Beyond the proposed staff and cost cuts, the ordinance does something significant: it formally defines support departments - finance-accounting, procurement, human resources, legal, audit, IT, communication, logistics - and opens the possibility for principal credit authorisers to take over these functions from subordinate institutions entirely or partially.
The legislator creates the legal framework for centralising support functions. What's missing is a concrete model showing how to do this without paralysing the administration. This model already exists and is called a shared service centre.
Instead of each municipality, hospital or school having its own accounting, payroll, procurement or IT departments, these functions are consolidated into a common structure with standardised processes and integrated systems. The service centre becomes an "internal supplier" for multiple institutions - for example, for all municipalities in a county.
"A preliminary study we recently conducted at county level demonstrates the model is directly applicable in Romania. The analysis covered over 100 localities with a total population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants. We identified around 3,000 employees, including 266 in finance-accounting and 88 in human resources.
In finance-accounting, between 60% and 70% of processes have centralisation potential. Of the 266 positions, between 90 and 100 roles could be taken over by a service centre, with productivity increases of 20-30% after the first year and long-term cost reductions of 30-40%. In human resources, approximately 70 of the 88 roles could be centralised, with similar productivity gains," according to the opinion.
The experts propose a gradual implementation model built to reduce resistance to change and validate results step by step. First, a group of 4-6 neighbouring localities forms a cluster and voluntarily shares accounting, payroll and personnel administration functions through a common centre. After validating the model, a single centre is created as a public institution. After minimum 12-18 months of stable operation, functions like payroll processing or IT infrastructure can be transferred to specialised external suppliers.
Romania no longer has the luxury of postponing public administration reform. Budget deficit, European commitments and pressure on local public services demand immediate but sustainable solutions. Shared service centres offer this alternative, allowing staff reductions without reducing service quality.
