{
  "id": "competency:mpa-public-administration",
  "code": "CDU-BUS-MPA-900",
  "level": "MM",
  "name": "MPA Public Administration",
  "faculty": "Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management",
  "lineage": [
    {
      "institution": "Conquest Designer University",
      "year": 2026,
      "note": "authored from the brief and the NASPAA standards; no prior institution is claimed"
    }
  ],
  "researchProject": "Deciding in public: appraisal, procurement, debt and distribution as four calculations a public manager must show",
  "description": "The analytic core of public management: the social net present value and benefit–cost ratio of a programme at the social discount rate, the 80/20 or 90/10 preference-point award of a public tender, the path and stabilising primary balance of public debt, and the Gini coefficient of an income distribution.",
  "syllabus": [
    "Appraisal: social cost–benefit analysis, the social time preference rate, NPV and BCR (Green Book)",
    "Procurement: price points, specific-goal points, the 80/20 and 90/10 systems (PPPFA Regulations 2022)",
    "Public finance: debt dynamics, the interest–growth differential, the debt-stabilising primary balance (IMF DSA)",
    "Distribution: the Gini coefficient and the mean income"
  ],
  "reference": {
    "Social NPV": "Σ (B_t − C_t) ÷ (1 + r)^t, r = 3.5% STPR (Green Book) unless stated",
    "Price points (80/20)": "Ps = 80·(1 − (Pt − Pmin) ÷ Pmin); up to 20 points for specific goals; 90/10 above R50 million",
    "Debt dynamics": "d(t+1) = d(t)·(1 + r) ÷ (1 + g) − pb; stabilising pb* = d·(r − g) ÷ (1 + g)",
    "Gini": "Σᵢ Σⱼ |xᵢ − xⱼ| ÷ (2·n²·μ)"
  },
  "role": "You are a senior public servant briefing a minister. State the rule that governs the decision, show the calculation, and say what the minister must decide that the numbers cannot.",
  "feeUsd": 1,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "qualification": {
    "award": "MPA",
    "nqfLevel": 9,
    "qualificationType": "Master's Degree (HEQSF qualification type 9a)",
    "totalCredits": 180,
    "minCreditsAtExitLevel": 120,
    "iscedFields": [
      "041",
      "031"
    ],
    "standards": [
      "NASPAA Accreditation Standards for Master’s Degree Programs (2019) — Standard 5, universal required competencies",
      "HM Treasury (2022) The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation — social time preference rate 3.5%",
      "Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act 5 of 2000 and the Preferential Procurement Regulations, 2022 (80/20 and 90/10)",
      "IMF (2013) Staff Guidance Note for Public Debt Sustainability Analysis in Market-Access Countries"
    ],
    "registration": "not registered"
  },
  "modules": [
    {
      "code": "CDU-BUS-MPA-900-901",
      "title": "Coursework — the executable units",
      "nqfLevel": 9,
      "credits": 60,
      "prerequisites": [],
      "coRequisites": [],
      "outcomes": [
        "answer every unit of the qualification against its published reference, with the working shown"
      ],
      "assessment": {
        "formative": [
          "worked examples re-run against the published reference",
          "seeded practice scenarios, deterministic per (pan, unit, attempt)"
        ],
        "summative": "every unit passed once through the seeded assessment (the seeded assessment room)",
        "passMark": 50,
        "subminimum": 40,
        "moderation": "internally assessed by the unit itself — its reference implementation is the marker; the working is published so anyone can re-run the mark (D-13.1 — no model marks anything)"
      },
      "unitIds": [
        "social_cba",
        "preference_points",
        "debt_dynamics",
        "gini"
      ],
      "notionalHours": 600
    },
    {
      "code": "CDU-BUS-MPA-900-902",
      "title": "Research report",
      "nqfLevel": 9,
      "credits": 120,
      "prerequisites": [
        "CDU-BUS-MPA-900-901"
      ],
      "coRequisites": [],
      "outcomes": [
        "Deciding in public: appraisal, procurement, debt and distribution as four calculations a public manager must show"
      ],
      "assessment": {
        "formative": [
          "worked examples re-run against the published reference",
          "seeded practice scenarios, deterministic per (pan, unit, attempt)"
        ],
        "summative": "the research report, assessed against the qualification’s published reference block",
        "passMark": 50,
        "subminimum": 40,
        "moderation": "internally assessed by the unit itself — its reference implementation is the marker; the working is published so anyone can re-run the mark (D-13.1 — no model marks anything)"
      },
      "unitIds": [],
      "notionalHours": 1200
    }
  ],
  "units": [
    {
      "id": "social_cba",
      "name": "Social cost–benefit analysis",
      "answers": "At the social discount rate, does the programme’s stream of benefits justify its costs?",
      "example": {
        "benefits": [
          0,
          400000,
          450000,
          500000,
          500000
        ],
        "costs": [
          1200000,
          50000,
          50000,
          50000,
          50000
        ],
        "discountRate": 0.035
      },
      "reference": "HM Treasury Green Book (2022): discounting at the social time preference rate of 3.5% (years 0–30); NPV and benefit–cost ratio",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "benefits": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Social benefits per year, year 0 first"
