1. To approve the Strategic Planning Methodology (as appended).

 

2. To establish that:

 

3. To instruct:

 

4. To instruct ministries and Government agencies to supply information on the implementation of individual strategies, programmes and plans of measures to the Government via annual activity reports; where necessary, to draft legislative amendments for the implementation of this provision and to submit them to the Government in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the legislation.

 

 

 

 

 

Prime Minister                                                                                 Andrius Kubilius

 

 

 

Minister of Finance                                                                         Ingrida Šimonytė

 

Approved by Resolution No 827 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 6 June 2002 (as amended by Resolution No 1220 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 25 August 2010)

 

 

 

1. The Strategic Planning Methodology (hereinafter referred to as “the Methodology”) shall govern the system of strategic planning, the procedure for drafting and approval of planning documents, establishment of performance measures for a strategic operational plan, monitoring of the results of the strategic operational plan implementation, programme assessment and reporting on the results.

 

2. Definitions for the purposes of the Methodology:

 

Annual operational plan shall mean an operational planning document for a particular budgetary year, implementing the strategic operational plan or a part thereof.

 

Measure shall mean the manner of implementing an objective by employing human, financial, and material resources.

 

Project shall mean action aimed at creating a unique and measurable product or service over a defined period of time, using certain resources.

 

Strategic planning shall mean a process setting the directions and methods for the realisation of an institution’s mission and achievement of the envisaged goals and results through efficient use of financial, material and human resources.

 

Programme under a strategic operational plan shall mean an essential part in the strategic operational plan, intended for the implementation of a strategic goal and setting out the goals, objectives and measures/projects of the programme, the performance measures and values thereof, as well as the appropriations.

 

Strategic operational plan shall mean an operational planning document, which, on the basis of the goals envisaged in the long and medium-term planning documents and the environmental scanning findings, formulates the mission, defines strategic changes and strategic goals, and describes the programmes being implemented, the results expected and the appropriations and human resources required.

 

Goal (strategic goal) shall mean an end envisaged in long, medium or short-term planning documents reflecting the desired result to be achieved in the course of implementation of the planning document.

 

Objective shall mean the activities planned during the fixed period in order to ensure the achievement of the goal set in the planning document.

 

Performance measure shall mean an indicator providing information on the implementation of the goal and objective.

 

Other terms used in this Methodology correspond to their definitions in the Law on Budget Structure of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette, 1990, No 24-596; 2004, No 4-47).

 

 

 

3. The strategic planning system shall consist of long, medium and short-term planning documents (Annex 1 to the Methodology) as well as the authorities responsible for the drafting, approval, implementation and assessment of planning documents and for the achievement of results.

 

4. Planning documents:

 

4¹. Drafts of all planning documents must be endorsed in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the legislation and they should also be endorsed by the head of the strategic planning unit of the drafting ministries or other institutions/bodies (in the absence of such a strategic planning unit, they should be endorsed by the civil servant or employee under an employment contract, responsible for strategic planning).

 

 

 

5. The State Progress Strategy is an agreement between the society-at-large, social partners and political parties on the long-term vision for the State, long-term priorities and their implementation directions as well as the target progress indicators. Other planning documents must be coordinated with the provisions of the State Progress Strategy. Drafting of the State Progress Strategy shall be coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister.

 

The National Security Strategy and other strategies approved by the Seimas shall lay down a long-term vision for the development of the respective area, the priority directions, goals, as well as performance measures and values thereof. Long-term programmes shall detail the implementation of the National Security Strategy. Long-term programmes shall be drafted by the Government and submitted to the Seimas for approval. The structure of long-term programmes shall match the development programme’s structure prescribed by paragraph 91 of the Methodology.

 

6. The National Progress Programme shall be drafted for the implementation of the State Progress Strategy. This programme shall reflect the political principles of the European Union, describe the directions of implementation of long-term State priorities, and envisage the use of European Union (hereinafter referred to as 'EU) financial support for the implementation of long-term State priorities. The time limit for the drafting of the National Progress Programme shall be adjusted to the EU financial support programming period.

 

The Ministry of Finance shall coordinate the drafting of the National Progress Programme and the Office of the Prime Minister shall evaluate the programme's compatibility with other planning documents.

 

7. Structure of the National Progress Programme

 

8. The Programme of the Government shall be implemented in stages, identifying the time limits for the implementation of the provisions of the Programme of the Government and the implementing bodies. The stages of the implementation of the Programme of the Government shall be approved by the Government and the preparation of the stages shall be coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister.

 

9. A development programme shall be drafted to plan the development of one or several areas of governance (falling within the competence of one or several ministers). The drafting of a development programme shall be initiated and organised by the competent minister, after obtaining approval at a Government consultation. The proposal to the Government on the approval of a development programme shall indicate the funding requirement for the implementation of that programme.

 

9¹. Structure of a development programme:

 

10. Before launching the drafting of the National Progress Programme and the development programme, a problem analysis shall be carried out and a relevant environment scanning shall be performed to analyse the issues and to evaluate the factors important for the development of the area of administration as well as possible future developments. The environment scanning findings shall be used to define the goals, objectives and expected results of programmes.

 

11. The National Progress Programme and the development programme shall be implemented through strategic operational plans. Where the goals and objectives of the National Progress Programme or the development programme are implemented by a number of appropriations managers, the methods of coordinating programme implementation shall be determined by the appropriations managers themselves. When approving the National Progress Programme or the respective development programme, the Government may decide on the necessity of drawing up an interinstitutional operational plan and approval thereof at the Government or may instruct one of the appropriations managers to coordinate programme implementation.

