Winners of Excellence in Public Service Award announced

AMMAN — The King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence (KACE) on Wednesday announced the public agencies and entities that won in the third cycle of the Excellence in Public Service Award for 2014-2015.

The winners are the Ministry of Industry and Trade; the Health Insurance Administration's main headquarters; the Residency and Borders Department's main headquarters; Civil Status and Passports Department branches in Tabarbour, Wadi Al Seer, Marka and Wadi Al Haddadeh, KACE Executive Director Yasera Ghosheh told reporters.

The winners also include the Department of Lands and Survey's branch in Jubeiha and main branch in Jabal Luweibdeh; the National Aid Fund’s departments in east Amman, west Amman and Wadi Al Seer; the Jordan Customs Department’s branches in Amman and Zarqa; the Social Security Corporation’s branch in south Amman; the Income and Sales Tax Department’s branch in Sweifieh; and the Greater Amman Municipality's main headquarters, she said.

Some of the entities and agencies that applied have maintained their positions compared to the past year, Ghosheh added.

“More improvement is needed in services offered by public agencies to citizens,” she said, citing the findings of the assessment of applying public sector departments.

“For many entities, it was a good beginning this year for improvement although the improvement was not grand. We still want more,” Ghosheh added. 

Some of the entities and agencies had not addressed the issues pointed out in previous years, she said, adding that detailed reports will be sent to the participating agencies about how to improve their performance and services.

For this year’s cycle, 14 institutions and 46 branches participated in the award.

The Excellence in Public Service Award is granted to ministries and government institutions that deal directly with service recipients, according to KACE’s website.

The award aims at building, supporting and disseminating the culture of excellence in the public sector. 

The Excellence in Public Service Award is based on specific criteria, including the service provided, the system dealing with the "service recipient’s voice", communication with service recipients, and the final results of the service. 

The final result for each institution relies on three integrated components: 30 per cent of the assessment process (submission and field visit reports), 35 per cent for mystery shopper satisfaction, and 35 per cent for customer satisfaction.