Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions:

Recommended Solution, Implementation, and Justification as per the information below

$$ The recommended solution for Companies office of Jamaica based on the below in formation in $4$ pages

Operational Review and Analysis

In the $2023-2024$ fiscal year, the Companies Office of Jamaica encountered numerous challenges including the growing need for innovation, the growing demand for more web$-$based services, the need for modernized legislation, the need for urgent and immediate compliance with requirements from international external stakeholders $($e$.$g$.$ FATF$),$ staffing challenges, dissatisfaction with the result of the public sector salary reform, outdated software and hardware and the management of all available resources. These challenges were further compounded by the culture of non$-$compliance that exists within Jamaica. The challenges may be broadly categorised under the headings of ;

$1.$ Customer Satisfaction

$2.$ Resource Allocation

$3.$ Operational efficiency

$4.$ Low Compliance Rate

The Companies Office of Jamaica $($COJ$)$ is a Model B Executive Agency operating under the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce. Its main role is to oversee the daily operations of local and foreign companies, as well as individuals and firms conducting business in Jamaica. The Agency is responsible for regulating companies and businesses in accordance with the Companies Act of $2004($Amendment Act$)$ and the Registration of Business Names Act of $1934$

The Agency$$s service offerings are ;

Registration and incorporation services ;

Annual Returns and change document filings

Registry Services inclusive of reports, copies of documents, searches of the Registry

As a Model B Agency, it is allowed to charge fees for the delivery of these services. Fees should cover between $4090\%$ of its annual operating expenses. However,a review of the operating fee structure reveals that of its main revenue streams, only services providing for the registration of new companies are being generated at a rate indicative of the cost to provide the service. Where fees do not cover operating expenses then the Agency is required to seek budgetary support from the Consolidated fund. For the period $2022-2023$ and $2023-2024,$ the total budgetary support requested was not received and in the current financial year, the shortfall in operational funding support is $$228.$M$.$

The COJ had its last fee increase in the year $2010.$ Still, despite this, the Agency has over the years experienced revenue growth, as a result of the organic growth in the number of businesses and companies being registered and the consequential increase in business renewals and annual returns. An analysis of the data shows a $72\%$ increase in the number of company and business name registrations which has in turn allowed revenue to grow concomitantly by $164\%$ since the last fee increase.

However, Despite the growth in revenues, the Agency has seen substantial increases in its operating expenses over a similar period. The cumulative increase in the consumer price index $($CPI$)$ was recorded at $88\mathrm{.}1\%,$ however, the actual effect on the operations over the period was $176\%.$ This increase reflects the impact of two main issues faced by the COJ in this area:

$1.$ The general increases in the cost of goods and services utilized by the COJ.

$2.$ The inability of the job and salary levels to attract appropriate talent $($especially in IT$)$ has led to the Agency pursuing a deliberate strategy of outsourcing critical aspects of its operations to third$-$party service providers and partners to ensure that the functioning of critical systems is not impaired.

The inability of the Agency to recover the costs associated with the services it provides and the lack of sufficient budgetary support has resulted in the following handicaps or performance issues ;

A$.$ Inability to effectively fulfil aspects of its mandate of service delivery to its customers resulting in its inability to achieve its Key Performance Indicator of maintaining the customer satisfaction level of $80\%$ or more.

The COJ conducts two annual customer satisfaction surveys to assess the satisfaction levels of the Agency$$s customers with the products and services offered. One survey is administered internally, the other externally by the Consumer Affairs Commission $($CAC$).$ The results are published on The COJ$$s website.

The survey captures customer feedback on overall customer satisfaction, COJ representatives$$ professionalism, friendliness, attentiveness, competence; wait times, COJ access points and quality of service. It also examines possible differences in satisfaction levels based on the branch accessed and the type of client i$.$e$.$ walk$-$in versus corporate customers.

The last internal Survey was conducted September $12-272023.$ A sample size comprising a cross$-$section of $211$ walk$-$in customers at the Kingston office rated the service at the branch a