SUMMARY
The “Dites-le-nous une fois” (Share your information once) programme aims at easing the administrative burden on companies by reducing the volume of data required in their exchange with French public services. The French government wants to minimise redundant requests for information from businesses by improving collaboration and information sharing between public services, and increasing data re-use among these services. Two projects are now part of this programme: MPS (Marché Public Simplifié) which aims to simplify access to public tenders; and APS (Aide Publique Simplifiée), which will streamline the process for requesting public aid and subventions.
CASE ABSTRACT
A unique ID and a trusty environment
The “Dites-le-nous une fois” (Share your information once) programme aims at eliminating this data redundancy among public services. By 2017, three measures will be implemented:
- Companies will provide a unique ID to identify themselves. This unique ID will be the SIRET (Système d’Identification du Répertoire des Etablissements), an INSEE code that already identifies companies in France;
- Companies will have to provide their revenues, their workforce and all their fiscal, social and accounting data only once;
- Companies will no longer need to provide official documents delivered by public services - such as proof of ID or a tax statement - as part of their administrative procedures.
Basically, the “Dites-le-nous une fois” programme intends to modify the way public services are coordinated and communicate with businesses.
Areas that will be simplified through this programme are:
- Data and information exchange between administrations and public services. Business will no longer be asked for documents if they already exist ;
- Transformation of forms. Only useful information will be requested from businesses;
- Digitisation of administrative procedures to streamline data submission and processing;
- A trusting collaboration between public services and private companies. No document will be requested if not required. The French government wants to promote an “a priori trust”.
Three reference administrations
As the programme requires a high level of work around data and information sharing between public services, three administrations were identified to organize and coordinate the provision of information and data to other public services and control their access to it. They are:
- INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques), which collects information related to ID;
- DGFIP (Direction Générale des Finances Publiques – in charge of the management of public spending and revenue), for the sharing of accounting and fiscal information;
- DSS (Direction de la Sécurité Sociale – in charge of social policy in France) for social information.
MPS and APS, two implementations of “Dites-le-nous une fois”
The principles of the “Dites-le-nous une fois” programme are currently being applied in two projects:
- MPS (Marché Public Simplifié) to simplify the access of companies, large or small, to public tenders ;
- APS (Aide Publique Simplifiée) to simplify requests from companies for public aid and subventions.
Launched in mid-2014, MPS is the first experiment with the “Dites-le-nous une fois” programme. The test, previously limited to bids up to 207 000 euros, was extended to all tenders in November 2014.
With the programme, it will be easier for businesses to submit a bid in a public tender. The SIRET ID number will be requested for some certified MPS public offers. Then, all the applicant has to do is to provide their technical specifications and data related to the specific proposal. Businesses currently need to provide their ID and submit six documents. With MPS, they will only need to provide their ID - the SIRET number – before submitting their bid. A digital signature is no longer required. Businesses will provide a declaration of honour that replaces all the documents – remember the “a priori trust”.
How does it work?
Public marketplaces provide an integration kit (free) that allows public buyers to submit their own bids by clicking a button (Répondez avec votre SIRET – Respond with your SIRET). This function will include all the required information. The offer will then become MPS-compatible and be identified by a MPS logo. Public buyers will have secure access to a platform to visualise the profile of businesses that submit bids.
Companies can identify MPS-compatible offers via a global search engine (this is currently being tested on www.apientreprise.fr). MPS intends to broaden the profile of companies that can respond to public calls. With MPS, more companies, even the smallest, will be able to respond to public calls.Currently, small companies are afraid of responding because of the administrative burden and the number of documents they must provide.
Like MPS, APS (Aide Publique Simplifiée) allows companies to request public aid and subventions by only providing their SIRET number. This was tested in November 2014, and will be widely used in 2015. Public buyers can also implement a dedicated function (“Simply ask for a public aid”) on their tender, using an integration kit (free) provided by public operators. This function provides a shortcut to the required – and only - information on the tender.
Policy Context
This programme is part of a global plan to modernise public services and is one of a range of actions being taken in France to digitalise such processes and improve collaboration between ministries and public services. The SGMAP (Secrétariat Général pour la Modernisation de l’Action publique) is responsible for implementing the new reforms.
In December 2013, the CIMAP committee (Comité Interministériel pour la Modernisation de l’Action Publique) decided (Decision #20) to initiate the governmental programme “Dites-le-nous une fois” and launch a pilot to test the MPS (Marché Public Simplifié) plan.
“Dites-le-nous une fois” should be fully implemented in 2017. 150 M€ have been allocated to it, via the Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir (PIA) whose goal is generally to support and accelerate the application of innovative projects that will make life easier for businesses.
According to an OECD Survey, 3 companies out of 4 consider that reducing repeat requests for information should be a government priority. As an example, data related to revenues and the workforce are, on average, requested from companies by public services between 10 and 15 times. The cost of this administrative burden is estimated at between 3% and 5% of GDP a year.
Technology solution
Technology choice: Standards-based technologyMain results, benefits and impacts
To date, the programme has helped to streamline 17 administrative procedures and forms, 7 of which have simply been deleted. A total of 250 000 companies now have access to pre-filled forms for social procedures (contribution sociale de solidarité). In 2015, 30 other processes will also be streamlined.