"One-Stop-Shop" Pilot Project Within Military Registration Offices (AM0034)

Issue subject to regulation: The scope of activities of military registration offices is rather diverse, and there is a need to specify legislative regulation for some issues. The given fact adversely affects the clarity of functions of military registration offices, the quality of public services provided, the time limits thereof, having an impact on the level of public confidence. This results in unnecessary administrative and corruption risks. The introduction of "One-stop-shop" pilot project within 2-3 military registration offices will provide an opportunity to test its effectiveness in terms of eliminating the above-mentioned issues and artificial obstacles.; Main objective: Improvement of administration in the activities of military registration offices through testing and further introduction of the "One-stop-shop" pilot project and reduction of risks therein, restriction on contacts of citizens with the military registration office personnel, reduction of the time limits for providing requested information/documents.; Brief description of commitment: Implementation of the "One-stop-shop" pilot project within 2-3 military registration offices.; OGP challenge addressed by the commitment: Improvement of public services Enhancement of public integrity; Relevance to OGP values: Introduction of the "One-stop-shop" within military registration offices will increase the availability and reliability of information, reduce expenses related to the provision of services and improve the quality of public services.; Ambition: Reduction of administrative and corruption risks, simplification and clarification of processes, increase in public confidence.

8. One-stop-shop military registration offices

Commitment Text:

Title: One-stop-shop in the Army: Introduction of One-stop-shop pilot project within military registration offices of the Republic of Armenia

Implementation of the 'One-stop-shop' pilot project within 2-3 military registration offices. Improvement of administration in the activities of military registration offices though testing and further introduction of the 'One-stop-shop' pilot project and reduction of risks therein, restriction on contacts of citizens with the military registration office personnel, reduction of the time limits for providing requested information/documents.

The activities under this commitment are as follows:

1. Clarifying the scope of functions relating to the One-stop-shop (Sep 16 - Nov 17).

2. Assessing capacities of military registration offices and selecting military registration offices (Dec 16 - Feb 17).

3. Introducing the One-stop-shop (Mar 17 - Jun 18).

4. Survey regarding change of public confidence (if necessary) (Jan 18 - Jun 18).

5. Submitting recommendations on making amendments to secondary regulatory legal acts (if necessary) (Mar 18 - Jun 18).

Responsible institution: Ministry of Defense

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: September 2016 End date: June 2018

Context and Objectives

In Armenia, a two-year service in the Army is compulsory for males from 18 to 27 years old. The registration of conscripts, the conscription process, record-keeping, post-service registry maintenance and the provision of related documents are implemented by military registration offices located in each district and/or community. The scope of activities of military registration offices is diverse, and there is a need to specify legislative regulation for services provided^{[Note150: OGP Third National Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia (2016-2018), http://ogp.am/u_files/file/3AP_ENG.docx]}. The introduction of 'one-stop-shop' pilot project in 2-3 military registration offices will provide an opportunity to test its effectiveness in providing services related to provision of certificates, verification documents, etc.

The introduction of a single unified service will make it possible to eliminate problems that emerge during personal contact with citizens in the process of providing documentation, by narrowing the scope of direct communication between representatives of military registration offices and citizens.

The commitment text has low specificity. Though there is a clear indication of the purpose and activities included in the commitment, the scope of services to be provided through one window is not specified.

The commitment is related to improvement of administration and services as it aims to facilitate procedures for providing information to people visiting military registration offices. However, the commitment does not include any activities that would enhance transparency or create more citizen oversight and public accountability of the military sector. Therefore, the relevance of the commitment to OGP values is unclear.

