4. Towards a Data-Driven Public Sector

In today's fast-changing digital world, data has become incredibly valuable for organisations in all industries, including the public sector. If data is collected, managed, and used well, it has the power to transform public governance, improve services, and enhance policy decisions based on solid evidence.

The OECD’s work on data-driven public sector (DDPS) and open government data (OGD) spans back more than a decade. The 2014 Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies includes a provision to “create a data-driven culture in the public sector” and the 2021 Recommendation on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data lays out general principles and policy guidance on how governments can maximise the benefits of enhancing data access and sharing arrangements while protecting individuals’ and organisations’ rights (OECD, 2014[1]; OECD, 2021[2])(see Box 4.1).

This chapter is divided into two sections. The first section briefly examines the data governance approach within Romania's public sector, exploring both the opportunities and challenges that need to be considered. The second chapter analyses Romania's open government data policy and implementation. Drawing on preliminary data from the OECD Survey on Open Government Data 5.0, this section aims to support the Romanian government in integrating open data into their overall digital government strategy. It also includes examples of indicators to monitor the impact of open government data.

Data governance refers to “diverse arrangements, including technical, policy, regulatory or institutional provisions, that affect data and their cycle (creation, collection, storage, use, protection, access, sharing and deletion) across policy domains and organisational and national borders” (OECD, 2023[3]). In the public sector, robust data governance is a necessity to enhance data access and sharing for the public benefit. The OECD framework on public sector data governance (Figure 4.2) is divided into three layers, which are all equally important for building the foundation for a DDPS (OECD, 2019[4]). The first, strategic layer focuses on defining leadership and a strategic vision. The tactical layer covers the rules and institutional and inter-intuitional provisions enabling a coherent and coordinated approach to managing data. The third layer, delivery, focuses on data infrastructure and architecture, and factors enabling effective management of data across its lifecycle.

In Romania, there is currently no official public body designated to drive the Data-Driven Public Sector (DDPS) agenda. However, in practice, this role is partly assumed by the Authority for Digitisation of Romania (ADR), which has the mandate to promote actions enabling interoperability of IT systems and data exchange among public sector institutions, as well as the Ministry for Research, Innovation and Digitalisation. Concerning open government data, the responsibility currently rests with the General Secretariat of the Government (GSG), as part of the country's open government policy, which is also responsible for operating the open data platform data.gov.ro. Additionally, the Special Telecommunication Service in Romania plays a governance role, as it is responsible for the existing data infrastructure in the country and, as outlined in ADR's plans, will have a crucial role in implementing the national infrastructure platform and the government cloud (as discussed in earlier sections). To the contrary, in many OECD countries, dedicated public bodies are given clear leadership, and accountability for efforts to promote a data-driven public sector (see Box.4.2).

In addition to policy leadership, Romania currently lacks a formal data strategy tailored to the public sector. Instead, most actions are driven by updated or new legal and regulatory frameworks aimed at compliance with EU directives. Similarly, Romania also lacks a comprehensive strategy for open government data (see Open government data in Romania). One significant challenge stemming from the absence of a unified vision and strategic direction is that efforts so far in this area have been fragmented and uncoordinated, with varying levels of maturity in data management practices across public institutions.

In light of these circumstances, a cohesive and well-defined data strategy could help guide Romania's public sector. Data strategies enable accountability and can help define leadership, expectations, roles and goals (OECD, 2019[4]). The formulation of data strategies can benefit from open and participatory processes, thus integrating the inputs of actors from within and outside the public sector. This approach helps foster a more trusted culture where data access and sharing are viewed as positive developments, rather than a risk.

Today, an increasing number of countries recognise the importance of formulating a national data strategy. This strategy encompasses not only technical or practical details but, more importantly, governance, capabilities, collaboration, and culture, all of which are vital in enabling a DDPS to flourish. (See Box 4.3.).

Moving to the tactics of the data governance framework, this aspect focuses on facilitating coordinated implementation of data-driven policies, by leveraging skills and talent, collaboration, and networks, as well as legal and regulatory frameworks underpinning good data management and use practices.