 

12. The National Security Strategy, other strategies and long-term programmes subject approval by the Seimas shall be implemented via the respective planning documents specified in the Methodology. Transposition of the provisions of these strategies and long-term programmes to the National Progress Programme, development programmes or short-term planning documents shall be ensured by the competent minister.

 

 

 

13. An interinstitutional operational plan is intended for a coordinated and effective implementation of Government priorities as well as the goals and objectives of the National Progress Programme and development programmes. An interinstitutional operational plan shall be drafted if three or more appropriations managers are involved in implementing it.

 

14. The competent minister shall initiate the consideration of the necessity of an interinstitutional operational plan at the Government and present the information substantiating the need for the interinstitutional operational plan. The Government shall decide on the necessity of drafting an interinstitutional operational plan and instruct the competent minister to organise the drawing up of the interinstitutional operational plan and to appoint a coordinator for this plan. The competent minister may appoint as coordinator of an interinstitutional operational plan a vice minister, chancellor of the ministry or the head of another body operating in the area of governance of the minister who has the status of appropriations manager. If the Government approves the drawing up of an interinstitutional operational plan, the Ministry of Finance shall assign a code to this plan.

 

15. The structure of an interinstitutional operational plan must basically match the structure of the programme of a strategic operational plan, as laid down in Annex 4 of the Methodology, i.e. the generally relevant information (medium-term planning documents and Government priorities to be implemented, information substantiating the goals and objectives of the interinstitutional operational plan, the duration of plan implementation and other relevant information), goals, objectives, measures, appropriations and performance measures shall be presented. The interinstitutional operational plan shall specify measures and appropriations for each institution involved in the implementation of the interinstitutional operational plan (Annex 2 to the Methodology). Measures of administrative nature, such as preparation of legislative drafts and other documents, participation in conferences/meetings and other similar measures may be included with the general provisions. Respective performance measures and values thereof may be specified in the interinstitutional operational plan for the purpose of measure implementation monitoring.

 

16. The appropriations requirement for a draft interinstitutional operational plan shall be determined during the negotiations under paragraph 33 of the Methodology on expected results and preliminary allocation of appropriations in areas of governance falling within ministerial competence (hereinafter referred to as 'negotiations'). When providing the information necessary for negotiations to the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Prime Minister, the competent minister shall also include drafts of coordinated interinstitutional operational plans.

 

17. The institutions involved in the implementation of an interinstitutional operational plan (hereinafter referred to as 'participating institutions'), taking the outcomes of the consultation into account, shall, within 7 calendar days of the receipt from the Ministry of Finance of a notice on the ceilings of planned appropriations, shall present to the coordinator of the interinstitutional operational plan proposals for updating the interinstitutional operational plan measures, appropriations and performance measures. Interinstitutional operational plans shall be submitted to the Government within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the Ministry of Finance notice on the ceilings of planned appropriations.

 

18. Measures under an interinstitutional operational plan shall be implemented through the strategic operational plan of the competent minister and participating institutions, i.e. the measures under the interinstitutional operational plan shall be transposed to the respective programmes of the strategic operational plan.

 

19. The appropriations requirement for the implementation of approved interinstitutional operational plans shall be discussed and established by way of consultations on an annual basis. An interinstitutional operational plan whose goals are to be achieved over a period longer than three years shall be updated annually, adding a new planning year, i.e. the (n – n+2)^th year planning period rule shall be applied to adjust the periods of the interinstitutional operational plan and the strategic operational plan. An interinstitutional operational plan for the implementation of the National Progress Programme, approved for the entire period of EU financial support use shall also be updated annually by applying the (n – n+2)^th year planning period rule. An interinstitutional operational plan whose goals are to be achieved over a period of up to three years shall be updated where necessary. The competent minister shall submit an updated draft interinstitutional operational plan to the Government for approval.

 

20. At the implementation stage of an interinstitutional operational plan, participating institutions shall be able to change the measures and appropriations present in the current year's interinstitutional operational plan only with the consent of the coordinator of the interinstitutional operational plan, having specified the reasons for such changes. Agreed changes to the measures, appropriations and outcome measures shall be made in the monitoring information system by the coordinator of the interinstitutional operational plan.

 

21. The functions of the coordinator of the interinstitutional operational plan:

 

21¹. Functions of the participating institutions:

 

21². Functions of the Office of the Prime Minister:

 

22. Implementation of an interinstitutional operational plan shall be accounted for by:

 

22¹. An action plan shall be drawn up for the implementation of horizontal goals and objectives where a more thorough operational planning, compared to that at the level of measures, is required and/or a solution on the activities to be implemented and appropriations to be allocated may be achieved by an interinstitutional arrangement. An action plan may be drawn up both to implement a planning document as well as to address problems and issues. Action plans shall be approved by an order of a minister or by a joint order of several ministers.

 

22². An action plan may be drawn up using the form of an interinstitutional operational plan or, depending on the specific character of activities, another form selected by the minister or several ministers approving the action plan. In the action plan, activities may be planned in greater detail than measures, i.e. actions and projects may be enumerated and the total funds requirement may be indicated without breaking it down by expenditure categories and funding sources. The time limit for the implementation of measures or actions may be specified additionally.

 

 

 

23. Drafting of a strategic operational plan shall begin with environment scanning and review of ongoing programmes (Annex 3 to the Methodology). The appropriations manager must review the ongoing programmes, evaluate the achieved results and the resources that were available to achieve them, and analyse the environmental factors that influence the activities. The findings of environment scanning shall also be used in the preparation of the annual activity report.

 

24. By the 15^th of March every year, the Office of the Prime Minister shall, on the basis of annual activity reports of ministries, draft the annual activity report of the Government as well as the Government priorities for the planning year.

