Context
Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência – PRR) entered an intensive delivery phase, creating a sharp increase in the volume, complexity, and time‑criticality of project implementation, payment validation, and integrity controls within the Recuperar Portugal Mission Structure. In response, this project created and operationalised from scratch the Execution Support Unit (NAE, set up in late 2024 and fully operational from 1 January 2025) to strengthen administrative capacity and accelerate PRR execution while safeguarding compliance.
The initiative represents a structural reform of governance and delivery: it re‑engineers workflows, standardises procedures (manuals, checklists, and templates), scales onboarding and mentoring for a large multidisciplinary team, and uses collaborative digital working methods to ensure traceability, coordination, and consistent decision-making. It also embeds data‑driven public administration by systematically leveraging information systems (e.g. SIGA/FinDup/Findup) for evidence‑based processing, monitoring, and double‑funding risk mitigation through cross‑checks. Overall, the rationale is to improve public‑sector productivity, transparency, and responsiveness to meet PRR milestones and targets.
Objectives
The project’s objective is to strengthen government delivery capacity and governance for PRR implementation in a context of rapidly increasing volume, complexity and time‑criticality of payments, projects, and compliance requirements within the Recuperar Portugal Mission Structure. It provides a concrete solution by creating and operationalising from scratch the Execution Support Unit, scaling a large multidisciplinary team through structured onboarding and mentoring to ensure swift, reliable operational readiness. It further aims to ensure consistent, high‑quality, and auditable decision‑making by standardising end‑to‑end workflows with manuals, checklists, and templates, supported by collaborative digital working methods that improve coordination and traceability. The project also seeks to accelerate processing and improve service delivery to intermediary bodies through formal cooperation protocols and targeted capacity‑building. Finally, it reinforces integrity and transparency by embedding data‑driven controls, systematically leveraging information systems (e.g. SIGA/FinDup/Findup) to validate payments and controls, monitor performance, and mitigate double‑funding risks through cross‑checks, while promoting continuous improvement and automation/AI‑enabled enhancements.
Implementation
The project was designed as an organisational reform within the Recuperar Portugal Mission Structure to rapidly increase delivery capacity for PRR execution. The Execution Support Unit was set up in late 2024 and became fully operational on 1 January 2025, reporting hierarchically to the President and working in permanent functional coordination with investment coordinators, support units, and internal control. A dedicated team of 50 technical experts was recruited through competitive procedures and integrated through a structured onboarding programme covering the PRR framework, information systems, and analysis methodologies, complemented by targeted public administration training. Implementation relied on a mentoring system, continuously updated manuals, checklists, and templates, and thematic teams organised by an intermediary body and investment to ensure specialisation and consistent outputs. Communication and coordination were ensured through dedicated Microsoft Teams channels, regular team and weekly thematic meetings, and collaborative process-management tools enabling traceability. Stakeholder engagement was institutionalised via formal cooperation protocols with intermediary bodies and targeted capacity-building sessions and guidance materials for beneficiaries. Data-driven controls were embedded through systematic use of PRR information systems to validate payments and controls, monitor performance, and mitigate double-funding risks, while operational feedback informed continuous improvements and automation/AI-enabled developments.