In terms of legal frameworks, Romania has seen a lot of recent developments based on the implementation or transposition of EU frameworks and directives. This most notably includes the EU Interoperability Framework, for which Romania has adopted Law no. 242 of July 20, 2022, regarding data exchange between IT systems and the creation of the National Interoperability Platform, and also the transposition of the EU Open Data Directive with Law no. 179 of June 9, 2022, on open data and re-use of public sector information (see Box 4.4).

According to surveyed public institutions, the legal and regulatory framework supporting data gathering, sharing and use is well-adapted to expectations and needs. On the other hand, fewer perceive that the access to guidelines and/or standards to support data management and sharing is sufficient, in particular relating to data discoverability, sharing and interoperability (see Figure 4.3).

This is an important finding, considering that the Romanian government should now be transitioning from legal measures to implementation. Public institutions evidently need resources and support to deliver on expectations and obligations. However, enhancing access to guidelines and standards alone may not be sufficient for the complete implementation of a data-driven public sector in Romania, in conjunction with the discussed legal measures. Conversations with stakeholders in Romania have stressed the challenge of a shortage of skills within the public sector. This notably includes a scarcity of data professionals and difficulties in competing with the private sector. The fact-finding mission unveiled that public sector institutions lack the necessary in-house expertise to address data governance and data sharing challenges, often relying heavily on large contractors, which has led to issues of vendor lock-in. As seen in Figure 4.4 a majority of surveyed institutions disagree with there being sufficiently skilled human resources for data, while most do not consider financial resources as an issue.

Similarly, the Romanian public sector is lacking a culture of openness, collaboration and innovation, with public sector organisations exhibiting reluctance in exchanging data, leading to complex protocols requiring bilateral agreements to govern such collaborations. Interviews with government stakeholders during the fact-finding mission also revealed a hesitance, particularly among public sector institutions with a higher level of digital government maturity, to participate in initiatives such as the government cloud.

While the challenges related to skills and culture are not unique to the field of data, it is evident that one of Romania's most significant obstacles to progress in this area is prioritising building a culture for a DDPS through capacity building and new ways of collaboration. As noted by the OECD’s Interim Assessment Report on Strengthening the Innovative Capacity of the Government of Romania (OECD, 2023[12]), Romania’s public sector has a legalistic administrative culture and a public sector that generally focuses on compliance, which creates an environment that does not favour innovation. Despite this challenge, many other countries have found ways to enhance collaboration and build a culture prone to experimentation with data and digital tools, including through informal networks like those in Sweden1 or collaborative labs in Luxembourg2.

Moving to the final, delivery, layer of data governance, Romania have invested heavily in several projects. In terms of data infrastructure, notable initiatives include the government cloud, as discussed in preceding chapters. Romania’s government cloud project was initiated as a response to the lack of infrastructure to maintain services and systems running during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by the ADR, the initiative aims to create a centralised and integrated way for the government to use different types of digital services, and securely store data. While cloud storage and computing are an important part of data infrastructure, there has been public debate about the cloud as well as the interoperability law relating to the potential misuse of personal data. As reported in the Open Government Review of Romania (OECD, 2023[13]), levels of trust in government in Romania have been very low for several years, similar to other countries in the region. The public’s confidence in the Romanian government fell from 20% in 2007 to 16% in 2020 (OECD, 2021[14]). This contradicts the fact that a majority of surveyed public institutions believe there is public trust in the use of data by their institutions (see Figure 4.5).

Moving forward, it would be important for the Romanian government to ensure they act so to gain the public’s trust in the implementation of digital government projects, in particular those involving the handling and use of sensitive data, through proper policies and by engaging openly and proactively with civil society.

When looking at data architecture and data lifecycle management, in particular base registry data, Romania has made considerable progress by enacting the national interoperability law. As Romania rightly stated in the law, base registers are the foundation that enables interoperability. The different base registers in Romania are, as in most countries, under the responsibility of different public institutions (see Table 4.1). For example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs manages the population registry for natural persons, and the vehicle registry. Other data holders include the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (natural person tax register) and National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (cadastre and land register).  

