The sector consists of public administration entities and publicly owned corporations that are mandated to provide public goods and services. These include national defense, law enforcement services, public education, social welfare services, health care services and transit infrastructure like bridges and roads (Arundel et al, 2019). The public sector is organized and exists at mostly three levels in most economies which are national, regional (states or provincial) and local council/municipal).
Public services organizations are funded by the government through taxpayer funds paid by the citizens and external donor funded programs administered by the government. To ensure minimal economic inequality the government redistributes resources though progressive taxes (Wallstreatmojo.com, 2023). These organizations do not seek to make profit but provide essential services to the society, thereby creating a foundation for peace, safety and economic growth that paves the way to the attainment of the majority of sustainable development goals (SDGs). The government’s roles include safeguarding the country from external threats, providing basic education and health care, maintaining essential infrastructure, conserving the environment and natural resources and ensuring equality among citizens (The Masterclass articles, 2022).
Government organizations provide services that benefit all citizens, for example, street lighting, road networks, health and military and police services. They benefit the society as a whole. The employees are viewed as civil servants who are committed to serve the general society.
Public service organizations are accountable to the citizens and the government which must develop the capacity to administer the taxpayer and donor funds efficiently and effectively (McNabb and Lee ,2020). Therefore, transparency and guaranteed accountability in both operations and finances are expected and this can be improved through a robust quality assurance strategy which becomes a necessity. Public sector organizations and government initiatives are expected to deliver quality services at all times and levels. To ensure quality outputs and outcomes, the public administration organizations must follow a robust quality management system where structures, processes, outputs and outcomes must be quality assured. Quality structures and quality processes have a high probability of producing better quality outputs and outcomes. (Defar et al, 2020).
Public organizations are governed by laws, rules, traditions, and structural bureaucratic checks and balances (Boakye,2016) which are part of quality management because they ensure compliance through adherence to laws, policies and regulations. Quality and quality assurance issues are of paramount importance and they are about meeting expectations and exceeding them. That is why there is a growing need to ensure quality in all government organizations so that the organizations are able to deliver excellence. This ensures that public services are to be accessed effectively and efficiently and equitably among all citizens.
With the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), government organizations can take advantage of the better-quality Information and Communication Technologies ICT systems innovation and use them to enhance service delivery. Quality IT systems must ensure secure interfaces where customer sensitive data is protected. (Alexopoulos et al, 2019). Monitoring and evaluation of these ICT applications is very essential in identifying and correcting problems to ensure that customers always receive quality products and services. The risk and cost associated with government projects calls for organizations to adopt quality assurance principles of fit for purpose and doing the right things the very first time. This will allow the government to engage quality assurance personnel to conduct research and development before projects are commenced and a quality management system will ensure checks and balances on processes to identify and solve problems before they are disastrous. Having a robust quality management system will ensure that projects are finished on time and at the lowest possible cost.
The Global Quality Assurance Association (GQAA), is at the disposal of any government entity and/or organization for consultancy, customized institutional capacity building as well as institutional assessments and evaluations for self-improvement. The GQAA is well versed in carrying out research and development studies for organizations because research and development are at the core of quality assurance (Allam and Chan-Olmsted, 2021). These researches are essential for assessing the initial status of an organization (situational analysis) and to do a needs analysis for public sector service providers, for example. These studies are also essential for collecting information from customers so that the organizations are able to exceed customer expectations. When the needs of the organizations are met, organizations are capacitated to perform above expectations.
The GQAA is committed to building a sustainable quality culture across the world by creating quality and quality assurance awareness, building organizational capacity by continuous training of the public sector employees at any level of the organization on quality issues. The GQAA offers monitoring and evaluation services for organizations in an attempt to make them deliver better outputs (as planned timely and cost efficient), outcomes (maximum benefits at lowest cost) and to make sure that projects contribute to the attainment of the desired societal development in a sustainable manner. The public sector must keep abreast with global and emerging issues such as climate change, disease outbreaks (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic) and sustainable economic development goals, among others. This calls for the government to build a robust workforce that is well informed and trained to the task. The GQAA trains management and personnel to maintain a quality culture even in the face of these challenges. In cases like these, change is inevitable, hence management is required to adapt and embrace change (Krawchenko, 2021). The GQAA is mandated to ensure that the quality culture prevails regardless of the situations.
The public sector also governs the affairs of the private sector to ensure that they function in the interest of the citizens. This calls for government agencies to be accredited and licensed to function and also to be well versed with the governing rules and regulations. The GQAA is available to prepare organizations for accreditations and certifications by creating and developing quality assurance tools/instruments that can be used to plan, assure and improve structures, processes and ultimately the products and services provided. The GQAA strives to ensure quality and create a quality culture in all public institutions at all levels, be it international, regional, national, or local.
