The role of ICT in improving efficiency of public administration.

Case study: E-Building

Supervision developed by the General Office Of Building Supervision in Poland.

Dominik Sypniewski1

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development exerts increasing influence

over economy and society. It also constitutes opportunities and challenges for public
administration. On the one hand, the ICT can lead to the improvement of the efficiency of
governance as well as to the reduction of public spending. On the other hand, however, it has
to be introduced and applied with reference to an existing, often complex legal environment.

In Poland, a construction industry is one of the leading branches of the national economy and,
as in other post-communist countries in the region, it is rigidly controlled and supervised by a
state. The public administration involved in supervising the industry includes separate
authorities for building permits issuing on the one side and for construction supervision on the
other. It also establishes three types of legal relations: (1) between administration and business
(A2B), (2) administration and citizens (A2C), and (3) between various administrative bodies
(A2A). Thus, the construction-related activities of professional developers and private persons
depend to a great extent on the efficiency of the specialized administration.

The application of ICT to administration requires fulfillment of many financial, economic,

infrastructural and legal conditions. In December 2007 the General Office of Building
Supervision completed the project e-Building Supervision, co-financed by EU Sectoral
Operational Programme - Improvement of the Competitiveness of Enterprises, Years 2004-
2006. The project aimed at establishing on-line access to public services for business and
private consumers and at improving the circulation of information between various
construction-related public administration authorities. In particular, the project covered six
areas:

1) the supervision of a construction products market,

2) the register of building permits applications and decisions,

1
Assistant, Warsaw Univeristy of Technology, Faculty of Administration and Social Science, Poland.

1
3) the central registers of persons who have building license, building experts and persons
subject to penalty under professional liability,

4) the document management system,

5) the register of mandatory controls,

6) the register of building disasters.

The e-Building Supervision project constitutes an ICT system that provides a technical base
for on-line public services but mostly improves the connections between construction
supervision authorities. As it appears, it can lead not only to the increase of public
administration efficiency and public services quality, but also should be used to decrease costs
of public services delivery and shorten administrative procedures in the construction industry.
Especially A2B services can reduce the cost of a construction process and affect
competitiveness within the industry.

The paper present how the e-Building Supervision project was implemented into the Polish
legal framework and various challenges its launch introduced. The paper covers different
issues: the structure of building administration (1), problems of construction supervision (2),
the implementation of ICT to construction supervision (3) and an analysis of e-Building
Supervisions component (4). It presents influence of e-administration on building
administration authorities and services that are offered for businessmen and citizens.

1. A general view of the building administration in Poland

The building administration in Poland is divided between two authorities: an architectural and
construction administration that is a general authority in charge for supervision and control
over compliance with the construction law provisions till the building permit is issued and a
construction supervision that is a specialized authority in charge for supervision and control of
the rest of building process including construction and maintenance of building structure2.

2
Supervision is a specific kind of competences of an authority higher than that supervised including rights to
apply allowed instruments of supervision, which means more than competences of simple control or inspection.
In relation to individuals these instruments can be used after passing the procedure provided by the law only.
See: Izdebski, Hubert. 2006. Introduction to Public Administration and Administrative Law, Warsaw: Liber, p.
58.

2
The tasks of the architectural and construction administration are carried out by general
authorities: starosta (powiat level3) and voivod (voivodship level) as well as the central
authority of governmental administration which is the General Inspector of Construction
Supervision. The tasks of the construction supervision are carried out by powiat inspector of
construction supervision, voivod with the assistance of the voivod inspector of construction
supervision as the manager of the voivod construction supervision and the General Inspector
of Construction Supervision. While the General Inspector, voivod inspector and powiat
inspector are organs, all inspectorates are offices of public administration, which concept is
inseparable from the concept of the organ 4. The structure and links between different
authorities are presented on the figure 1.

