Paula Barrocas Salgado was removed from her position as president of the Social Security Information Technology Institute, which she had held on secondment since 2016. The government justifies the decision on the “need to provide new guidelines for the management of services.” Sérgio Bruno de Carvalho, who until now worked at Deloitte Technology, was appointed to replace her.
In a statement, the Ministry of Social Security says that the Informatics Institute “is a fundamental body for the monitoring and implementation of the Government’s social policies” and is “one of the competent and most appropriate entities to operationalize changes in strategy and digitalization.” transition in the area of governance” of the Ministry. The substitution arises “from the need to provide new guidelines for service management.” Information about the replacement was first provided in information sent last week to the Lusa agency, and now sent to the Observador upon request.
The framework law of public institutions provides for compensation, which corresponds to a “base or equivalent remuneration due until the end of the mandate, with a maximum limit of 12 months,” if the director has already been in office for more than a year. and if the reason for the dismissal is the need to “impose new management guidelines.” This is what happened to the board of directors of the Administrative Modernization Agency (AMA). El Observador questioned the Ministry of Social Security if in this case of the Informatics Institute there is also compensation, but is still waiting for a response.
Sérgio Bruno de Carvalho was chosen by Minister Rosário Palma Ramalho to replace Paula Barrocas Salgado, for having “the conditions, the academic and professional qualification to carry out with merit the direction of a fundamental organization for the Government to guarantee the modernization of the institutions public”. services and make the country more innovative and competitive.”
With a professional career that “has always been linked to the area of new technologies and innovation”, until now it was associate member in Deloitte Technology. He was founder and CEO of Megagroup Lda and was at Portugal Telecom (PT), where he held management and administrative positions between 2006 and 2015. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and a postgraduate degree in management at Nova SBE. The Ministry highlights that the academic itinerary includes attendance at executive and management education programs at the same university. In a Facebook post, he says he is “fully committed to serving my fellow citizens and contributing to the development of our country.”
The dismissal of Paula Barrocas Salgado was criticised by the former Minister of Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, whose ministry renewed the director’s commission for five years in December 2021. In a post on LinkedIn, Ana Mendes Godinho highlights the “public service mission” and the “extraordinary work of operationalising the covid measures, digital transformation of Social Security, automatic family allowance, e-balcão, instant pension, CSI medicines, online legal assistance and so many, many missions in the service of Portugal”. “Today she was fired in the voracity of “cleaning up”, really shooting.
Paula Barrocas Salgado, who was an advisor in the office of the Secretary of State for Social Security between 2009 and 2011, when Helena André was minister, also on LinkedIn, takes stock of almost eight and a half years at the head of the institute.
In the statement, the Ministry of Social Security says that it considers “the role of the Informatics Institute to be fundamental in reinforcing data crossing and improving existing instruments, particularly in terms of coordination between the Tax and Customs Authority and Social Security.” “It is also essential to complete the digital transition process of Social Security services, as well as the implementation of greater fluidity in the Social Security system. The aim is, among other objectives, to guarantee quality access to essential public services for populations throughout the national territory, to deepen the reform of the Front Office – Administrative Office of public administrative services and implement a model of maximum response time for public services that can be evaluated and compared, guaranteeing the interoperability of the different public administration services,” the statement said.
Source: Observadora
