In the mid 1370sH. the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faced significant challenges. They were in the form of lacking financial resources as well as incomplete structures of institutions and administrative and financial laws. In the early 1380sH. the state was made to call for comprehensive reform efforts, which led to finalizing the construction of the administrative and organizational structure. In turn, this enabled the state to implement its policies in various development areas in the subsequent stages.

Now, the administrative organization in the Kingdom is experienc-ing a new phase of large internal and external challenges. At the do-mestic level, there is a steady population growth, which reached ap-proximately 75% during the period from 1404H. to 1419H. compared to a decline in the state’s financial resources that amounted to approx-imately 58% for the same period. This increase in population, accom-panied by an increase in needs and expectations made the govern-ment face a huge challenge to provide the expected services with li-mited financial resources. 

On the external front, political and technical changes as well as strong economic blocs and interaction requirements with international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), which calls for the liberalization of international trade, have placed the Kingdom in front of another great challenge, which requires the development of economic and administrative structures. 

Believing in the importance of interaction with these challenges, the State adopted new economic policies that included the establishment of some economic institutions such as activating the Supreme Petroleum Council and creating the Supreme Economic Council, along with the Saudi General Investment Authority. In order to ensure the success of these policies and the interaction with internal and external challenges to enable the government sector as well as the private sector to provide quality services to beneficiaries, the current orientation at that time was to adopt the overall organization of state agencies and institutions. If administrative reform efforts in the 1380s and 1390sH. contributed to the establishment of many of the state’s institutions and laws in that period, the current administrative development efforts would  achieve a quantum leap through updating laws to keep pace with modern developments along with building an administrative service that constantly and effectively interacts with such variables. It would be able to provide quality services to beneficiaries, and effectively implement the state’s policy in the various fields of development in both the government and private sectors.

 Establishing the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Orga​nization:

Willing to develop and promote State’s apparatus performance and control its costs within the actual needs, the Royal Decree No. (7/B/6629) dated 07/05/1420H. was issued to form a higher ministerial committee under the name of the Ministerial Committee for Adminis-trative Organization, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation, and Inspector General. The membership of this committee included: 

His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of the Interior

His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Khuwayter, Minister of State, member of the Council of Ministers

His Excellency Mr. Mohamed bin Ali Al-Fayez, Minister of Civil Ser-vice

His Excellency Dr. Mutlab bin Abdullah Al-Nafeesa, Minister of State, member of the Council of Ministers

His Excellency Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance

His Excellency Dr. Khaled bin Mohamed Al-Gosaibi, Minister of Economy and Planning

His Excellency Dr. Jubara bin Eid Al-Suraiseri, Minister of Trans-port

His Excellency Dr. Essam bin Saad bin Saeed, President of the Ex-perts Commission at the Council of Ministers (preceded by His Excellency Dr. Mohamed bin Hassan Al-Jabr, former President of the Authority)

His Excellency Dr. Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al-Shakawy, the IPA Director General. 

In its earlystages, the committee included the following members: His Excellency Dr. Madani bin Abdulqader Alaqi, Minister of State and former member of the Council of Ministers and His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Namla, former Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. 

This committee is concerned with the implementation of an inte-grated national project named: the Project of Administrative Organi-zation of Government Agencies. This project aims at restructuring the administrative system of State institutions, studying the personnel system and volume of posts, qualifying personnel and considering the need for them, studying the size of each department or ministry com-pared to their tasks, and reviewing the pro-rata of grades and levels of employment.

In general, the project of administrative organization of govern-ment agencies aims at developing and modernizing these agencies. It seeks to achieve the following specific objectives: 

a. Promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of government agen-cies performance

b. Developing financial laws and regulations, as well as reducing and rationalizing the costs of government business 

c. Developing employment laws and regulations, and activating the application of the principle of recruitment on the basis of merit

d. Promoting the performance level of the supervising bodies and administrative accountability

e. Maximizing the provision of government services

f. Managing government activities that need to be administered through a commercial approach

g. Expanding the introduction of computer systems in government agencies.

Due to the importance of this task and the breadth of its scope, a ministerial sub-committee emanated from the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization. This subcommittee oversees project studies, follows-up their progress, and prepares briefings to be sub-mitted to the Ministerial Committee. The subcommittee consists of: 

His Excellency Minister of Civil Service, chairman

His Excellency Dr. Mutlab bin Abdullah Al-Nafeesa, Minister of State and member of the Council of Ministers, member

His Excellency Minister of Finance, member

His Excellency Minister of Economy and Planning, member

His Excellency Minister of Transport, member

His Excellency President of the Commission of Experts at the Council of Ministers, member

His Excellency the IPA Director General, member.

A preparatory committee is formed to develop detailed plans for the project and review organizational studies required for government agencies. It is also in charge of drafting its own reports, including development recommendations, and presenting them to the ministerial sub-committee. This committee is composed of: 

His Excellency the IPA Director General, chairman

His Excellency Deputy Minister of Civil Service, member

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor for Planning and De-velopment, member (preceded by Secretary of the Workforce Council which was terminated)

The Secretary General of the Ministerial Committee for Adminis-trative Organization, member

The Director General of the Central Administration for Organiza-tion and Management at the Ministry of Finance, member.

Project field studies are conducted through specialized technical teams. Members of these teams belong to the Ministry of Civil Service, Ministry of Finance, and  the IPA. They also represent the bodies on which the studies are conducted and supervised by the General Secretariat of the Ministerial Committee at the IPA. A specialist from the training faculty at the IPA is appointed as the Project Manager, to be directly linked to the Secretary General of the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization. This person is responsible for the direct supervision of business, activities, and studies conducted by the teams.

A full-time team is formed and linked to the Secretary General of the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization; this team is named “Planning and Review Team.” This team included at the be-ginning of the project, a number of members from the IPA, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Civil Service, and Manpower Council (at that time). It was responsible for developing an operational plan to study the administrative structure of government institutions and the Personnel Law, based on the general plan (Objectives and Policies) adopted by the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization in its minutes of the second meeting held on 13/09/1420H.