Figure 1. The structure of the building administration

construction the General Inspector of architectural and

supervision Construction Supervision construction
administration

voivod inspector of construction

voivod
supervision

voivod inspectorate of department of architectural and

construction supervision construction administration

powiat inspector of construction

supervision starosta

powiat inspectorate of department of architectural and

construction supervision construction administration

instance supervision superiority cooperation

3
A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county,
district or prefecture in other countries. A starosta is a the head of the powiat executive body, and the head of the
powiat administration, see: Modze Marcinkowski, Micha. 2009. Introduction to Polish administrative law,
Warsaw: C.H. Beck, p. 75.
4
Offices have no powers of their own, as they are only an auxiliary apparatus of the organs they serve.
Employees of offices may express public powers only if it is delegated to them by their chief (organ of public
administration), see: Izdebski, Hubert. op. cit., p. 56.

3
The basic duties of the architectural and construction administration and the construction
supervision include supervision and control over compliance with the construction law
provisions (conformity with local development plans and natural environment protection
requirements, conditions of human and property safety in construction process, conformity of
architectural and construction solutions with technical and construction regulations and
technical knowledge principles, proper performance of independent technical functions in the
construction industry and the use of the construction products) and issuing administrative
decisions in the matters provided in the Construction Law 5 like decision on the permit for
building, decision on the demolition, resolution on the construction works suspension,
decision on the permit for use or decision on control to be carried out. The tasks of authorities
of construction supervision include also control of the operation of authorities of architectural
and construction administration, what could be specified as an investigation of the correctness
of administration proceedings carried out by the authorities of architectural and construction
administration, and decisions and resolutions issued during such proceedings but without any
particular power that can verify these proceedings.

2. The problems of construction supervision

The building administration in Poland was evaluated several times by the Supreme Chamber
of Control. According to the most comprehensive control report presented in 2006, there was
a lot of problems related to construction supervision. As it is not the purpose of the paper to
evaluate construction supervision, I do want to underline some typical problems:6

Passivity of the General Inspector of Construction Supervision: he did not use his
powers in order to eliminate incorectnesses of actions taken by powiat and voivod
inspectors;
The number of control proceedings that was inadequate to improve safety of
construction process and usage of building structure;

The proceedings carried out by powiat inspectors were delayed what imposed
additional costs on investors;

5
The Statute of July 7, 1996 - Bulding Law, Journal of Laws of Republic of Poland (Dz. U.) 2006, No. 156, Item
118 with amends, hereinafter Building Law.
6
Supreme Chamber of Control, Informacja na temat wynikw kontroli organw nadzoru budowlanego, Warsaw
2006, s. 6-11 [text only in polish].

4
 Powiat inspectors did not use their powers correctly, did not take actions required by
law nor did not check if the controlled individuals took actions required in control
protocol;

The registers of applications for construction permits and registers of decisions on the
construction permit were not kept in compliance with law;

Both powiat and voivod inspectors did not take actions in case investors had not
notified on the completion of construction of the building structure.

An another control report presented in 2009 confirmed most of the mentioned incorectnesses,
but it also showed that powiat inspectors of construction supervision did not implement 86%
of post-control recommendations, what means that actions taken by the General Inspector of
Construction Supervision were completely ineffective7. The pathologies at powiat level
affected not only administration but mostly citizens and businessmen. The procedures for
building permit, usage permit and control actions persisted much longer than according to the
Administrative Procedure Act, what imposed additional costs on investors.

What were the reasons of such a situation? It was not caused by bad regulation nor by bad
organizational structure. Most problems were related to the communication between
construction supervision authorities at different levels and limited access to the data about
actions taken at powiat and voivodship level. The employees from the General Inspectorate of
Construction Supervision could check only randomly selected powiat inspectorates because
control proceedings needed a lot of resources to be involved. The recommended solution was
an implementation of ICT aimed at improving the efficiency of governance, especially the
supervision and control over powiat inspectors of building supervision.

