Citizen Service Centers in Bahia, Brazil

Abstract
The state government of Bahia has created Citizen Assistance Service Centers (SAC) that bring together federal,
state, and municipal agencies in a single location to offer the services that citizens most frequently need and use.
The centers have been placed in locations convenient to the public, such as shopping malls and major public
transportation hubs. They offer citizens tremendous time savings, while also delivering services with greater
courtesy and professionalism. A further benefit has been a reduction in the overhead expenses of government
since, in many instances, agencies pay much lower rents for space in the SAC than for the properties they
previously rented to interact with the public.
Application Context
As in much of the world, Bahia's public services traditionally have been delivered by disparate government
agencies, at different locations, and with very different service standards. Sometimes to receive a single service
the citizen would have to visit multiple agencies. Often a citizen would learn of the information and documentation
needed for a given service only after visiting multiple government agencies on multiple occassions. Typically,
citizens were treated with less coutesy and professionalism than in the private sector.
In 1994 the Government of Bahia hosted the first of several annual technology fairs in the state capital, Salvador.
A few government services were offered there, using new ICT systems (e.g., issuing identification cards). The
service was far more efficient and well-received by the public. The idea was then raised: Why not deliver services
this way on a regular basis?
A New Approach
The SAC centers bring multiple government services together in a single location. At this time (June 2001), 29
different service agencies are part of the SAC system. Participating agencies include the State Department of
Motor Vehicles, the Social Security Ministry, Secretary of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Municipal Public
Services Secretariat, Labor and Social Action, Public Safety, the Federal Police, Small Claims Court, the State
Water and Sanitation company, and Bahia's private electric company. Now a citizen can register their vehicle or
get a driver's license at the SAC. During the same visit, they can get a national identification card, apply for
unemployment benefits, look for a new job, get a labor identification card, submit a legal case in small claim's
court, get a passport, register a business complaint, check on their retirement eligibility and benefits, etc. Over
500 separate services are offered by the participating agencies.
All services are not available at all Centers. The SACs come in different sizes. Three large SACs each house over
20 agencies. All of these are located in Bahia's capital city, Salvador. There are 15 medium-sized SACs, with
between eight and 20 government agencies. And there are also five small SACs, with fewer than eight agencies.
Within the SAC, each of the multiple government agencies occupies a separate space with signs clearly indicating
the names and locations of different agencies. A publication is available at the reception desk of each SAC center,
detailing which agencies are present at each SAC. Citizens also can obtain the same information by calling a toll
free SAC information hotline.
Whether the SAC is large or small, a reception desk sits at the entrance to each Center. There the citizen can
explain which service(s) he needs. For the most demanded services, the receptionist enters the citizen's name
and information into the electronic tracking system for the appropriate agency (or agencies) that provide that
service (or services). The citizen then receives a ticket securing his place in line at the appropriate government
agency, and indicating the estimated wait time.
After checking in, a citizen can sit in the climate-controlled waiting room for their number to be called, or leave the
SAC and return at the appointed hour, to be attended by the next available agent. (With the SAC Facil ("SAC
made simple"), available at a few SAC locations, citizens can use the telephone or Internet to make an
appointment for a specific day and time.)
When the SACs are located in shopping malls, the hours of operation also expanded greatly. Public services in
these locations are now provided from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., including Saturdays.

A Mobile Documents SAC also was developed to reach the most remote and deprived communities in Bahia. This
Mobile SAC is a large, 18-wheel truck equipped with air-conditioning, TV set, toilets, and a covered waiting area.
Inside the truck, four basic citizenship services are provided: issuance of birth certificates, identification card,
labor identification card, and criminal record verification.
When the Mobile SAC arrives in a community, the truck links to the computer network of the SAC headquarters
through a telephone line. The truck typically will be parked in the town square, and remains three to four days
before moving on the next community on its route.
Implementation Challenges
The Superintendency for the Development of the Public Service and Citizen Assistance (SESAC) in Bahia is
responsible for assuring the quality of public services in the state. Through SESAC the State Government can
establish agreements with the multiple entities involved in providing public services through the SACs. Those
agreements stipulate that the agency is operationally subordinate to the administrators of the SAC posts.
Without strong pressure from the Governor of Bahia, individual agencies likely would not have joined in the SAC
experiment. The Secretariat of Administration covered many of the costs for the fist agencies to join the SAC. But
now that the SACs are functioning well, and highly praised by Bahia's citizens (see below), securing the
participation of different government agenices is no longer such a challenge.
Managing the workers in the SACs presents certain challenges. Some are employees of the agencies (federal,
state, or local) that have joined the SACs. Over half of the workforce, however, is made up of new contract
employees (i.e., these are not civil servants). Interestingly, this has not provoked significant conflicts with Bahia's
public employee unions.
Both the new SAC hires and employees of the participating government agencies receive customer service
training to instill the service standards and comportment demanded in the SACs. Of course, the new hires also
receive training in the services they will be responsible for delivering at their SAC stations. They are not trained,
however, in the back end processes that are part of delivering the service to the citizen.
To manage the payroll system for SAC employees, the Government of Bahia pays the salaries of employees of
federal agencies that are participating in the SAC. The Government of Bahia considers this is a cost worth paying
in order to make the SAC model function.
Benefits and Costs
The first SAC was inaugurated in Salvador in September 1995. By April 2001 nearly 32 million services had been
delivered through the SACs (two-thirds in the 8 SACs of the capital, and the remaining one-third in the Mobile
SACs and 14 fixed SACs of the interior.) In April 2001 alone, more than 175,000 services were delivered at the
largest SAC, located at the Iguatemi shopping center in Salvador.
The Mobile Documents SACs began operations in September 1996. By June 2001 they had made 884 visits to
417 townships.
While it used to require multiple visits and long lins for a citizen to receive an identification card, now this is
handled in 20-30 minutes at the SACs. While business owners must still go in person to a government office to
register a new business for the first time, registration documents can be renewed in just minutes at a SAC or via
the Internet. (The initial registration can be completed in approximately 1 day.)
Customer satisfaction studies are carried out every six months to evaluate the performance of the SACs. The
public's evaluation has been tremendous. In the most recent survey, over 89% of citizens evaluated the SAC
performance as "excellent." Meanwhile, 7.3% of citizens rated the SAC service as "good," while 2.1% considered
it "acceptable," and only 1.3% said it was "bad."
Key Lessons
The SAC experience in Bahia demonstrates that it is possible to bring about tremendous improvements in the
quality and efficiency of government services without significant back end reengineering.
In Bahia, government policy makers found it was easier to train new workers in how to deliver services in the

SACs than to instill a high-quality customer service ethic in the majority of the state's existing public employees.
This may not be true in other contexts. Also, for many governments, it may not be possible (politically or legally) to
hire private sector contract laborers to deliver government services.
Results-oriented management ideas were central to the design and implementation of the SAC model. Customer
satisfaction was accorded the highest priority.
Case study author: Jeffrey Rinne of the World Bank, with Ana Benvinda Teixeirra Lage, Secretary of
Administration, Government of Bahia, and Elba Andrade, Director of Evaluation, SESAC, Government of Bahia.