The experience of public services’ quality benchmarking

The article examines the methods and outcomes of comparative analysis of nine public services being provided by different government bodies in Chelyabinsk Region. The analytical part of the study is based on the survey, conducted in 2006, which is aimed at quality assessment of services provided. The article gives an account of general characteristics of the survey, analyzes quality of interaction with a service supplier, infrastructure elements associated with rendering services, and customer satisfaction with the procedure of service offering. Also, it assesses quality of service delivery and gives cumulative value of services. Public services benchmarking was aimed at determining the reasons of difference in quality and performance efficiency, and also possible ways of applying best practices. The research has been carried out in order to evaluate methods and nalysis of benchmarking capabilities. It based on the data collected after multiple informants have been surveyed in Chelyabinsk to assess the quality of the public services provided. Empirical data were acquired through interviewing citizens, who applied for services in 2006. The method of data acquisition - an official personal interview in service delivery locations. From 6 to 80 informants have been surveyed on each service (sample on each service was shaped in proportion to the number of clients or applicants per year). Totally, the data from 337 informants were collected.