3. The implementation of ICT to construction supervision

The idea of e-administration is utilization of informative and telecommunication technologies

in public administration, in connection with changes of organizational nature and acquiring
new skills, that aims at improvement of quality of public services, strengthening of citizens'

7
Supreme Chamber of Control, Informacja o wynikach kontroli legalizacji samowoli budowlanych oraz
prawidowoci prowadzenia postpowa egzekucyjnych, Warsaw: Supreme Chamber of Control, p. 33-34 [text
only in polish].

5
commitment in democratic processes as well as their support for state policy8. The legal
framework for e-administration functioning is determined by the Statute on February 17, 2005
on Information Technologies in Entities Realizing Public Tasks 9, which defines: principles of
the minimum, guaranteeing the openness of computer standards, requirements of information
systems used for realization of public tasks as well as public registers and the exchange of
information in electronic form with public subjects 10. It was developed by the Plan of
Computerization of the State11, that defines the directions and destination which in this area
should be realized in 2007-2010 years. Most of procedures concerning issuing building permit
were recognized in the Plan as public task served with e-administration.
The first ICT used by construction supervision was the register of questioned construction
products that was launched in 2004 as an Internet application offering basic services for
businessmen and citizens12. In December 2007 the General Office of Building Supervision
completed the project e-Building Supervision, co-financed by EU Sectoral Operational
Programme - Improvement of the Competitiveness of Enterprises, Years 2004-2006. The
project aimed at establishing on-line access to public services for businessmen and citizens
and at improving the circulation of information between various construction-related public
administration authorities. In particular, the project covered six areas:

The supervision of a construction products market;

The register of building permits applications and decisions;

The central registers of persons who have building license, building experts and
persons subject to penalty under professional liability;

The document management system;

The register of mandatory controls;

8
See: Wjcik, Grayna. 2009. Trends of e-administration in Poland and on the world. In Some problems of
Internet's technologies and applications, edited by Magorzata atuszyska and Krzysztof Kompa. Szczecin:
University of Szczecin, p. 40.
9
Dz. U. 2005, No. 64, Item 565 with amends.
10
See: Sypniewski, Dominik. 2006. Legal aspects of introduction information technology (IT). In Business and
informatics - current trends 2, edited by Helena Kisilowska and Jan Seruga. Sydney Warsaw: Warsaw
University of Technology. Michalski, Wojciech. 2007. Development of informatization in public administration
in Poland. Telecomunication and Information Technology, No 3-4, p. 60 67.
11
Dz. U. 2007, No. 61, Item 415 with amends.
12
See: the Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and
administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products, Official Journal L 040,
11/02/1989 P. 0012 0026.

6
 The register of construction catastrophes.

Implementation of the e-Building Supervision needed a lot of changes in law. There were
launched several amendments into the Building Law creating legal framework for keeping
electronic registers. Some ordinances, defining the registers formats and model of protocols
were relaunched as well. During the process a problem of cooperation between lawmakers
and ICT specialists appeared. While some legal concepts concerning mostly the range of data
in registers and were changed, the applications had to be changed several times and it raised
the cost of project as well.

There are some major assumptions for e-Building Supervision. All applications shall be
created on the based on open source software and their architecture shall be interoperational
to make integration and development possible in future. So far, all parts of e-Building
Supervision are independent, but it theoretically possible to exchange data between the
applications. Concerning access to data, it is really important to underline that each
application adopted very similar approach. The General Inspector of Construction Supervision
has an access to all files and proceedings, the voivod inspector of construction supervision
have an access to files and proceedings carried out by subordinated powiat inspectors of
construction supervision. The inspectors do not have an access to files and proceedings
carried you at the same level (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The access to data in e-Building Supervision

the General Inspector of
Construction
Supervision

voivod inspector of
voivod inspector of construction supervision
construction supervision

powiat inspector powiat inspector powiat inspector powiat inspector

of construction of construction of construction of construction
supervision supervision supervision supervision

7
4. Analysis of e-Building Supervisions component

4.1. Supervision of a construction products market (SCPM)

The SCPM application aims at transfering data about construction products and control
proceedings from voivod inspectors of construction supervision to the General Inspector of
Construction Supervision. An important part of the SCPM is also the national register of
questioned contruction products.

