Summary

The Office for Properties and Buildings (AGG) of the Canton of Bern is showing improvements after a three-year reform phase. The Audit Committee (GPK) of the Grand Council confirms that the office has hired personnel, standardized processes, and established a new leadership culture. The Department of Construction and Transport (BVD) has implemented ten GPK recommendations. By 2025, all processes should be cleaned up and external contracts for construction management representation should be reduced. The trigger for the investigations was the delay in the Biel Campus of Bern University of Teacher Education (BFH) in 2020.

Persons

  • Audit Committee (GPK) of the Grand Council (Control body)

Topics

  • Organizational development
  • Public administration
  • Project management
  • Cantonal infrastructure

Clarus Lead

The crisis of the AGG symbolizes a structural problem in Swiss cantonal administrations: declining personnel resources coupled with increasing project complexity lead to management chaos. The now documented stabilization is remarkable because the Department of Construction and Transport Bern had to act under considerable political pressure – however, the GPK continues to assert its control rights and demands a new implementation report. This signals lingering distrust despite formal improvements.

Detailed Summary

The AGG was characterized in 2021 as a «chronically ill patient» – a drastic image for an office in a «precarious situation». The findings showed: personnel numbers declined while complex major projects increased exponentially. This was compounded by repeated management changes and public embarrassment from the delay in the Biel Campus in summer 2020, which led to the departure of the interim head.

The BVD now responds with three concrete measures: personnel expansion, process standardization, and cultural reorientation. By 2025, dependency on external service providers should decrease – a critical point, as outsourcing often signals organizational weakness. The GPK does not accept this roadmap unconditionally: it demands another report by then, suggesting that only parts of the implementation are anchored.

Key Findings

  • The AGG has demonstrably improved personnel resources and process organization after a three-year reform phase, but remains under parliamentary oversight.
  • Dependency on external contractors should be systematically reduced by 2025 – an indicator of planned relocation of core competencies back into the office.
  • The GPK's continued demand for control indicates incomplete stabilization: trust restoration has not yet been achieved.

Critical Questions

  1. Evidence: What metrics did the GPK use to assess «improvement»? Are the milestones by 2025 (process cleanup, outsourcing reduction) measurable and publicly traceable?

  2. Conflicts of Interest: To what extent is the BVD under pressure to demonstrate success to deflect political accusations of incompetence – could this lead to exaggeration of progress?

  3. Causality: Was the personnel shortage or management chaos the primary cause of the Biel Campus delay? Or was there a project design problem that cannot be solved by mere staff increases?

  4. Feasibility: How is the «new office culture» measured? Is there a risk that employees will lose their innovation capacity under an increased control regime?

  5. Alternatives: Why is it not examined whether major projects should fundamentally be outsourced to a separate, specialized department instead of being reintegrated into the reformed standard bureaucracy?

Sources

Primary Source: «Chronically ill patient» – Commission finds improvements at struggling office – Berner Zeitung, 09.05.2023 https://www.bernerzeitung.ch/kommission-stellt-verbesserungen-bei-kriselndem-amt-fest-224338598687

Verification Status: ✓ 09.05.2023

This text was created with the support of an AI model. Editorial responsibility: clarus.news | Fact-checking: 09.05.2023