database) as an extract from a register of permits in question.

2. In direct connection with those set out above, it appears that many authorities do not necessarily create valid and electronically accessible registers of permits. Also even though some keep such records in electronic form, very few of them are created with the implicit goal to share this information with other authorities remotely (electronically). It makes it impossible to rapidly and efficiently exchange information between the issuing and inspection/control authorities or other public authorities. And that makes the paper to basically be associated to permit and rights and obligations granted by such. It is necessary to establish a primary rule that all issuing authorities are required to keep registers (electronic) of permits issued and to grant direct access (electronic) to these registers to control bodies and other public authorities in the amount required by duties and tasks of these authorities.
3. Another conceptual flaw in the current approach to the permit issuing authorities and regulators is lack of intention to work remotely with the applicant, even though technical possibility to request and receive the document without making visits to the issuing authority currently exists for many of permits (even without ICT solutions), such as by using the phone and/or postal services. Current legislation, in most cases does not provide for such a possibility in principle, being presumed the need for the physical presence of the applicant in all cases. Moreover, the current legislation does not take into account the full spectrum of technological possibilities and restricts work with electronic documents only documents with digital signature. Although in many cases the digital signature is not necessary or could be avoided. It is necessary to establish in law that the issuing authorities are obliged to implement, as appropriate, the possibility of requesting and receiving of permits remotely.
At the same time, to establish that the applicant has the right to send electronic copies of documents required to be attached to the application (without digital signature) and that the corresponding electronic format of copies should not serve as grounds for not accepting application.
In such circumstances it could be indicated that the issuing authority may require later originals of documents which were subsequently annexed to the application sent remotely (electronically). But it will be taken into account that according to existing provisions of Law 161, the applicant has the right not to submit/present confirmation documents issued by other public authorities, just declaring their existence, and obtaining such information being the responsibility of permit issuing authority.
The proposed legal amendments are presented in Annex 4.
The Action Plan for implementation of improvements to permits and one-stop-shop solutions, proposed here and under task 7 was included into the Action Plan for implementing the Information System for Managing and Issuing Permissive Documents, presented in the previous sub-section.
Estimation of administrative cost reduction from proposed reforms to permits to businesses
To obtain permits businesses must undertake several administrative activities, such as collecting required documents, filling the application, travelling to authorities, waiting in a queue to submit documents and to receive permits. All these activities result in administrative costs for businesses. These costs of obtaining permits were assessed based on the Standard Cost Model (SCM) which today is the most widely applied methodology for measuring administrative costs. Applying SCM helps to reveal the most burdensome administrative activities and indicate directions for further simplification work.
Administrative costs for all issued permits in one year were estimated by multiplying cost of each type of permit to its frequency (number of issued permits in one year). According to the carried out estimations the administrative costs to obtain all analyzed permits, which refer to business activities, were around 136 million MDL per year (baseline). Details about cost assessment methodology and assumptions are presented in Annex 7.
The prioritized permits issued by central public administration account for 59% of these total administrative costs. Other permits which were considered for the feasibility study of one-stop-shop solutions (licenses and local permits) hold 17% together. Confirmative acts, which are not permissive documents and which were proposed for elimination from the beginning of this analysis, account for 8% of total administrative costs for businesses (figure 1).
Figure 1. Administrative costs for businesses by analyzed type of permits


Reforms proposed in this report may reduce significantly administrative costs of obtaining permits by businesses. Implementation of proposed solutions may result in a reduction of total administrative costs to businesses to up to 46%, which provides an annual amount of savings of 62.1 million MDL. Reaching this cost reduction level implies the implementation of the most advantageous for business recommendations in case of proposed alternative solutions for one type of permits, taking into account the impact estimation assumptions, which are presented also in Annex 7.
Some proposed solutions, such as electronic submission of required documents and exchange of data among involved public institutions may imply implementation costs, while other solutions are quite straightforward without implementation costs. Among most important of these latter solutions are proposed elimination of permits, reduction in permit coverage and extension of the permit validity period. It is worth to mention that applying of only these “costless implementation” solutions may reduce administrative costs to businesses by up to 15% (20.7 million MDL of annual savings for businesses) as it is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2.Annual administrative costs and its reduction

Administrative costs (separately for baseline, after “costless implementation” solutions and after all solutions) for each prioritized permits, local permits and license (all together) are presented in Annex 8.

It is worth to mention that in the current structure of administrative cost around two-thirds are transportation costs (cost of time of roundtrip “firm location – authority – firm location” and fuel consumption), as it is shown in figure 3 (left chart). Many solutions are targeted to this most burdensome part of administrative costs. As a result, after implementation of reforms the share of transportation costs decreases to around one-third (right chart of figure 3).
Figure 3. Administrative cost structure, %

Current situation of all permits

Prioritized permits

The applied SCM methodology implies estimation of indirect cost of obtaining permits, expressed in waiting days from submitting the application for a permit until the day of obtaining the permit and adding the waiting days to get the additional documents required especially for that particular permit. Based on legal provision regarding duration to issue each permit, it takes around 2.8 million waiting days for businesses to obtain all issued permits in one year. However, in reality public authorities usually issue permits in less number of days than that stated in legal acts, thus de facto 1.4 million days (half of 2.8 million) would be a more realistic estimate.⁸ Implementation of proposes solutions will not only reduce the administrative cost for businesses but also diminish these indirect cost, estimated at 29% reduction, which provides an annual amount of savings of more than 800 thousand days or in a more realistic estimate - 400 thousand days.