The users of the SCPM are employees from the General Office of Construction Supervision
and 16 voivod inspectorates of construction supervision. The SCPM allows to create files for
each control proceeding, examination protocol and final decision. There are also different
statistical tools, that are used by employees from General Office who prepare annual plan for
controls.

The national register of constuction products is accesible for any user in Internet 13. It does not
offer any specific services for consumers or business expect data. It is put into general table
with the name of product, name and adress of producer (salesman) and information about the
decision that was taken by construction supervisory authority (i.e. withdrawal from the
market). Additionally there are detailed files about each construction product put into register,
including the kind and the range of non-compliance of the questioned construction product,
resources, that were used with reference to the questioned construction product and threats
along with their qualification, that can be caused by the questioned construction product. So
far, there were 669 construction products placed in the register.

4.2. The register of building permits applications and decisions

Everyone has the right to develop real estate, but most investments required a building permit
to be issued. From investor perspective a duration of the procedure of obtaining the permit is a
crucial factor affecting many business decisions and total cost of construction process.
Because the procedures for issuing building permits were extended, a new regulation was
launched in 2003. If the competent authority fails to issue the decision on the building permit

13
See: http://www.gunb.gov.pl/kwzwb/index.php (access: 3 April, 2010).

8
within 65 days of the date the application for such decision has been lodged, the authority of
higher instance shall impose a fine on such authority in the amount of PLN 500 for each day
of qualified delay, in a resolution that may be appealed. The regulation leaded to
improvement, but the procedures were still too long and the higher instances authorities did
not have tools to control it. According to Article 82b of Building Law, the authorities of the
architectural and construction administration keep a register of applications for construction
permits and a register of decisions on the construction permit as well as transfer the data to the
authority of higher instance14. The registers should specifically include the following data:

Details on the authority preparing the register;

Data taken from the applications submitted and decisions issued, including the
investors personal data.

While the registers may be kept in a traditional paper or electronic form, the ICTs were
implemented only at voivodship level. Having an access to all procedures (including
applications filled by parties and information on each actions taken by the organ),
construction supervision will be able to control architectural and construction administration
better and identify those inspectors who do not carry out their duties properly.

4.3. Register of mandatory controls

The register of mandatory controls (RMC) aims at registering, storing and making accessible
for authorized officials of construction supervision authority protocols that were prepared
after mandatory control has been performed. The control is limited to the most complicated
investments, when Construction Law requests investor to obtain a final decision on the permit
for use prior to the commencement of the use of a building structure. It was assumed that the
number of controls will reach approx. 600 700 every year.

The users of the RCM are employees from the General Office of Construction Supervision
and 16 voivod inspectorates of construction supervision. They can fill in protocol during the
control using a laptop with an Internet connection. It is possible to prepare immediately the
protocol that is in accordance with the model for the mandatory control protocol determined

14
The model for the register of applications for the construction permit and decisions on the construction permit
and the authorities that can keep the electronic register is determined by the minister competent for construction,
development and housing economy.

9
by ordinance of the minister competent for construction, development and housing economy.
The protocol put into the RCM is accessible by all authorized employees.

While computerization was no implemented at powiat level, the employees from powiat
inspectorates of construction supervision cannot use the RCM. They have to prepare three
copies of paper protocol. The first shall be delivered to the investor, the second copy shall be
forwarded to the voivod inspectorate, and the third shall be kept by the powiat inspectorate.

The RCM offers some e-services for administration like protocols browser, data export
into .xls files and generating three types of tables:

Table of all protocols;

Table of protocols with exceeded schedule of control;

Table of protocols with verified irregularities.