The success of efforts outlined in the interoperability law with respect to base registry data management and re-use will rest on the capacity of moving from legal provisions to implementation. This will require reliable leadership and governance, and dedicated support from the central government to build the capacity of all public institutions in this space, in particular those less digitally advanced. Several OECD countries have made considerable efforts to improve in this area. One example is Norway, where the government has established a common information governance framework including guidance, standards and specifications, and information models for foundational data such as person and addresses (see Box 4.5).

Open government data3 (OGD) is essential for the advancement of digital government. By removing barriers to accessing valuable information collected by the public sector, OGD initiatives can foster innovation, drive economic growth, and empower citizens. OGD can also encourage effective and structured data management, by standardising data management practices for publication and maximised re-use.

In recent years, Romania has progressed in open data primarily through the country's open government agenda. In the 2020-2022 OGP action plan, Romania had a dedicated action for open data, which was assessed by the OGP as one of the most successfully implemented initiatives of the entire action plan. According to the results report, while some sub-deliverables remained unfulfilled due to resource constraints, the commitments made in the action plan led to progress in dataset publication, engagement of government and civil society institutions, and supported the transposition of the EU Directive on Open Data into Romanian law (see earlier section) (Open Government Partnership, 2023[16]). According to the GSG, the main limitations to publishing data as part of the NAP commitments were lack of dedicated resources at the institutional level, changes in the organisation of the government institutions, the absence of a normative framework, and the fact that data publication was not a priority for institutions (neither at the political nor technical level). The recent 2022-2024 NAP contains additional open data deliverables, in part to address commitments that were not fulfilled earlier (Open Government Partnership, 2022[17])(see Box 0.6).

Romania does not have a dedicated formal strategy for OGD. Consequently, ongoing efforts to implement this initiative lack a coherent and aligned approach across public sector institutions. Awareness and capacities for OGD within Romanian government are also limited, as observed during the fact-finding mission, and confirmed during a dedicated workshop on OGD. In line with the evidence observed for public sector data governance, sharing and use, public sector institutions have not consolidated central efforts for OGD into institutional structures, roles and functions. Instead, roles for OGD are often assigned to civil servants working either on public sector integrity, transparency, or IT management. Consequently, efforts for publication and reuse are often not coherently aligned across the public sector.  

When assessing the implementation of open data policies in Romania, it is evident that the country has made progress but still has room for improvement. Figure 4.6 shows preliminary results from the OECD Survey on Open Government Data 5.0, illustrating the percentage of data categories classified as 'high value' and available as open data in Romania. In total, only 18% of the evaluated data categories are accessible as open data in Romania. Romania performs relatively well in categories such as 'Statistics,' 'Meteorological,' and 'Companies and company ownership,' where between 33% and 50% of the data is available. In contrast, Romania lags behind in other high-value data categories such as geospatial and mobility data (17%), government finances and accountability (7%), and earth observation and environment (9%). Notably, there are no datasets available for the categories of education and crime and justice.

Although data is accessible as open data, it does not necessarily reflect the quality or ease of access to data. The OECD's analysis of published open data takes into account factors such as accessibility through a central portal, availability through standard Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), metadata quality, the use of open formats, and timeliness. Figure 4.7 illustrates that among the open data available in Romania evaluated by the OECD, a significant proportion is accessible on data.gov.ro (86%) and is published in open, non-proprietary formats (73%). Romania still has room for improvement in ensuring that published data maintains high-quality metadata (33%), remains up-to-date (55%), and can be accessed through APIs (45%). During the fact-finding mission, the main challenges in publishing high-quality data in Romania were observed to be associated with limited technical capabilities for data publication within individual authorities and a general lack of robust data governance to support consistent and coordinated data management.

Currently, government support for data publication in Romania is limited to providing guidance for publication and general instructions on the open data portal. While the commitments in the OGP plan, such as open data training courses and working groups, are positive steps, it is crucial to ensure their long-term sustainability. Ideally, these efforts should be closely linked to broader initiatives on data management to prevent open data from being perceived as a disconnected side project.

There are few initiatives in Romania aimed at promoting data reuse, both within and outside the government. Several public institutions have acknowledged the need for more substantial efforts to promote data reuse, particularly by civil society organisations, SMEs, and start-ups. While the new OGP commitments include engaging with stakeholders to build a data ecosystem, it is essential to establish a sustainable and comprehensive approach to engagement. This can be achieved through partnerships with civil society organisations or industry associations that can assist the government in connecting with the right stakeholders and identifying actors who would benefit from data reuse.