 

25. After the Government decides on the draft Government priorities, the ministers shall draft strategic operational plans for the areas of governance within their competence. Heads of bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions holding the status of appropriations manager as well as heads of Government agencies shall begin the drafting of strategic operational plans after obtaining the ministers' approval for the strategic goals and expected results. Strategic operational plans shall be drafted with regard to the Programme of the Government, the draft Government priorities, the goals of long and medium-term planning documents as well as the findings of environment scanning. Ministers, heads of bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions holding the status of appropriations manager and heads of Government agencies shall ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Programme of the Government when formulating the goals and objectives of the programmes under the strategic operational plan and planning respective measures (enumerated in Table 6 of the strategic operational plan).

 

Other appropriations managers shall commence the drafting of strategic operational plans after submitting annual activity reports. All appropriations managers shall draft strategic operational plans using the form of a strategic operational plan provided in Annex 4 to the Methodology.

 

26. The components of a strategic operational plan shall be:

 

27. The section on the mission and strategic changes shall formulate the mission, lay down activity priorities, the main actions, key performance measures and values thereof, appropriations for the implementation of priorities, the main legislative initiatives and operational efficiency improvement directions, and identify the strategic goals and programmes, appropriations for the implementation of strategic goals and programmes, human resources and management expenditure. Management expenditure per programme shall be attributed in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Minister of Finance.

 

28. The section on the implementation of strategic goals and programmes shall briefly set out the context of the activities, describe the strategic goals, identify the impact measures, the link with the strategic goals and performance measures established in long and medium-term planning documents, specify the programmes implementing the strategic goals, indicate the appropriations and performance measures, and present an information summary on human resources, investment projects as well as the implementation of the provisions of the Programme of the Government.

 

29. The management of an institution/body shall be involved in the drafting of the strategic operational plan and, together with the competent employees, shall formulate the mission, establish the activity priorities and key indicators, to be used by the appropriations manager to evaluate its own performance, as well as the directions for operational efficiency improvement, and set out the strategic goals and the programmes to implement them.

 

30. Appropriations managers shall submit draft strategic operational plans and appropriations requirements to the Ministry of Finance, while ministers shall additionally submit draft strategic operational plans for the areas of governance within their competence (including bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions headed by appropriations managers, and Government agencies) to the Office of the Prime Minister. Ministers shall also present draft interinstitutional operational plans and appropriations requirements for the performance of State functions (transferred to municipalities) in the areas of governance falling within their competence. The specific time limits for the submission of the drafts referred to in this paragraph as well as the general principles of appropriation planning shall be determined by the Government on an annual basis.

 

31. Every year, the Ministry of Finance shall produce macroeconomic forecasts for the respective period: gross domestic product, inflation, employment and other indicators. These documents shall be the basis for determining national fiscal indicators: expected revenues and appropriations, anticipated deficit, national budget changes and limitations.

 

32. On the basis of fiscal indicators, the Ministry of Finance shall examine the draft strategic operational plan and the required appropriations. Based on Government priorities, the Office of the Prime Minister shall examine the expected results in the areas of governance within ministerial competence and the programmes planned. The findings shall be presented by the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Prime Minister to the consultations.

 

33. The Office of the Prime Minister shall organise negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement among the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the competent minister on the strategic goals, expected results and the limits of appropriations to fund the areas of governance within the minister's competence (including interinstitutional operational plans). Negotiations shall also be used to adopt decisions on the analysis of the functions performed by the institutions and bodies operating within the areas of governance of a ministry or minister, evaluation of programmes under the strategic operational plan or application of the zero-based budgeting approach (funding revision by selecting an effective alternative for limited use of resources) to programmes. Decisions adopted during the consultations shall be recorded in the negotiation minutes.

 

34. Following a negotiation, the Ministry of Finance shall inform the ministries in writing of the ceilings of appropriations to be allocated to the areas of governance within ministerial competence and to other bodies headed by appropriations managers. With regard to the decisions adopted at the negotiations, ministers, heads of bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions holding the status of appropriation manager and heads of Government agencies shall update draft strategic operational plans.

 

35. Ministries, Government agencies, bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions headed by appropriations managers and other budgetary bodies operating in the areas of governance falling within ministerial competence shall draft their own annual activity plans. An annual operational plan may be drafted using the form of a strategic operational plan for the n^th year or the recommended form of an annual operational plan (Annex 5 to the methodology) or, depending on the specific character of operations, another form prepared by the minister or head of a Government agency under the procedure prescribed by them. The annual operational plan must implement the goals and objectives of the programmes under the strategic operational plan. Other entities which receive budgetary funds, as envisaged by the laws or Government resolutions governing their area of activities, adopted on the basis of directly applicable EU legislation and international agreements prescribing the procedure for the administration of financial support extended to Lithuania by the EU or individual States, and which are involved in the implementation of the strategic operational plan in the areas of governance of the minister shall draft annual operational plans and coordinate them with the competent minister.

 

36. Appropriations managers shall submit updated draft strategic operational plans to the Ministry of Finance, while ministers shall additionally submit updated draft strategic operational plans for the areas of governance within their competence (including bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions headed by appropriations managers) to the Office of the Prime Minister. The head of a Government agency shall submit the draft strategic operational plan to the minister or to the ministers of the respective areas of administration, who shall evaluate its compliance with the strategic goals and expected results of the area of governance. Where a Government agency operates in the areas of governance of several ministers, the evaluations of the strategic operational plan of this Government agency shall be summarised and presented to the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Prime Minister by the minister of the respective area of governance appointed by the Government.