From investor (that can be both consumer or businessman) perspecitve, an implementation of

the RCM shortens the procedure of applying for the final decision on the permit for use. The
register is also very useful tool for the controlling performed by the General Inspector of
Construction Supervision. It allows to sepearate investments that were not carried out in
accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the building permit.

4.4. Register of construction catastrophes

The register of construction catastrophes (RCC) aims at collecting data about construction
catastrophes (reasons, facts) and clarification proceedings as well as generating different
tables and statistics. In case of a construction catastrophe in a building structure, the
construction manager, the owner, manager or user is obliged to notify the powiat inspector of
construction supervision, who is also obliged to notify about the catastrophe the voivod
inspector of construction supervision and the General Inspector of Construction Supervision.
The powiat inspector is in charge for carrying out the clarification proceedings relating to the
reasons and facts of the construction catastrophe, but it can be taken over by the voivod
inspector or the General Inspector.

The users of the RCC are employees from the General Office of Construction Supervision and
16 voivod inspectorates of construction supervision. After notification about the catastrophe, a

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new file is created. It should include data about the investor or the owner, a building structure
and its classification (i.e. single family building, collective habitation building, industrial
structure or public use structure) and a range of the catastrophe. The new file has a status in
progress that is automatically changed after 24 hours into notified, what means that the file
cannot be erased or changed. The authority carrying out the clarification proceedings shall add
to file several detailed modules:

The analysis of the construction catastrophe,

The reasons of the construction catastrophe,

The actions and decisions performed by the authority,

The notification about the proceedings related to professional liability.

The modules allow users to set exactly on which stage of the construction process and which
participant of construction process did not fulfill its duties or fulfill them negligently, or what
was the other reason for the construction catastrophe.

The RCC offers to generate different table and statistics: comprehensive overview that is
accesible for public15 and more detailed information used by construction supervision
authorities. The register turned out to be very effective controlling tool for the General
Inspector of Construction Supervision. It helped to define and reduce a number of
irregularities during the clariffication proceedings, speed up the commencement of
proceedings related to professional liability and indicate voivodeships and powiats that
needed attention. The deeper analysis of data collected in the RCC leaded to some proposals
for new regulation leading to decrease of total number of construction catastrophes16.

4.5. The central registers of persons who have building license, building experts and
persons subject to penalty under professional liability (CR)

According to Article 88a par. 3 of Construction Law, the General Inspector of Construction
Supervision keeps three central registers:

Register of persons having construction qualifications certificates (a),

Register of construction experts (b),

15
Individuals can request the data from the RCC on the base of the Statute of September 6, 2001 on Public
Information Access (Dz. U. No. 112, Item 1198 with amends).
16

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 Register of persons sentenced due to professional liability (c).

The users of the CR officials from the General Inspectorate of Construction Supervision and
indirectly officials from relevant professional self-government bar who conduct construction
qualifications certificate proceedings. The entry into the central register, referred in letter a, is
made as a decision and is a formal requirement for performing independent technical function
in the construction industry (i.e. designing, verifying architectural and construction designs,
management of construction or other construction works). The entry into the central register,
referred in letter b, is made ater the relevant authority of professional self-government takes a
final decision on awarding the construction expert title. The entry into the central register,
referred in letter c, is made after the relevenat authority of professional self-government takes
a final decision on imposing a penalty in the professional liability in the construction industry
proceeding.

Althought each of central registers has a specific functions, the structure and range of data is
very similar. The registers include in particular the following data:

Personal data (name and surname, address, PESEL number (in relation to Polish
citizens), or passport or another document confirming the identity number (in relation
to non-Polish citizens),
Information on education and academic titles,
Information on the construction qualifications certificate issued by a professional self-
government authority,
Information on the area, the technical and construction specialization (if any), and the
scope of design works or construction works covered by a given qualifications
certificate.

