The repository of expertise that resides in the public service forms the backbone of its capability and capacity to govern. The traditional experts were the officers who learn the policies, strategies, rules and regulations and who apply them to their day-to-day administrative areas – be it for processing applications, creating public programs or simply dispensing service. However, in the current state, there are no separate hiring, management, promotion and assessment pathways for expert work areas especially those dealing with highly technical outputs, advanced knowhow and technologies. People are managed alike, whether they are involved in molecular science research for the last 20 years or developed strategy blueprint for the insurance sector for the last 3 years or are processing immigration passes for the last 6 months.

Why is expertise management crucial in public administration?

As the governed areas expand, so does the expertise. The knowhow becomes more advanced by the day and the need for subject matter specialists/experts becomes even more crucial. However, without clear tagging of the expert teams, their capabilities and their outputs, it will become increasingly impossible to call upon the right expertise to address arising challenges and requirements in the areas governed. Consequently, public service experiences service gaps and huge lags in responding to the requirements put on it by the public.

It is known that the robust growth within the private sector in the last 5 decades has resulted in the best talents choosing the former over the less competitive public service. Compounded by lack of separate hiring, management, promotion and assessment tracks for those who are technically inclined and those dealing with very advanced knowhow, the public sector has effectively driven away the very capabilities that it requires. It then pays many times more to engage the same capabilities in the capacity of private consultants/solution providers on its various initiatives.

Demographics, culture, natural endowments, political settings and the public demands are some of the factors that influence what the public sector is expected to deliver and how it is to deliver them. With each constituency, let alone country being vastly different and unique, the public service at various levels must be well equipped to respond to local requirements. Expertise, thus, cannot be bought off the market because it loses relevancy and effectiveness. The only way is to develop and retain a strong presence of expertise within every area of public service.