          },
          "costs": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Social costs per year, year 0 first"
          },
          "discountRate": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Social discount rate, 0–0.2",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 0.2,
            "default": 0.035
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "pvBenefits": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Present value of benefits"
          },
          "pvCosts": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Present value of costs"
          },
          "npv": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "PV benefits − PV costs"
          },
          "bcr": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "PV benefits ÷ PV costs"
          },
          "worthwhile": {
            "type": "boolean",
            "describe": "NPV > 0"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "preference_points",
      "name": "Preferential procurement award (80/20 or 90/10)",
      "answers": "Which bidder scores highest once price points and specific-goal points are added under the applicable preference system?",
      "example": {
        "estimatedValue": 12000000,
        "bidPrices": [
          1000000,
          950000,
          1100000,
          990000
        ],
        "specificGoalPoints": [
          16,
          8,
          12,
          4
        ]
      },
      "reference": "Preferential Procurement Regulations, 2022 (PPPFA Act 5 of 2000): 80/20 up to R50 million, 90/10 above; Ps = 80(1 − (Pt − Pmin)/Pmin) or 90(…)",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "estimatedValue": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Estimated Rand value of the tender (selects 80/20 or 90/10)",
            "min": 0
          },
          "bidPrices": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Each acceptable bidder’s price"
          },
          "specificGoalPoints": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Specific-goal points each bidder is allotted (≤ 20 under 80/20, ≤ 10 under 90/10)"
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "system": {
            "type": "string",
            "describe": "80/20 or 90/10"
          },
          "pricePoints": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Price points per bidder (2 dp)"
          },
          "totalPoints": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Price + specific-goal points (2 dp)"
          },
          "winner": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "1-based position of the highest total"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "debt_dynamics",
      "name": "Public debt dynamics",
      "answers": "Where does the debt-to-GDP ratio go over the projection, and what primary balance would hold it steady?",
      "example": {
        "debtRatio": 0.72,
        "interestRate": 0.09,
        "growthRate": 0.07,
        "primaryBalance": -0.01,
        "years": 5
      },
      "reference": "IMF (2013) Staff Guidance Note for Public Debt Sustainability Analysis: d(t+1) = d(t)(1 + r)/(1 + g) − pb, nominal effective r and g",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "debtRatio": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Debt ÷ GDP now",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 10
          },
          "interestRate": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Nominal effective interest rate on debt",
            "min": -0.1,
            "max": 1
          },
          "growthRate": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Nominal GDP growth",
            "min": -0.5,
            "max": 1
          },
          "primaryBalance": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Primary balance ÷ GDP (surplus positive)",
            "min": -0.5,
            "max": 0.5
          },
          "years": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Projection horizon in years",
            "min": 1,
            "max": 50
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "projectedDebtRatio": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Debt ÷ GDP at the horizon"
          },
          "change": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Projected − current"
          },
          "stabilisingPrimaryBalance": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "pb* = d·(r − g) ÷ (1 + g)"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "gini",
      "name": "Gini coefficient",
      "answers": "How unequal is this income distribution, on the scale from 0 (equal) to 1?",
      "example": {
        "incomes": [
          12000,
          18000,
          25000,
          31000,
          40000,
          52000,
          68000,
          90000,
          130000,
          250000
        ]
      },
      "reference": "Gini (1912); the mean-absolute-difference definition used by the World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "incomes": {
            "type": "number[]",
            "describe": "Income of each person or household (not negative)"
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "gini": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Σ|xi − xj| ÷ (2n²μ)"
          },
          "mean": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Mean income"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}