It’s a co-created program which instead of a top-down approach, has a bottom-up process intended to implement initiatives that really respond to the stakeholders' needs. Participation is promoted through several actions, such as the SIMPLEX Tour, which had a team of specialists crossing the country and organizing open events to collect ideas from the citizens and the entrepreneurs.

Another example was the SIMPLEX Jam, which consisted of several participatory meetings and design thinking sessions to gather the public servant’s ideas for new services, but also to improve existing services.

The co-creation effort is also supported by the SIMPLEX + Book, website and social networks that are open and permanent communication channels, where anyone can submit ideas or suggestions.

Another innovative feature is the fact that SIMPLEX covers all the governmental areas, putting different ministries and entities working together and coordinating their efforts to provide better services.

SIMPLEX has had several editions since 2006. Some of the initiatives that comprised the program are already finished, others are being implemented at the moment. It’s a well-known brand in Portugal for years, recognized for the way it identifies priority areas and modernizes and de-bureaucratizes procedures.

The fact that it had already several editions, allowed for some evaluations to be made. There was a study hired to Nova University, based on a generalization of the Standard Cost Model, which did an evaluation of 13 of the SIMPLEX+ 2016 edition measures. And, there’s an evaluation that is being conducted at the moment by Ernst & Young, which was hired by the European Commission, in coordination with the Portuguese government, to evaluate 40 SIMPLEX+ initiatives

Portugal has also been sharing this experience with other countries, helping them develop their own simplification programs, so SIMPLEX is also in the phase of the diffusing lesson.

The majority of the initiatives of the program were brought to the table by the citizens, civil servants, and entrepreneurs.

After the public consultation phase, the proposal evaluation and the program development, there is a collaborative network involving all the Ministries. Such network of SIMPLEX focal points is made up of representatives from all the Ministries and monitors the implementation of the initiatives.

The main SIMPLEX beneficiaries are the citizens and the entrepreneurs that have their daily lives and interactions with the public administration facilitated by all the initiatives comprised in the program.

But not only, but the public administration itself is also one of the main beneficiaries of the program, since it simplifies procedures and regulations, enabling better allocation of human and financial resources and therefore promoting efficiency.

Besides the stakeholder feedback, in 2017, Nova University evaluated 13 of the 255 measures of SIMPLEX+ 2016. Based on a generalization of the Standard Cost Model, it concluded that these 13 measures had: an estimated potential saving of EUR 623,992 million related to the reduction of the administrative costs; companies saved EUR 187,236 million on the filling of forms, and EUR 59,963 million in getting familiar with the regulations; the added value to the economy of EUR 1.094 million; and the public administration saved 490.000 hours of work.

There’s also a current evaluation being conducted by Ernst & Young, ordered by the European Commission, in coordination with the Portuguese government, to evaluate 40 measures.

Besides, the SIMPLEX focal point network has progress reviews every 2 weeks, made on a specific online platform. The Coordinating Entity also prepares progress reports and disseminates the results, which helps to justify the good execution rates.

In each edition, the main challenge is to reach as many stakeholders as possible and to collect and process as many contributions as possible in order to accurately identify the most effective cost/benefit measures to be implemented.

To address this, the hearings and the public sessions had to be very well organized and publicized. And to give strength to these sessions, the political representatives (such as the Secretary of State, the Minister of the Presidency and Administrative Modernization, and even the Prime-minister, took part in some of these meetings, showing that SIMPLEX is a program with strong political support.

Another main challenge was the implementation of measures that needed strong coordination and interoperability between different entities and ministries. The existence of a track record of success regarding execution and results of SIMPLEX, a network of focal points and strong political support from the Prime-Minister helped to overcome these constraints.

In a national program that crosses all the governmental areas such as this, top political support is essential to get the financial and the human resources needed and to push the co-ordination between different entities.

SIMPLEX is regarded as a policy-setting program, that may drive simplification and modernization within the public administration.

Also, the existence of key enablers, such as interoperability (eg. the Portuguese Interoperability Platform, iAP), digital identification and infrastructures of all kind, which are essential for cross-sectorial initiatives to work.

But this co-ordination is also only possible if all the stakeholders are engaged since the beginning, and if there are a proper governance structure and accountability mechanisms. These latter are primordial to keep track of the several initiatives and to make sure that the calendar of the program is on time.

The challenges in de-bureaucratize, simplify and modernize the public administration are shared by governments worldwide, so the way SIMPLEX addresses these problems can also be replicable in many other countries. The SIMPLEX lifecycle is a simple one to replicate: public consultation; proposal evaluation; program development and implementation; and evaluation.

Since its first edition in 2006, several delegations from different countries visited Portugal to know more about the program and study its design and implementation. This methodology focused on co-creation and the engagement of several stakeholders can be used on programs with a national and cross-sector focus, such as the SIMPLEX, but also in smaller programs, or more focused on a specific governmental area or geographic region.

A bottom-up approach, in which the stakeholders are asked to propose initiatives and ideas on how to simplify procedures and modernize the public administration, is a good way of getting some out of the box thinking, and meet the citizens and entrepreneur’s real needs and expectations.

To listen to the public servants is also of great value. They’re also citizens, but they’re the ones providing the services and listening to the complaints of the service users. They know the reality and the challenges that the public administration faces, so they can be a very good source of ideas.

Another important SIMPLEX feature is the communication and marketing strategy. For a program of this nature, communication is considered fundamental to reach all relevant targets, whether by using social media, or more traditional forms of communications in the radio, television, etc. The launch of the annual SIMPLEX program, for instance, is an event cover by the media, and specific merchandising is also produced to raise awareness of the program initiatives.

The 2018 SIMPLEX+ edition was presented to the citizens by life events (birth, health, education, work, family, etc.), instead of governmental areas, so that was also important for the people to realize the true impact the initiatives have in their daily lives. In fact, a famous Portuguese magician was hired to feature in several videos based on this approach, which were presented on TV and were published on Youtube and on the SIMPLEX+ website.

Additionally, the political support and the proper governance and accountability mechanisms are fundamental for its success. The implementation timeline and budget is the responsibility of each entity in charge of the initiative, in coordination with AMA, but the existence of a focal points network, with representatives of all the ministries that regularly meets, is essential to co-ordinate initiatives and to put the different entities working together.