INSTITUTIONAL REGULATION OF INTERDEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION OF FORENSIC INSTITUTIONS BASED ON THE ORGANISATIONAL AND ECONOMIC SHARING MODEL

Abstract

This article examines the institutional, legal and financial-economic decentralisation of Ukraine’s forensic institution system, as well as the mechanisms for coordinating these institutions. In view of the limited resources of the state budget and the growing needs of the criminal justice system, the current fragmented structure of the forensic sector—which operates within the isolated frameworks of various ministries (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the Security Service of Ukraine)—leads to significant administrative dysfunctions. This results in delays to pretrial investigations and inefficient allocation of state financial resources due to constant duplication of capital expenditure. Consequently, this study examines the feasibility of implementing the concept of the 'sharing economy' in public administration to overcome departmental particularism and manage forensic expert activities effectively. To address the objectives set out in this article, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach was taken that naturally combines the conceptual tools of macroeconomic theory, jurisprudence and criminology. The economic rationale is rooted in the principles of neo-institutional economic theory, particularly the theory of transaction costs and the economic analysis of law. A thorough macroeconomic audit of the current state of the infrastructure of expert institutions was conducted using methods of systemic-structural analysis and capital expenditure benchmarking. The cost-benefit analysis methodology was used to assess the effectiveness of implementing the shared expert cluster model. Furthermore, Activity-Based Costing principles were applied to establish a unified interagency rate for expert hours, enabling a mathematical formula to be derived for calculating the objective cost of expert services. The main aim of this article is to develop a comprehensive scientific and financial-economic justification for an innovative model of inter-agency coordination of the activities of state forensic medical institutions. This model is designed to create a synergistic mechanism that combines legal, organisational, managerial and macroeconomic tools with the aim of radically optimising logistical support, eliminating functional duplication and cutting inefficient budgetary expenditure, whilst ensuring a significant improvement in the effectiveness of expert support and the impeccable quality of the evidence base. The results of this study convincingly demonstrate that the current extensive, decentralised expert system model has exhausted all of its resource potential. The author has developed a unique two-tier coordination model comprising a strategic tier involving the creation of an Interagency Coordination Council, and an operational tier involving the formation of shared expert clusters covering multiple regions for collective use. Consolidating high-cost analytical equipment into unified centres has been demonstrated to reduce capital expenditure (CapEx) in the state budget by at least 35–40%, as well as lowering operating expenses (OpEx) by 15–20%, due to the economies of scale achieved through centralised, macro-bulk procurement. A key part of the proposed model is creating a secure, unified information and digital platform (ERESR) to automate the routing of expert tasks and enable the sharing of forensic databases between agencies from start to finish. Applying the developed expert-hour billing formula will allow legal mechanisms for transparent financial clearing to be implemented. The integration of the model has been shown to have a direct positive impact on forensic practice, particularly when investigating transnational drug crimes using chemical profiling methods. Shared databases minimise information gaps and enable the rapid identification of common sources of origin for substances. Thus, the innovative model ensures an ideal balance between the economic efficiency of public administration and strict adherence to procedural deadlines (as set out in Article 219 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine), while also preserving the procedural independence of the forensic expert. This establishes a solid legal and institutional foundation for the future integration of the domestic expert network into the European Forensic Science Network (ENFSI).