An improved service delivery model through the implementation of the FIDPM in the South African public sector.

Abstract

The most import issue in South Africa remains, improving the delivery of public services, as any democratic society needs to exhibit efficient, equitable and accountable public service. Public service delivery challenges still experienced in 2021 were the same raised in previous years regarding capacity and skills shortages with public servants. The main challenge which affects infrastructure management and delivery has been the unevenness in capacity that leads to uneven performance in local, provincial and national government. Although the infrastructure delivery management system (IDMS) has made relatively good progress when implemented through provincial treasuries and provincial departments, it has not been sufficiently institutionalised in most departments. The implementation and sustainability of the IDMS stills remains a challenge. Government through National Treasury has released the Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management (FIDPM) as an initiative towards ensuring a systematic and structured approach for infrastructure procurement and delivery management for the successful delivery of construction projects. The Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management recognises that project management plays a critical role in the delivery of public services in South Africa as all spheres of government structures implement and deliver services. While it is argued, the public sector is less innovative than the private sector, project management plays an important role towards innovative delivery approaches in public service. Arguably the main driver behind the application of project management in government is to improve state institution’s ability to deliver efficient, effective and high-quality services. In the third decade of the countries post-apartheid constitutional democracy, serious concern has been raised about the government and its ability to deliver public services that its citizens are entitled to. The research aimed to develop a model to improve service delivery in the public sector. The aim was achieved through an in-depth literature review to identify factors that drive service delivery on public sector projects. Three drivers (the public sector, government policies, frameworks and the FIDPM, and project management tools and techniques), with 19 unobserved variables and 192 indicators were identified. Through an iterative Delphi technique, a panel of experts was used to validate the factors identified in the literature review. The panel of experts reached consensus after three iterations on 160 items which were grouped under the three drivers. A conceptual model was developed based on the Delphi study. The proposed improved service delivery model was tested nationally using a self-administered survey questionnaire. Four hundred and ten responses were received. Thereafter the model was subjected to attentive multivariate analysis which included exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path modelling using SPSS version 27 and Amos version 26. The exploratory factor analysis confirmed the drivers, namely, the public sector, government policies, frameworks and the FIDPM, and PM tools and techniques for improved service delivery were valid and reliable and further showed positive and strong relationships to the respective drivers. Thereafter, the confirmatory factor analysis validated the hypothesised factors on the three drivers. Structural equation modelling analysed and assessed the hypothesised path between the drivers and dependent variables in the model for practicality and significance. Out of a total of 22 tested hypotheses, eight (36.36%) were statistically supported. These were presented in a final path diagram which depicted the relationships between the hypothesised paths were practical and significant. The outcomes recorded in this study add to the body of knowledge on an important service delivery framework that is in its infancy of implementation in South Africa. The findings highlighted the role of the public sector and its efforts towards addressing service delivery in South Africa are alarming. However, through numerous policies and frameworks developed by government over the recent decades, service delivery challenges are still present. The implementation of the FIDPM has not yet seen any improvements to service delivery that previous policies and frameworks have failed to address. Project management has been identified as a key area of expertise that may assist government through the application of project management tools and techniques, enhance the implementation of the FIDPM towards improving service delivery on public sector projects.