New system for evaluating: Senior journalist Ansar Abbasi has stated in his blog that major reforms have been brought to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the civil service in the country and a new performance management scheme has been introduced in the FBR for Customs and Inland Revenue, which will be extended to all services and cadres of the Central Superior Services to replace the current flawed and scheming system of Performance Evaluation Reports (Peers).
New system for evaluating, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the scheme under which the previous rating of 98% of the officers of the Customs and Inland Revenue Service (also known as the Income Tax Group) in the case of the FBR has been reduced from “Excellent” and “Very Good” to just 40%.
Under the previous system, 99% of the number of Customs and Income Tax officers were rated as excellent (“A Category”) in terms of their integrity. Under the new system, the best performers will be paid better than others. The performance and the resulting compensation package will be reviewed every 6 months.
The Prime Minister has asked the Establishment Division to review and implement the new FBR Performance Management System for all other services and cadres of the Central Superior Services.
The system is believed to dramatically change the efficiency and effectiveness of the country’s civil services. The new system is the brainchild of the current FBR Chairman Rashid Langrial, who with the help of his team designed the entire scheme, piloted it and then successfully implemented it during the last 6 months of review of every officer of the Customs and Inland Revenue Service.
New system for evaluating, In the past, almost every officer was considered “excellent”, “very good” and “very honest” regardless of his reputation and performance, but now under the new system, 20% of officers in each category from “A” category to “E” category will be judged on the basis of a fully digitized performance system and will focus on the quality of work of the officers and their reputation. Not only is the system of evaluating the performance of each officer free from any possible manipulation or interference, but those in better grades will also be compensated based on their performance.
In the case of FBR, 20% of officers in category I have started getting four times more salary, 20% of officers in category B three times, 20% of officers in category C twice while 20% of officers in category D are getting an additional salary.
There is no additional compensation for officers in category E. The scheme will be reviewed on an individual basis every 6 months on the basis of performance. In the case of FBR officers, the additional burden is hardly a few billion rupees.
This new performance appraisal system has been designed in such a way that there can be no tampering or interference. It is not possible to satisfy the wishes of any individual, senior or even the rulers.
Under this system, the scheme has already been piloted by more than 1500 officers of Customs and Inland Revenue Service. Each officer is reviewed anonymously by 45 peers (seniors, juniors, civil service colleagues and batch mates) every 6 months through a forced ranking system.
The forced ranking system ensures that 20% of officers are restricted to each of the 5 categories. This means that no service or cadre will have more than 20% “outstanding” performing officers. Modern cybersecurity tools have been used to keep the identities of the 45 colleagues completely anonymous, and the system has been completely digitized.
The system will be accessible to the Chairman FBR and three members of the FBR, but none of them can change or tamper with the report of any officer. The three members of the FBR can access the data only in a joint manner, and any unauthorized movement or activity regarding data access will be reported to 5 different people, but the report will still not be changed.
A four-level method is used to select the 45 people. The system selects people who are likely to know the officer whose performance is being evaluated. These people give marks on integrity. Along with this, a technical team will also review the quality of the officer’s work.
New system for evaluating, The technical panel, comprising retired FBR officers and other tax practitioners, will review the quality of work of officers selected randomly through a digitized system. The FBR has successfully completed the assessment of all its officers for the last 6 months under the new government.