Lastly, a critical aspect of supporting data reuse is monitoring the actual usage and impact of open government data. This aspect has been identified as a priority for the Romanian government. Examples of costs and benefits of open data publication are presented in Box 0.7, which could serve as the basis for assessing the impact of open data through cost-benefit analyses. This assessment can be conducted using available data sources and through new data collection methods.

References

[6] Agency for Digital Government (2023), Division for Technology and Data, https://en.digst.dk/about-us/organisation/division-for-technology-and-data/ (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[8] Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (2020), National Data Strategy, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-national-data-strategy/national-data-strategy#data-1-3 (accessed on 10 August  2023).

[5] Government of Spain (2023), Digitalisation plan of the AAPP - Objectives, https://administracionelectronica.gob.es/pae_Home/pae_Estrategias/Plan_Digitalizacion_AAPP/Objetivos.html?idioma=en (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[7] Government of Sweden (2021), Data - an underutilised resource for Sweden (in Swedish), https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/459769c805ce4c99861d29fad92bea64/data--en-underutnyttjad-resurs-for-sverige-en-strategi-for-okad-tillgang-av-data-for-bl.a.-artificiell-intelligens-och-digital-innovation.

[15] Norwegian Agency for Digitalisation (2023), Framework for information governance (in Norwegian), https://www.digdir.no/informasjonsforvaltning/rammeverk-informasjonsforvaltning/3626 (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[3] OECD (2023), Data governance, https://www.oecd.org/digital/data-governance/ (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[13] OECD (2023), Empowering citizens, strengthening democracy: Insights on open government and civic space in Romania, https://www.oecd.org/gov/open-government/insights-open-government-and-civic-space-romania.pdf.

[12] OECD (2023), Strengthening the Innovative Capacity of the Government of Romania: Interim Assessment Report, https://oecd-opsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Innovative-Capacity-Romania_Interim-Asessment-Report.pdf.

[11] OECD (2022), Digital Government Survey of Romania: Public institutions (unpublished).

[18] OECD (2022), Survey on Open Government Data 5.0.

[14] OECD (2021), Government at a Glance 2021, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c258f55-en.

[2] OECD (2021), Recommendation of the Council on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data, OECD Legal Instruments, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0463.

[4] OECD (2019), “Data governance in the public sector”, in The Path to Becoming a Data-Driven Public Sector, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9cada708-en.

[1] OECD (2014), Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0406 (accessed on 27 September 2019).

[16] Open Government Partnership (2023), “Results Report: Romania 2020-2022”, Independent Reporting Mechanism, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Romania_2020-2022_Results-Report_EN.pdf (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[17] Open Government Partnership (2022), Romania 2022-2024 National Action Plan, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Romania_Action-Plan_2022-2024_June_EN.pdf (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[10] Parliament of Romania (2022), Law no. 179 of 9 June 2022 on open data and the re-use of public sector information, https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/256414 (accessed on 10 August 2023).

[9] Parliament of Romania (2022), Law no. 242 of 20 July 2022 on the exchange of data between IT systems and the creation of the National Interoperability Platform, https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocumentAfis/257856 (accessed on 10 August 2023).

Notes

← 1. See more details in https://www.esamverka.se/

← 2. See more details in https://govtechlab.public.lu/en/lab.html

← 3. ‘Open data arrangements’ refers to non-discriminatory data access and sharing arrangements, where data is machine readable and can be accessed and shared, free of charge, and used by anyone for any purpose subject, at most, to requirements that preserve integrity, provenance, attribution, and openness Source: OECD Recommendation on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data (2021). https://www.oecd.org/mcm/Recommendation-of-the-Council-on-Enhancing-Access-to-and-Sharing-of-Data_EN.pdf

← 4. See more details in https://eng.sdfi.dk/data/open-data

← 5. See more details in https://www.lantmateriet.se/sv/Om-Lantmateriet/Samverkan-med-andra/psi---regeringsuppdrag-till-lantmateriet/#qry=s%C3%A4rskilt%20v%C3%A4rdefulla%20datam%C3%A4ngder

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