 

37. Prior to the consideration at the Government of the draft Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance shall examine the conformity of the strategic operational plans falling with the competence of the minister with the Programme of the Government, Government priorities, negotiation outcomes and the provisions of the Methodology, and shall put forward their comments and suggestions to the ministers. The draft strategic operational plans of other appropriations managers shall be examined and comments and suggestions on them shall be offered by the Ministry of Finance and, where necessary, by the Office of the Prime Minister. With regard to the received comments or proposals, appropriations managers must update draft strategic operational plans and present them to the Ministry of Finance.

 

38. The Government shall approve Government priorities and, together with the draft Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets, present them to the Seimas at least 75 days before the end of a budgetary year.

 

39. After the Government has presented the draft Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets for the respective year to the Seimas for consideration, the Minister, with a written consent of the Prime Minister, shall approve the strategic operational plan of the areas of governance falling within the competence of the minister as well as the strategic operational plans of bodies under the ministries headed by appropriations managers. The strategic operational plan of a Government agency shall be approved by the minister of the respective area of administration or by a joint order of ministers of respective areas of governance. Other appropriations managers shall approve the strategic operational plans of the institutions or bodies headed by them. All appropriations managers shall post approved strategic operational plans on their websites by 1 November.

 

40. Annual operational plans of ministries, bodies under the ministry and other subordinate budgetary bodies shall be approved by ministers. They may also instruct the heads of these bodies to approve the annual operational plans of the budgetary bodies subordinate to them. The annual operational plan of a Government agency shall be approved by the head of the Government agency, with the agreement of the minister of the respective area of governance or ministers of the respective areas of governance.

 

41. After entry into force of the Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets and after the Government has approved the allocation of appropriations by programmes, the appropriations managers shall, where necessary, update the strategic operational plans within 10 working days and post them on their websites. Where appropriate, annual operational plans of institutions and bodies shall be updated accordingly.

 

42. In line with the time limits set by the Government, the results to be achieved by civil servants and employees working under employment contracts shall be determined with regard to the goals, objectives or measures of the programmes under the strategic operational plan as well as the measures of the annual operational plan.

 

43. The implementation of the programmes under the strategic operational plan shall be supervised by programme coordinators assigned by the appropriations managers or by persons authorised by them. They shall also be responsible for the organisation of programme assessment.

 

 

 

44. The performance measures of a strategic operational plan (hereinafter referred to as 'performance measures') shall be established by reference to the goals and objectives and shall enable complete assessment of changes in the main activity areas of the institutions over the specified period. Performance measures may be vertical or horizontal (Annex 6 of the Methodology). Technical annexes (Annex 7 to the Methodology) shall be drafted to describe the performance measures for the strategic operational plan and other planning documents (strategies, National Progress Programme, development programmes and interinstitutional operational plans). Where the same performance measure is used in several planning documents, the technical annex developed for the performance measure that was established earliest shall be used. Information contained in the technical annexes of the outcome, result and output measures shall be entered into the monitoring information system.

 

45. Performance measures must reveal the quantitative and qualitative expression of the results of the programmes under the strategic operational plan. Quantitative performance measures are used to measure what is quantifiable and they are established on the basis of quantitative information, i.e. facts, numbers, statistics or the institution's data. Such measures reflect contributions (e.g. financial contributions) or the quantitative scope of the final output or outcome. Qualitative performance measures show the qualitative characteristics of the institution's activities, i.e. their improvement or deterioration (for instance, whether or not the results were achieved in time, whether or not they satisfy the needs of the consumers and the general public, the standards, etc.) They can be established on the basis of data of surveys, research and reviews or the material of expert discussions or special group discussions and other qualitative information.

 

46. The value of performance measures must enable the assessment of the trend and/or scope of changes. The reliability of a performance measure is higher when its value can be compared with a certain standard or norm or/and the value of the performance measure of another Lithuanian or foreign State institution or/and other socio-economic indicators. The established annual values of performance measures shall be divided by quarter (where possible) and supplied to the monitoring information system. During the current year, performance measure values may be altered in exceptional cases and at the output measure level only.

 

47. For the assessment of possible actual values of performance measures, the respective value intervals shall be set in the monitoring information system that would allow linking the actual performance measure value with one of the achievement statuses and assessing it as 'very good', 'good', 'satisfactory' or 'bad'.

 

48. Strategic operational plans present vertical performance measures for impact, outcome and output, established under the hierarchical principle (Annex 8 of the Methodology): the impact measure evaluates the achievement of strategic goals, the outcome measure – programme goals, and the output measure – programme objectives. In the monitoring information system, the performance measure influence weights shall be established for strategic goals, programmes, programme goals and programme objectives: a weight (expressed as a percentage) shall be attributed to each performance measure, showing the influence that the performance measure result has on the evaluation of the achievement of the strategic goal, programme, programme goal or programme objective. Annual operational plans shall present the institution's process and/or input measures (key process and/or input measures may also be included in the strategic operational plan at the output level).

 

49. The impact measure shall be used to measure the accomplishment of the strategic goal of an institution or the goal of an area of governance and shall reveal the benefit that is received, upon accomplishment of the respective strategic goal, by the direct programme beneficiaries as well as the general public. The number of outcome measures shall not be smaller than the number of strategic goals, as the outcome measure must be used to measure the results achieved in all of the main activity areas of the institution.

 

50. The outcome measure is a measure to evaluate achievement of goals. It shows the benefits that the direct programme beneficiaries receive from the implementation of a programme. The number of outcome measures shall not be smaller than the number of programme goals. The outcome measure reveals the programme's content and its direct results. The outcome measure evaluates key factors influencing the achievement of the impact measures, i.e. the outcome measures are used to measure the benefits attained through purposeful use of the appropriations allocated to the programme.

 

51. Output measure is a measure for the assessment of accomplishment of an objective, i.e. the tangible or intellectual product and/or services that result from purposeful use of the resources to accomplish the objective. The output measures may consists of the process or contribution measures. The number of output measures shall not be smaller than the number of objectives, as the output measure or a combination of several output measures must enable assessment of whether or not the programme objective has been achieved. An objective normally refers to supply of certain services or development of products. It is recommended to come up with up to three performance measures per objective.

