The Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority (FRCA) has this year implemented the Malcolm Baldridge Framework throughout their organization through the creation of an internalized Service Excellence Awards programme.
The authority first participated in the service excellence awards programme in 2011 and was last year recognized at prize level.
FRCA chief executive officer, Jitoko Tikolevu remains an avid champion and supporter of the SEA programme and the Malcolm Baldridge Framework.
Mr Tikolevu said that the organization saw the framework as an opportunity to benchmark their processes and systems against a widely accepted framework and set of best practices in order to improve. The service excellence KPIs are now also used as a part of the organization’s balance scorecard to ensure measureable and accountable improvements are made.
The internal SEA programme involves the formation of 10 teams from FRCA Headquarters and ports from around the country that will prepare submissions to be evaluated independently by FRCA’s trained evaluators. The evaluators are FRCA staff members that have undergone training by the Public service commission’s service excellence secretariat.
SEA Secretariat trained staff are now SEA advocates in their respective work areas. Earlier this year, the service excellence secretariat and FRCA management embarked on a nationwide SEA awareness programme, visiting every port to share knowledge on the criteria of the service excellence awards, the program itself and the processes involved.
This is in line with FRCA’s roadshows which have been led by Mr Tikolevu who addressed the staff on the various developments in the organization’s push towards organizational excellence.
Public Service permanent secretary, Parmesh Chand said that the initiative taken by FRCA was encouraging to the rest of the agencies that are participating in the 2014 Service Excellence Awards.
Mr Chand said that this has displayed a commitment to continuously strive for excellence and higher standards in the provision of services to the people of Fiji, and the professionalism of the Public Service as whole.
Mr Tikolevu said that the staff and management of FRCA were grateful to the Public Service Commission for the assistance and guidance that has been provided in relation to their implementation of the SEA in FRCA.
“Our participation in the SEA is a long term commitment that is being led by our Board of Directors. Being recognized at the highest SEA level and receiving the Prime Minister’s award is our aim but it will not stop there. We will continue to strive for improvement, for the betterment of this country and its’ people,” Mr Tikolevu said.
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