Institutional Performance Evaluation through Benchmarking in Public Administration: Methods and Impact

In the context of accelerated technological development and the significant increase in data volume, the public administration in Romania faces the challenge of adapting its methods for evaluating activities and implicitly, institutional performance. This scientific endeavor explores the hypothesis that the Romanian public administration can optimize its internal processes and achieve significant operational efficiency benefits by integrating data analysis models and internal benchmarking into administrative activities. The research employs quantitative methods, specifically Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to assess the relative performance of public entities. The application of DEA allowed for the comparison of 42 similar units, namely county agencies for payments and social inspection in Romania, identifying specific inefficiencies and providing insights into their performance over a four-year period. The results obtained contributed to identifying best practices in resource management and highlighting potential risk areas in their activities, thus providing a solid foundation for strengthening institutional performance in the field of social assistance.