 

52. The process measure shall be used to assess measure implementation progress and measure an institution's internal processes (actions) necessary for product development, provision of services or performance of other functions of an institution. Process measures shall also be used to assess the quality of services or products. Applying the process measure is recommended to those institutions whose products and services cannot be easily evaluated in terms of quantity.

 

53. The input measure determines the resources (financial, human, material) that will used to develop the products or to provide the services. These measures are important in measuring operational efficiency, i.e. the ratio between costs and outputs or results. Applying the input measure is recommended to those institutions whose products and services cannot be easily evaluated in terms of quantity.

 

54. The strategic operational plan shall include horizontal performance measures showing the implementation of Government priorities (if the institution is implementing them), changes in public attitudes and operational efficiency.

 

55. The performance measures showing the implementation of Government priorities shall be used to evaluate the progress of the implementation of the operational priorities of the Government. After the Government has approved the priorities, relevant performance measures and values thereof, the institutions implementing the priorities shall include the respective performance measures in their strategic operational plans. Such performance measures shall appear in the strategic operational plans as the impact, outcome or output measures.

 

56. The performance measures showing changes in public attitudes reveal public awareness of certain issues as well as the level of satisfaction, involvement and confidence of the public. Service customer satisfaction with public and administrative services shall be measured in accordance with the Methodology for calculating the public service customer satisfaction index, approved by the Minister of the Interior. Performance measures revealing changes in public attitudes are usually presented at the impact level, but may also be presented at the outcome level.

 

57. The operational efficiency measures allow assessing the efficiency of resource use in developing certain products or achieving certain results, i.e. it shows the ratio between resources (financial, human, time, etc.) and the developed products or achieved results. These performance measures are usually presented at the output level, but may also be presented at the outcome level. The Ministry of Finance may set such operational efficiency measures that would allow collection of information making it possible to compare the operational costs and operational efficiency of individual institutions. Information on such performance measures shall be supplied to the monitoring information system.

 

 

 

58. With the entry into force of the Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets and after the appropriations managers have updated (where necessary) strategic operational plans, regular monitoring of the results of implementation of strategic operational plans (hereinafter referred to as 'monitoring') shall begin. The goal of monitoring is to regularly observe the results of implementation of strategic operational plans and take timely decisions on the improvement of the institution's performance and results.

 

59. The monitoring system shall consist of:

 

60. Monitoring data shall consist of the target and the factual values of the performance measures for planning documents, the values of certain economic and social indicators established by the Seimas or the Government as well as the values of other performance measures. Monitoring data shall be fed into the centralised monitoring information system.

 

61. The Department of Statistics under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as 'Statistics Lithuania') shall collect and publish statistical information on the achievement of economic and social indicators necessary for monitoring purposes and shall cooperate with appropriations managers and consult them on data collection methods and reliability assurance. In the process of establishing indicators for the Government operational priorities and long or medium-term strategic planning documents, consultations may be sought from Statistics Lithuania.

 

62. The monitoring process shall be implemented in the following stages:

 

63. The Office of the Prime Minister shall prepare quarterly and annual progress reports on the implementation of the Government priorities and submit them to the Government for consideration. Institutions shall supply the information on the implementation of Government priorities to the monitoring information system within 10 working days of the end of each quarter.

 

64. Monitoring data shall be used for the purposes of publicising the activity results. Programme evaluation and spending review may be initiated on the basis of monitoring data.

 

 

 

65. Programme evaluation (the National Progress Programme, long-term and development programmes, and programmes under the strategic operational plan) shall be a systematic and objective evaluation of planned, ongoing or completed programmes with regard to one or a number of the following main aspects of programme assessment:

 

66. In terms of the organisational method, programme assessment can be:

 

67. In terms of the method of conduct, programme assessment can be:

 

68. Programme assessment shall be planned with regard to already completed or planned assessments (audits of the institution's activities, outsourced research, EU structural support assessments), in line with the following main selection criteria:

 

69. The programme evaluation process shall involve the Government, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and other ministries, which shall submit proposals on the conduct of programme evaluation and organise and carry out the evaluations. Annually before 15 October, ministries shall present proposals on programme evaluation to the Ministry of Finance. After considering the received proposals on the conduct of programme evaluation, the Ministry of Finance, taking the selection criteria enumerated in paragraph 68 of the Methodology into consideration, shall draft the annual programme evaluation plan and, before 1 December, submit it to the Government for approval.

 

70. The annual programme assessment plan may be updated in the light of the decisions made at the consultations among the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the competent minister.

 

71. The annual programme assessment plan to be approved by the Government shall specify:

 

72. Programme evaluation shall be coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, which shall perform the following functions:

 

73. Ministries responsible for programme evaluation, which perform the following functions:

 

74. The draft programme evaluation working group, which consists of representatives from one or several areas of governance, the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Prime Minister, shall carry out the programme evaluation and prepare an programme evaluation report, which shall cover the progress of programme evaluation and the methods employed and present findings as well as specific recommendations.

 

75. The process of programme evaluation as well as the manner and methods of programme evaluation shall be governed by the Programme Evaluation Methodology, approved by the Minister of Finance, and by the guidelines for the application of that Methodology, published on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

 

76. Ministries, bodies under ministries and Government agencies shall include the information on the results of programme evaluation in the strategic operational plan for the respective year (under the general information on the programme).