All central registers are public and accessible through the web portal of General Inspectorate
of Construction Supervision. In the register of persons sentenced due to professional liability
there is also information about the penalty (admonition, imposition of an obligation to take the
exam for certificate, ban on performing an independent technical function in the construction
industry for one to five years) but this information is not public. The penalty can be removed
from register at the sentenced persons request, that can be filled between 2 and 5 years after
penalty. The removal of the penalty is noted in the central register of sentenced persons.

12
While the information about the penalty is not public, it reduces registers utility for citizens
and businessmen. The CR should provide opportunity not only to confirm if someone is
allowed to design or manage the construction, but also to verify its professional liability
record.

5. Conclusions

Introducing ICT to building administration was a necessity. Although it was not the most
important priority of computerization, e-Building Supervision provides many services and
functions that make possible to improve efficiency and effectiveness of building
administration. One has to underline, that the development of e-Building Supervision is
profitable for business and citizens, but first of all for authorities of construction supervision.
It affects mostly A2A relations, improving the quality of control and supervision carried out
by the General Inspector of Construction Supervision. The computerization provides only few
services for business and citizens that are limited to the first and second degree of
development of the e-administration (on-line information and the one-way interaction).

The example of countries scoring high on public-sector openness and efficiency and e-
administration readiness shows that it is related to economic performance and
competitiveness. A crucial element of computerization is the electronic platform delivering
services for businessman and the citizens, that aims at increasing the efficiency of public
administration while providing services. In case of Poland it is still necessary to develop
solutions using strongly two-way interaction model, but is has to be coordinated with the
amendments of Administrative Procedure Act and its ordinances. De lege lata the electronic
service of pleading is possible only at the partys request or if the party accept it, while
electronic service of decision is not possible at all. In reality it means that public
administration does not use a great opportunity for prospective costs reduction and speeding
up the procedures17.

It is quite difficult to discuss generality and transferability of the e-Building Supervision to

other countries. First of all, there are differences between regulations on construction industry,
especially when comparing structure of building administration authorities. The general
concept of a set of independent registers (building permits applications and decisions,
17
See: Szostek, Dariusz. 2009. Dorczanie i odbieranie pism w postaci elektronicznej na gruncie kodeksu
postpowania administracyjnego. In: e-Administracja. Prawne zagadnienia informatyzacji administracji, ed.
Dariusz Szostek, Wrocaw: Presscom, pp. 77-86.

13
mandatory controls, construction catastrophes) is strictly related to the Building Law and
administrative procedure. However, the registers of construction products and persons who
have building license offer very essential services for investors and can be easily adopted in
different legal framework. While all registers are interoperational and independent, it is
possible to use only some selected modules, integrating them with the existing ICTs and
developing in future.

An attitude of a public administration personnel to ICTs is quite a different problem. The most
effective approach is a natural introduction of ICT solutions 18. To enable this, the ICTs
implementation into public administration shall include staff training stronger than before. It
has to be underline that most applications of e-Building Supervision are used at national and
voivod level only. It is not obligatory at powiat level because of insufficient
telecommunication infrastructure, unprepared employees and prospectively high costs. A real
e-administration cannot be discussed until the (information) society commonly and readily
uses interactive tools in administration. In order to abolish barriers which limit the possibility
of development, it is still necessary to adjust law regulation, enlarge the accessibility on
Internet (both in administration, and among citizens), create digital identification, assure
suitable level of net and the systems safety and build in the society trust for services provided
electronically19.

18
See: Dbicka, Anetta, and Mariusz Dmochowski. 2004. Nowoczesne technologie informacyjne i
komunikacyjne jako czynnik profesjonalizacji administracji publicznej. In Profesjonalizm w administracji
publicznej. Edited by Anetta Dbicka, Mariusz Dmochowski and Barbara Kudrycka. Biaystok: Stowarzyszenie
Edukacji Administracji Publicznej, pp. 362-363.
19
Wjcik, Grayna, op. cit., p. 52.

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