If implemented, the commitment could make military registration offices more service oriented. The military offices usually not only provide documents, certificates, and other paperwork, but are a contact point for relatives of soldiers if any information is needed or any grievance related to military service occurs. Adopting the single window principle would ensure that instead of military officers, visitors would deal with civil servants specialized in information and service provision. A representative of a CSO, working in the area of conscripts’ rights and awareness-raising on military service, noted that the one-window approach will serve more effectively as a means for communication and document provision. In particular, it will reduce waiting times, facilitate faster provision of military service related documentation and ensure better control of the process.^{[Note151: Sergey Harutyunyan (Support and Rights NGO), interview by IRM researcher, 7 November 2017]} However, as the current commitment includes only piloting the one-window approach in 2-3 offices, the potential impact of this commitment is assessed as minor.

Completion

In 2016, military registration offices in two districts of Yerevan, Nor-Nork and Kentron, were selected for the introduction of 'one window'.^{[Note152: OGP Midterm Self-Assessment Report on the Third Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia (2016 -2018), http://ogp.am/u_files/file/Armenia_MID-TERM_report_3AParm.doc]} However, following the resignation of the government cabinet, the Minister of Defense was replaced in October 2016, and the strategy of the Ministry’s work was revised. A package of new laws on military service was adopted by the parliament in October-November 2017, and subsequent reforms of military registration offices are planned, thus the implementation of this commitment has been suspended.^{[Note153: Alexander Avetisyan (Ministry of Defense), interview by IRM researcher, 27 November 2017]}

The possibility of providing specific services of military registration offices ‘ through post offices ('Haypost' CJSC) is currently being discussed.^{[Note154: Alexander Avetisyan (Ministry of Defense), interview by IRM researcher, 27 November 2017]} It should be noted that since November 2016, a number of documents are provided to citizens through the unified system of public service delivery offices, mostly located in 'Haypost' offices, both in Yerevan and regions.^{[Note155: The provision of public services will be closer to Armenian citizens, armenpress.am, 18.11.2016, https://armenpress.am/arm/news/868529/petakan-tsarayutyunneri-matucumn-aveli-mot-klini-hh.html]} These documents include verification of marital status, real estate certificates, penal clearance certificates, etc. Thus, the Ministry of Defense considers provision of military service related certificates through the same system, which saves time and human resources at military registration offices and excludes any possibility of personal contact throughout the provision of documents. However, the services in the unified system will be limited to provision of standardized information and documents, while other types of inquiries will still be served by military registration offices.

The Ministry of Defense launched a Hot Line service (1–28)^{[Note156: The Hot Line of the RA Ministry of Defense has been launched, 10.01.2017, http://www.mil.am/hy/news/4576 ]} in January 2017, which provides the possibility for citizens to receive answers to inquiries and leave information on grievances related to any aspect of military service, including mistreatment of soldiers, results of medical examinations, corruption cases or administrative impediments. In this regard, the Hot Line partly covers the services previously planned for the 'one-stop-shop' system (information provision and response to grievances).

Next Steps

According to the Ministry of Defense, it is possible that the commitment will be reformulated to reflect the revised approach of the Ministry. However, timelines of implementation of the revised approach are not known yet, since they are dependent on the larger reform process.^{[Note157: Alexander Avetisyan (Ministry of Defense), interview by IRM researcher, 27 November 2017]}

Based on the feedback from CSOs who participated in interviews and focus groups, the IRM researcher has identified a number of concerns related to non-implementation of the commitment originally planned. Therefore, the following recommendations are suggested in case it is decided to organize the delivery of services through the unified state service delivery system:

· clarify the list of services to be provided by the unified system of state service delivery as per the scope of military registration offices,

· provide appropriate solutions to privacy issues, often linked to the military service-related documents,

· clarify the possibilities to continue rendering the same services through military registration offices in parallel with the unified service delivery system,

· plan a large awareness-raising campaign ensuring that citizens are aware of the new possibilities provided by the integrated system.

While these recommendations might be considered through further reforms of military offices, it is recommended to include in the next action plan other commitments that are relevant to OGP values, i.e. access to information, public accountability, or civic participation.