 

 

 

77. Appropriations managers assessing annual activity results must assess the implementation of the programmes (goals, objectives, measures) under the strategic operational plan (goals, objectives, measures) and draft an annual activity report on the basis of that information. Where appropriate, ministers and heads of Government agencies shall provide the information on the implementation of measures under the strategic operational plan to the Office of the Prime Minister.

 

78. The minister shall draft an annual activity report (Annex 9 to the Methodology) of the ministry (including bodies under ministries and national cultural institutions headed by appropriations managers) and submit it to the Government by the 1 March on an annual basis. It shall include analytical information and conclusions on the implementation of strategic changes, the results of the implementation of strategic goals and programmes, coordinated interinstitutional operational plans, development programmes and strategies, compliance with the provisions of the Programme of the Government and the operational priorities envisaged for the next period.Along with the ministry’s annual activity report, the minister shall present the Government with the Government agency’s annual activity report as well as a conclusion on the activities of the Government agency. Where a Government agency operates in the areas of administration of several ministers, the annual activity report of this Government agency as well as a conclusion on the activities of the Government agency shall be submitted by the minister of the respective area of governance appointed by the Government. Other appropriations managers shall report in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the legislation.

 

79. With regard to the annual activity reports submitted by ministers and the monitoring system data, an annual Government activities report shall be drafted, presenting the results of the implementation of the Programme of the Government and other planning documents.

 

80. Appropriations managers shall publish annual activity reports on the websites of their institutions. Ministers and heads of Government agencies shall publish annual activity reports by 31 March annually.

 

Annex 1
to the Strategic Planning Methodology

(as amended by
Resolution No 1257 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 16 October 2012)

 

 

SCHEME OF THE PLANNING DOCUMENTS

 

 

Long-term documents	Seimas
Medium-term documents	Government
Short-term documents	Government
	Minister

 

 

 

Annex 2
to the Strategic Planning Methodology
(as amended by
Resolution No 1257 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 16 October 2012)

 

 

Table 1. Goals, objectives, measures and appropriations of the interinstitutional operational plan

(EUR thou)

 

The column “Participating Institution” shall show the appropriations manager in whose strategic plan these measures have to be incorporated.

When specifying programme appropriations by the sources of funding, the institutions administering and using EU financial support (technical support funds) shall indicate funds in the rows “1.1. Co-funding” and “1.2. EU and other international financial support funding”.

The institutions planning to receive funding to implement projects (for which contracts have been signed, decisions on allocations have been made) from institutions administering support or directly from EU institutions as well as other legitimately obtained funds shall indicate funds in the row “2. Other sources (EU financial support for project implementation and other legitimately obtained funds)”.

The appropriations of the (n – n + k) years are planned for the interinstitutional operational plans implementing the National Progress Programme, where k – interinstitutional operational plan implementation duration; the table may also contain other relevant information (e.g. time-limits for measure implementation, etc). The required appropriations for the period (n + 3 – n + k) may be indicated as a total amount without detailing expenditure by categories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2. Performance measures for the interinstitutional operational plan

 

No Nr.	Titles and measurement units of performance measures for goals and objectives	Values of performance measures			Participating Institution
		nth year	n + 1st year	n + 2nd year
1.	Goal 1 (title)
	Outcome measure   title and   measurement unit
1.1.	Title of Objective 1, Goal 1
	Output measure   title and   measurement unit
	Output measure   title and   measurement unit,   of them:*
1.2.	Title of Objective 2, Goal 1
	Output measure   title and   measurement unit

 

*If several institutions are responsible for the achievement of the performance measure for objective, the coordinating institution shall assume responsibility for the overall result, while the interinstitutional operational plan coordinator may specify the input of each implementing body to the achievement of the performance measure for objective expressed by output measures.

Performance measures and their values for the year (n – n + k) may be set for the interinstitutional operational plans implementing the National Progress Programme, where k – interinstitutional operational plan implementation duration.

Appropriations for the implementation of operational priorities

 

Title of the priority	Appropriations, EUR thou

 

Information on appropriations for the implementation of operational priorities shall be given in a draft strategic operational plan. A decision on the indication of this information in the approved strategic operational plan shall be made by the appropriations manager

 

 

KEY LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES

 

The main planned draft laws shall be listed.

 

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY ENHANCING DIRECTIONS

 

Planned actions to enhance operational efficiency shall be specified, for instance:

to optimise the number of subordinate institutions;

to optimise administrative structures;

to centralise the fulfilment of general functions;

to increase the efficiency of property use by disposing of unnecessary property etc.

Part I. Mission and Strategic Changes shall be prepared in accordance with the model form produced by the Prime Minister’s Office. The maximum proposed scope is up to 3 pages.

 

STRATEGIC GOALS AND PROGRAMMES

 

All strategic goals and programmes envisaged for the implementation of each goal shall be specified. In the strategic operational plan for the areas of governance of a minister it is proposed to define one (common) strategic goal per area of governance. If a strategic goal in the areas of governance assigned to the minister is implemented by a Government agency or a body under the ministry headed by the appropriations manager only the strategic goal shall be indicated and an explanation shall be given that this strategic goal and related programmes are being implemented by another appropriations manager. It is recommended to present this information in diagram form. For example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC GOALS AND PROGRAMMES

 

It is recommended to show the breakdown of appropriations by programmes in the n^th year in diagram form. For example:

 

 

HUMAN RESOURCES

 

Envisaged structural changes and changes in the number of positions related to the achievement of goals and results for the planning period shall be specified and substantiated.

The total number of positions and payroll expenditure shall be indicated (the data of the n^th year have to be the same as the number of positions and payroll expenditure indicated in Table 4 of the Strategic Operational Plan).

