The report was prepared by the OECD Directorate for Public Governance (GOV) under the leadership of Elsa Pilichowski, Director, as part of the work programme of the Public Management and Budgeting Division, headed by Jon Blondal.
The report was prepared under the strategic direction of Stephane Jacobzone, Senior Advisor at the Public Management and Budgeting Division. Claire Salama, policy analyst, co-ordinated the report.
Claire Salama drafted the first chapter on capacities for to supply evidence for decision-making in the public sector, the second chapter on building effective connections to support the use of evidence, and the fourth chapter on the role of STRATA in the evidence-informed decision-making system. Richard Alcorn, policy analyst, regulatory policy division, drafted the third chapter on regulatory frameworks and practices. Jurgis Druktenis contributed inputs and provided general support on all chapters of this review. Florentin Blanc, Senior Policy Analyst, Regulatory Policy Division; James Drummond, Policy Analyst, Regulatory Policy Division; Barbara Ubaldi, Head of the OECD Digital Government and Data Unit; Arturo Rivera Perez, Policy Analyst, Data-driven Public Sector Lead, contributed to the workshops. The report was prepared for publication by Meral Gedik. Javier Gonzalez, Lyora Raab and Deborah Merran provided administrative assistance.
The OECD Secretariat expresses its gratitude to the Government Strategic Analysis Center (STRATA) and the Office of the Government of Lithuania for the fruitful co-operation under this project. The Secretariat team would like to thank especially Rūta Komskienė and Danguolė Kiznienė, Policy Analysts, from STRATA, for their ongoing assistance and co‑ordination as well as Viktoras Urbis and other policy analysts from STRATA. The report benefited from rich exchanges with senior management in STRATA: Giedrius Viliūnas, Director, Sigita Trainauskienė, Saulius Kolyta, Senior Policy Analysts, as well as other senior experts. At the Office of the Government, the report benefitted from close co‑operation with Darius Žeruolis, advisor to the prime minister, and with Lukas Savickas in his functions as former vice-chancellor of the Office of the Government.
The OECD secretariat also wishes to thank the steering and working groups of the project. The Steering Group was formed of vice ministers from a set of participating ministries together with the Chancellery: Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economy and Innovation, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy and Innovation. Membership was updated following the election in late 2020. The project thus benefited from the contributions of Rasa Svetikaitė, former Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Justice, Loreta Maskaliovienė, former Viceminister of Finance, Miglė Tuskienė, former Vice-minister, Ministry of Finance, Tautvydas Tamulevičius, former Vice-minister of the Ministry of Interior, Dalia Baležentė, Head of the Legal System Group, Ministry of Justice, Osvaldas Šmitas, Director of Economic Policy Department, Marius Skuodis, former Vice-minister of Economy and Innovation, Raimundas Kalesnykas, Advisor to the Minister of Interior, Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė, Chancellor at the Ministry of Justice, Ieva Valeškaitė, Vice-minister of Economy and Innovation, and Gediminas Norkūnas, Vice-minister of Finance. The working group included senior representatives from the same ministries and the Chancellery: Daiva Žaromskytė-Rastenė, Head of the Strategic Competencies Group at the Office of the Government, Dalia Baležentė, Head of the Legal System Group at the Ministry of Justice, Danutė Burakienė, Advisor, Economic Analysis and Evaluation Division, Vilija Šemetienė, Head of the Economic Analysis and Division at the Ministry of Finance, Jelena Dilienė, Head of the Better Regulation Policy Division at the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, and Paulius Skardžius, Senior Adviser, Public Administration and Local Government Policy Group and Indrė Žvaigždinienė, Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Interior. The report also benefitted from two sessions of discussions with Parliament in September 2020, and in April 2021. In addition, the report benefitted from insights and comments from senior experts, including Giedrius Kadziauskas, Povilas Lastauskas, Eglė Rimkute and Ramunas Vilpišauskas.
A set of fact-finding missions were conducted over 2020 and 2021 and several interactive workshops were held. The OECD wishes to thank prof. Vitalis Nakrošis at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, Dr. Vaidas Morkevičius, Associate researcher at DATtA centre of Kaunas University of Technology as well as other researchers. The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the opportunity to discuss with representatives from the Office of the Government, the Office of the Parliament, the Office of the President, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Competition Council, the Bank of Lithuania, the Central Projects Management Agency, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, the Supreme Audit Institution, Statistics Lithuania, the Centre of Registries, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation the, Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Invest Lithuania, Enterprise Lithuania, as well as representatives of from universities, civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations, and business and trade.
The OECD would also like to extend its gratitude to the peer reviewers for sharing their valuable knowledge and experience, in a personal capacity: Olli Pekka Heinonen, Director General, Finnish National Agency for Education, Jennifer Jones, Better Regulation Executive UK, Adam Baiz, France Stratégie, Jonathan Ayto, Principal Advisor, Regulatory Strategy Team, The Treasury, New Zealand, Nicolas Boulouis, Chamber President at the Council of State, member of the Higher Committee on Codification, France, Morten Vestergaard Hansen, Head of Section, Danish Business Authority, Christine Minas, formerly Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada, currently Executive Director, Policy and Reporting and Chief Data Office, Covid 19 Task Force, Health Canada, Jasmina Beehan, at the time of the report Head of Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Ireland, Riitta Aejmelaeus, Budget counsellor, Ministry of Finance, Finland, Daniele Lamarque Chair European Evaluation Society, European Evaluation Society, Yves Gingras, Head of Evaluation, Employment and Social Development Canada, Floor de Jager, Senior Advisor, Government Finance Inspectorate, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands. Prof. J. Campbell Gemmell, former Head of Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Wendy McVey, former Head of Chemical Safety, Health Safety Executive, UK, Camille Rozier, Simplification and Behavioral Sciences Project Manager, Interministerial Directorate for Public Transformation (DITP), France, Heather Broomfield, Norwegian Digitalisation Agency. Sam Roberts, Head of Open Data & Open Government, Cabinet Office.
The report Mobilising Evidence at the Centre of Government in Lithuania: Strengthening Decision Making and Policy Evaluation for Long-Term Development was co-funded by the European Union via the Structural Reform Support Programme as part of an action carried out in co‑operation with the European Commission’s DG Structural Reform Support', as part of the project on Evidence Based Policy Making and Policy Evaluation at the Centre of Government in Lithuania (REFORM/IM2020/004). The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.