Context
The project falls under the category of Innovating Government, Governance and Policies by making a decisive contribution to modernising the civil service infrastructure. It achieves this by significantly enhancing the core competencies of public administration employees, specifically targeting skills that foster public sector innovation, such as innovation and change management, initiative, inter-departmental collaboration, critical analysis, and problem-solving. Furthermore, the initiative directly supports the systemic adoption of competency-based management frameworks across the entire Portuguese Public Administration. It introduces highly innovative approaches to vocational training management, notably through the cutting-edge production of e-learning training modules developed using generative artificial intelligence. By integrating these advanced methodologies, the project successfully accelerates the uptake of digital tools among public employees, driving increased participation in remote learning courses and expanding the secure use of digital authentication systems across government.
Objectives
The primary objective of this project is to provide comprehensive, free-of-charge training on the new Public Administration Competencies Framework to all public sector employees across the nation. This main goal is supported by a structured project design and implementation strategy that encompasses robust institutional arrangements, centralised governance and management structures, a dedicated budget and staff allocations, extensive stakeholder consultations, and proactive communication campaigns. As a specific objective, the initiative focuses on deploying a tailored capacity-building educational offer that enables flexible learning paths, ensuring that the training delivery is fully adaptable to the diverse professional needs and schedules of public administration workers.
Implementation
The National Institute for Administration (Instituto Nacional de Administraçãol – INA) coordinates the development of the ReCAP training programme, managing an implementation model that relies on strategic institutional partnerships, public service procurement, and dedicated funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). Key institutional partners driving the project include the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (Direção-Geral da Administração e do Emprego Público –
DGAEP), the Shared Services of Public Administration (Entidade de Serviços Partilhados da Administração Pública – eSPap), and the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – FCT). To execute the technical components, procurement services were secured for a specialised consultancy to design the overarching training frameworks and course programmes, an educational technology firm to develop generative AI-driven virtual assistants for multimedia production, three dedicated multimedia producers, sixteen subject matter experts for content development, and a specialist to manage beta testing operations.
The project is structured across five distinct, chronological phases, beginning with planning and procurement in the first semester of 2024, followed by system development and internal team training in the second semester. The operational roll-out scaled up with the production and delivery of 84 core-competency courses between January and October 2025, moving into the production and delivery of 222 functional-competency courses from August 2025 to December 2026, and concluding with a dedicated data analysis and continuous improvement phase scheduled for 2027. Project governance is led by INA’s Training and Qualification Services Directorate, which oversaw the internal team’s growth from a single technician during the initial phase to six full-time and three part-time technicians by the fourth phase. Internal and external communication is managed in coordination with INA’s Cooperation and Communication Services, utilising targeted channels, promotional events, and an institutional video co-produced with DGAEP.