 

	n – 1 (approved)	nth year	n + 1	n + 2
Number of positions
Payroll expenditure, EUR thou

 

It is recommended to show the breakdown of the number of positions (together with payroll expenditure) by position groups in the n^th year in diagram form. For example:

 

 

 

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE

 

Information on planned appropriations for programmes shall be provided by expenditure categories; administrative expenditure shall be indicated separately. The appropriations managers who prepare a separate programme for policy development and implementation organisation (administration) shall distribute the expenditure for the said programme to other programmes and add administrative expenditure to the appropriations planned for the respective programme (Table 1). Administrative expenditure shall be calculated in accordance with the Procedure for assigning administrative expenditure to strategic operational plan programme funding approved by the Minister of Finance.

 

Table 1. Appropriations and administrative expenditure for the (n – n + 2)^th year programmes

(EUR thou)

 

No Nr.	Programme title	Appropriations of the nth year				Estimated appropriations for the (nth + 1) year				Estimated appropriations for the (nth + 2) year
			of them			total	of them				of them
		total	for expenditure		for property acquisition		for expenditure		for property acquisition	total	for expenditure		for property acquisition
			total	of it for payroll			total	of it for payroll			total	of it for payroll
1.
	of them administrative expenditure*
2.
	of them administrative expenditure
3.
	of them administrative expenditure
4.
	of them administrative expenditure
Total appropriations for programmes
of them administrative expenditure
Proportion of administrative expenditure, %

*The row “of them administrative expenditure" shall show expenditure for the respective programme and the administrative expenditure of that programme.

 

 

Table 2. Goals, objectives, measures and appropriations of the (n–n + 2)^th year programme

(EUR thou)

Code of the goal, objective, measure

Title of the goal, objective, measure

Approved appropriations for the (n – 1)th year

Appropriations for the nth year

Estimated appropriations for the (n + 1)th year

Estimated appropriations for the (n + 2)th year

Code of the interinstitutional operational plan, code of the Government priority

total

of them

total

of them

total

of them

total

of them

for expenditure

for property acquisition

for expenditure

for property acquisition

for expenditure

for property acquisition

for expenditure

for property acquisition

total

of it for payroll

total

of it for payroll

total

of it for payroll

total

of it for payroll

Goal:

Objective:

Measure:

Measure:

Measure:

1. Total State budget of the Republic of Lithuania

of it: 1.1. co-funding

1.2. EU and other international financial support funding

1.3 targeted funds and revenue payments

2. Other sources (EU financial support for project implementation and other legitimately obtained funds)

Total funding for the programme (1 + 2)

 

Table 3. Programme goals, objectives, and performance measures and their values

 

Performance measure code	Titles and measurement units of goals, objectives and performance measures	Values of performance measures
		(n – 1)th	nth	(n + 1)th	(n + 2)th
	Goal 1 (title)
R-01-01-01-01	Title of performance measure for the goal
R-01-01-01-02
	Title of Objective 1, Goal 1
P-01-01-01-01-01	Title of performance measure for the objective
P-01-01-01-01-02
P-01-01-01-01-03
	Title of Objective 2, Goal 1
P-01-01-01-02-01	Title of performance measure for the objective

 

Table 4. The number of positions by institutions/bodies and position groups of the n^th year

 

No	Name of institution/body	Number of positions								Payroll expenditure, EUR thou
		Heads and deputy heads of the institution/body		Heads and deputy heads of other units		Specialists/officers who do not have subordinates, and other employees		total	of them civil servants
		total	of them civil servants	total	of them civil servants	total	of them civil servants
1.
2.
3.
4.
	Other entities financed from the budget*
Total number of positions
Total payroll expenditure

The planned number of positions in budgetary bodies subordinate to appropriations managers shall be indicated (state politicians, state officers, prosecutors, judges, civil officers (including public officers of political (personal) confidence and statutory civil servants), military servants and staff employed under labour contracts), where payroll is planned from the state budget and monetary funds of the State

Table 5. Investment projects and appropriations of the (n–n + 2)^th year

(EUR thou)

Measure code

Investment project title

Terms of implementation

Total value

Funds used before the (n – 1)th year

Planned use in the (n – 1)th year

nth year

(n + 1)th year

(n + 2)th year

beginning

end

Required funds from the State budget of the Republic of Lithuania

of them

Required funds from the State budget of the Republic of Lithuania

of them

Required funds from the State budget of the Republic of Lithuania

of them

payments from institution revenue

EU and other international financial support

payments from institution revenue

EU and other international financial support

payments from institution revenue

EU and other international financial support

Total for investment projects

 

This table shall show investment projects which are included in the Public Investment Programme.

 

 

Table 6. Implementation of the provisions of the Programme of the Government through the strategic operational plan in the n^th year

 

Programme of the Government		Strategic operational plan
No	Title of the provision	Title of the objective / measure	Code

 

The column “Code” shall show the code of the objective / measure indicated in the column “Code” of Table 2 “Goals, objectives, measures and appropriations of the (n – 1) - (n + 2)^th year Programme”.

 

 

Table 7. The main target activity indicators of state-owned enterprises

 

No Nr.	Name of the state-owned enterprise	Title of the indicator	Planned values of indicators
			nth year	(n + 1)th year	(n + 2)th year
1.
2.
3.

For the enterprises specified in Annex 1 to the Procedure for exercising the economic and moral rights of the State in state-owned enterprises approved by Resolution No 665 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 6 June 2012 (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) 2012, No 67-3394):

– in Groups 1A and 1B no lower indicator than the average return on capital as approved by the Government should be set;

– in Group 2 the planned achievement of profitability and 2 to 3 main operational efficiency indicators envisaged in the strategic operational plans of these state-owned enterprises should be set.

1. The rows “Title of the strategic operational plan” shall consistently show the titles of all strategic operational plan programmes in the implementation of which the body participates.