8. One-stop-shop military registration offices

Commitment Text:

Title: One-stop-shop in the Army: Introduction of One-stop-shop pilot project within military registration offices of the Republic of Armenia

Implementation of the “One-stop-shop” pilot project within 2-3 military registration offices. Improvement of administration in the activities of military registration offices though testing and further introduction of the “One-stop-shop” pilot project and reduction of risks therein, restriction on contacts of citizens with the military registration office personnel, reduction of the time limits for providing requested information/documents.

The activities under this commitment are as follows:

1.Clarifying the scope of functions relating to the One-stop-shop (Sep 16 - Nov 17).

2.Assessing capacities of military registration offices and selecting military registration offices (Dec 16 - Feb 17).

3.Introducing the One-stop-shop (Mar 17 - Jun 18).

4.Survey regarding change of public confidence (if necessary) (Jan 18 - Jun 18).

5.Submitting recommendations on making amendments to secondary regulatory legal acts (if necessary) (Mar 18 - Jun 18).

Responsible institution: Ministry of Defense

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: September 2016. End date: June 2018

Commitment Aim

In Armenia, a two-year service in the army is compulsory for males from 18 to 27 years old. The registration of conscripts, the conscription process, record-keeping, post-service registry maintenance, and the provision of related documents are implemented by military registration offices located in each district and/or community. The scope of activities of military registration offices is diverse, and there is a need to specify legislative regulations for services provided. [Note58: OGP Third National Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia (2016-2018), http://ogp.am/u_files/file/3AP_ENG.docx] According to the action plan, the introduction of 'one-stop-shop' pilot project in two to three military registration offices would provide an opportunity to test its effectiveness in providing services related to provision of certificates, verification documents, etc. The introduction of a single unified service would make it possible to eliminate problems that emerge during personal contact with citizens in the process of providing documentation, by narrowing the scope of direct communication between representatives of military registration offices and citizens.

The commitment is related to improvement of administration and services, as it aims to facilitate procedures for providing information to people visiting military registration offices. However, the commitment does not include any activities that would enhance transparency or create more citizen oversight or public accountability of the military sector. Therefore, its direct relevance to OGP values is unclear.

Status

Midterm: Not Started

In 2016, the Ministry of Defense selected military registration offices in two districts of Yerevan (Nor-Nork and Kentron) for the introduction of “one window.” [Note59: OGP Midterm Self-Assessment Report on the Third Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia (2016 -2018), http://ogp.am/u_files/file/Armenia_MID-TERM_report_3AParm.doc] However, following the resignation of the government cabinet, the Minister of Defense was replaced in October 2016, and the strategy of the Ministry’s work was revised. Parliament adopted a package of new laws on military service in October–November 2017, and subsequent reforms of military registration offices were planned, thus the implementation of this commitment was suspended. [Note60: Alexander Avetisyan (Ministry of Defense), interview by IRM researcher, 27 November 2017]

The Ministry of Defense launched a Hot Line service (1–28) [Note61: The Hot Line of the RA Ministry of Defense has been launched, 10.01.2017, http://www.mil.am/hy/news/4576 ] in January 2017, which provides the possibility for citizens to receive answers to inquiries and leave information on grievances related to any aspect of military service, including mistreatment of soldiers, results of medical examinations, corruption cases, or administrative impediments. In this regard, the Hot Line partly covers the services previously planned for the “one-stop-shop” system (information provision and response to grievances). For more information, see the Armenia IRM Progress Report 2016–2017. [Note62: IRM Armenia Progress Report 2016-2018 (Year 1), 08 'One-stop-shop' Pilot Project Within Military Registration Offices, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/commitment/08-one-stop-shop-pilot-pro... ]

End of term: Not started

No additional actions took place in the framework of the commitment within the second year of the action plan.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

Public Accountability: Did Not Change

No activities have been carried out in the framework of the commitment. As such, there has been no changes to open government in practice.

Carried Forward?

At the time of writing this report (September 2018), Armenia’s fourth action plan is not available yet. During consultations of the fourth action plan, this commitment has not been suggested to carry forward.

For Commitment detail, see Armenia End-Term Report 2016-2018.