The importance of project management competences: a case study in public administration Eliane Gonzales Meirelles, Anabela Tereso and Cláudio Santos Production and Systems Department / Centre ALGORITMI University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal gonzaleseli2011@hotmail.com, anabelat@dps.uminho.pt, claudio.santos@dps.uminho.pt Abstract. Public administration is increasingly implementing new management practices borrowed from the private sector with the aim of improving quality ser- vice. Public funded projects have specific characteristics, namely regulatory, in resources usage and accountability, that may be related in different ways to ex- isting competence models. However, it is generally understood that project man- agement practices can improve quality and effectiveness in public funded pro- jects. This paper presents a study on the evaluation of competences of project team members of public funded projects in the public administration in Brazil. The research methodology employed document analysis and a survey with team members directly involved in programs and projects in Metropolitan Region of Manaus and in the Social and Environmental Program PROSAMIM. The con- clusions indicate that, although project teams of public funded projects strive to achieve project goals, there are still several competence gaps in elementary pro- ject management practices. Future work will focus on the development of a com- petency model that aims to improve project success in the public sector. Keywords: Project Management, Skills, Public Administration. 1 Introduction Project management is a field that has been applied in organizations since ancient times, with the aim of getting the best results from projects through a more efficient and ef- fective management. Project management practices in the public sector are quite recent, however, the increasing demand for quality and efficiency is driving further implemen- tations in many public sector divisions [1]. The efficient management of project is benefiting organizations in the way it in- creases the probabilities of achieving their objectives, since it enables the control of many factors, such as costs, schedule and risks, thus favoring decision-making on the necessary actions that take projects in the right directions [2]. One of the greatest issues concerning the public sector is the achievement of organizational excellence. Literature suggests that there are great possibilities to develop changes in the mentality, behavior and in the rules towards achieving improvements in the public sector [3].