2. The rows of the column “Code of the measure” shall show the code of the measure of the respective strategic operational plan programme in the implementation of which the body participates.

3. The rows of the column “Title of the measure” shall show the code of the measure of the respective strategic operational plan programme in the implementation of which the body participates. If a body participates in the implementation of more than one programme this table shall be extended by entering other elements of the programme.

4. The rows of the column “Name of the body’s action” shall show the actions to be performed by the body during the implementation of the measure of the indicated strategic operational plan programme.

5. The rows of the column “Process and/or input measures, measurement units and values” shall show the performance measure of implemented measure by which the processes (actions) or inputs for the achievement of programme measures will be evaluated.

6. The rows of the column “Responsible operators” shall show the names of structural units and/or persons responsible for the performance of concrete actions.

7. The rows of the column “Term of implementation” shall show planned deadlines of action implementation by quarters.

8. The rows of the column “Appropriations, EUR thou” shall show appropriations envisaged for the implementation of respective measures and respective actions (the draft annual operational plan shall indicate the required appropriations and the approved plan – the approved appropriations).

________________________

 

Annex 6 to

the Strategic Planning Methodology

 

 

TECHNICAL ANNEX TO PERFORMANCE MEASURE

 

______________________________

(reporting period)

 

Title	Code
(Appropriations Manager)
(Strategic goal)
(Programme (to be indicated when the technical annex is filled in for result and output measures)
(Programme goal or objective (to be indicated when the technical annex is filled in for result and output measures)
Government priority (to be indicated when the technical annex is filled in for Government operational priority measure)
(Performance measure)

 

1.	Definition
2.	Is it a new performance measure?
3.	Selection justification
4.	Calculation method
5.	Data source
6.	Data audit
7.	Calculation frequency
8.	Contact person responsible for the performance measure
9.	Other information on performance measure reliability

 

1. The table row “Definition” shall explain what is measured by the performance measure where it is not obvious from the wording of the measure. Specific definitions of the terms used in the performance measure wording shall also be given. This ensures a uniform interpretation of the performance measure by different readers and its comprehensibility to a non-specialist. If the wording of performance measure clearly discloses what is measured and no ambiguous or possibly misinterpreted terms are used, this row shall be left blank.

2. The table row “Is it a new performance measure?” shall be marked with “Yes” if it is a newly developed performance measure or if new data from another data source are used or if the same data but a new calculation method is used for calculating the measure value for the reporting period and the respective reason shall be stated. Where the same performance measure was used in the preceding reporting period, “No” shall be entered in this row.

3. The table row “Selection justification” shall specify the most important reasons for selecting the performance measure:

4. The table row “Calculation method” shall show the measurement unit of the performance measure, describe the method or formula (if applicable) of calculating its value and explain the variables that are used. For example, when the decrease of smoking volumes is assessed by performance measure, the following formula can be used:

Where:

x – respondents aged 18 and above who answered “yes” to the question “Would you currently classify yourself as a smoker?“;

y – the total number of the surveyed respondents aged 18 and above.

This row of the table shall also show the value of the performance measure that should be considered as the baseline for performance measure calculation and measurement to be used for evaluating the achieved progress.

This row may be left blank if the value of the performance measure is obtained from the Department of Statistics, Eurostat, international organisations or other reliable data sources which explain the method of respective value calculation; however, it is recommended to give a reference to the data source.

5. The table row “Data source” shall show the data source from which data for the calculation of the performance measure value were taken. The values of performance measures may be calculated on the basis of the primary data sources, such as an institution’s data, or the secondary data sources, such as statistics, public opinion survey data, data collected by other government and non-government institutions or international organisations, evaluation, research or other data. This row shall specify the institution, research title and, if possible, the author; it may indicate the database or give reference to another source from which the data are taken for calculating the value of a performance measure.

6. The table row “Data audit” shall indicate whether:

7. The table row “Calculation frequency” shall specify the frequency of collecting data on performance measure implementation; for instance, “monthly”, “quarterly”, “semi-annual”, “annual”, and, where possible, shall specify the month and day of data taking for the performance measure value.

8. The table row “Contact person responsible for the performance measure” shall show the full name, position, e-mail and telephone of an institution’s employee who has direct responsibility for measure implementation or collects data on its implementation.

In the row “Other information on performance measure reliability” an institution may indicate other methods employed for ensuring the quality of a performance measure.

RESULTS OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

Code of performance measure	Titles and measurement units of goals, objectives and performance measures	Values of performance measures
		annual plan	achieved	achievement, %
	Goal 1 (title)
R-01-01-01-01	Title of performance measure for the goal
R-01-01-01-02
	Title of Objective 1, Goal 1
P-01-01-01-01-01	Title of performance measure for the objective
P-01-01-01-01-02
P-01-01-01-01-03
	Title of Objective 2, Goal 1
P-01-01-01-02-01	Title of performance measure for the objective

 

Reasons for unachieved or exceeded performance measure values shall be specified (inadequate planning, overextended approval process, lack of administrative skills etc).

Further, the appropriations approved and used for programme implementation in the reporting year shall be indicated. Revised appropriations shall be indicated where revisions for programme appropriations were made during the budget year.

 

USE OF PROGRAMME APPROPRIATIONS

Appropriations	Approved (revised) appropriations, EUR thou	Used appropriations, EUR thou	Use of appropriations, %
Total appropriations for the programme (1+2)
Of them by the sources of funding:
1. the State budget of the Republic of Lithuania
of it: 1.1. co-funding
1.2. EU and other international financial support funding
1.3. targeted funds and revenue payments
2. Other sources (EU financial support for project implementation and other legitimately obtained funds)

 

Where less or more appropriations were used than approved (revised), reasons for the differences shall be given.

All implemented programmes shall be described in the same manner.