The introduction of new management principles in public administration is in many countries linked to the introduction of client-orientation and evaluation by results. In this connection, a good deal of attention should be directed to raising the quality of work of public administration civil servants. This problem is inextricably bound with the task of raising the qualifi cations and competency level of workers in public administration. In this work, we present an analysis of the current situation in management of public administrations. We distinguish between the problems of managing the competences of public servants. As part of the research, we polled more than 365 public servants from the rank of specialist to chiefs of sections. We highlighted the competences in highest demand among public servants. These are general professional skills, regulatory-legal, competences of results orientation and work effi ciency. Least in demand were groups of competences such as change management, self-management and professional growth. The respondents also noted the high demand for renewal of their professional knowledge. However, there remains a problem with exchange of knowledge, when the knowledge received by employees in the best case turns up in conferences but mostly remains only for personal use and is not attached to a single carrier of information. We present proposals for applying an ontological approach to evaluation of the competences of public servants. The set of competences makes it possible with suffi cient precision to describe the work behavior which is required for successful performance of the work in the given position or in a group of similar positions. The application of ontologies makes it possible to link the task of evaluating competences through transformation of the enquiry into a set of terms and concepts with the concrete requirements of the project of the planned task or performed function. Computerization is one of the main components in the strategy for developing the public services. Creation of a system of decision MODELING OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS