Public sector organizations have different organizational structures and needs from private sector organizations, and use design management in a way that suit better their needs. International research has shown the benefits from integrating design into public sector, but little is known about the relationship between the design sector and Rio de Janeiro s public administration. In order to meet this demand, the objective of this study is to understand the relationship between design and Rio de Janeiro s public administration in order to develop further studies on the subject. Thus, this study was conducted in two steps: (1) data collection in Rio Transparente, a municipal digital tool for the dissemination of information on government management, by searching the keyword design in the corporate name field to identify companies that provided services to Rio de Janeiro s public administration; (2) and the application of two online surveys to research subjects selected in records provided by the Design Management Laboratory from PUC-Rio, the State Department of Economic Development, Energy, Industry and Services and the Carioca Design Centre. Research results show that Rio de Janeiro s public administration uses design beyond its traditional boundaries, in areas such as design service and branding. Additionally, we found evidences that Rio de Janeiro s public administration presents a low degree of maturity of the design, using the discipline predominantly small-scale projects or on an emergency basis.