A I D E M E M O I R E BANGLADESH Strengthening Public Expenditure Management Program (SPEMP)

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1 Public Disclosure Authorized A I D E M E M O I R E BANGLADESH Strengthening Public Expenditure Management Program (SPEMP) Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight (SPO) Project: TF Implementation Support Mission December 20 to December 27, 2015 I. Introduction and Acknowledgement Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized 1. A World Bank team 1 carried out a review of implementation progress of the Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight (SPO) project from December 20 to December 27, This is the third mission since the project was restructured in June The objective of the mission was to (a) provide implementation support through review of progress against targeted results and (b) agree with the Parliament Secretariat the actions required to support the achievement of PDO and intermediary results. 2. The mission met with senior officials of the Parliament Secretariat (PS), Project Director and other members of the project team. A list of people met is attached in Annex 1. The mission records its appreciation for the cooperation and support extended by the Parliament Secretariat (PS), particularly by the Senior Secretary, the Project Director and the project implementation team. This Aide Memoire (AM) summarizes the mission s findings and recommendations which were discussed at a wrap up meeting with the Senior Secretary and the Project Director of the Parliament Secretariat on December 22, Also, it has been agreed that the aide-memoire will be classified as public document under the Bank s Access to Information Policy. II. Key Project Data and Performance Rating Key Project Data Performance Ratings Previous Current Original Closing Date 06/30/2014 Project Development Objective MS MS Revised Closing Date 03/31/2016 Implementation Progress MU MS Original Grant Amount USD 5.0 m Fiduciary S S Revised Grant Amount USD 4.2 m Monitoring and Evaluation S S Disbursed Amount USD 3.6 m Flags None None Disbursed Percentage 86.4% Ratings: S= Satisfactory; MS=Moderately Satisfactory; MU=Moderately Unsatisfactory; U=Unsatisfactory 1 Suraiya Zannath, (Task Team Leader), Tracey Lane (Senior Public Sector Specialist), Marghoob Bin Hussein (Senior Procurement Specialist), Mohammed Atikuzzaman (Financial Management Specialist), Les Kojima (STC), Tasfia Awal Miti and Irtifa Tasnia Suman (Team Assistants). 1

2 III. Development Objectives 3. The project development objective, after a level 1 restructuring in June 2014, is to modernize the business processes followed by the financial oversight committees of the Parliament of Bangladesh. As shown in the updated Results Framework (Annex 2), the end of project targets for the PDO level indicator and the intermediate results indicators had all been exceeded. However the FOC reports on the web site, one of the PDO indicator was available only for PAC and the reports of two other committees will be available by March Therefore the performance rating was retained as MS while implementation progress have been upgraded from the MU rating agreed at the time of June 2015 implementation support mission to MS in this mission. This significant progress is outlined below and also reflected in the updated Results Framework shown at Annex The Bank noted that the PDO level results indicator (number of Financial Oversight Committee reports readily available on public website) reflects solely the results of the work of the Public Accounts Committee. Although the system is now fully functional and available to be used by the Public Undertakings Committee and Estimates Committee supported by secretariat staff who are capable of operating and maintaining the system, it depends on the committees themselves to use the system. It was agreed that the Speaker will make further decision to roll out the MIS to other committees after formal handover of the system in the first week of March Given this high level commitment, it is expected that the use of MIS by other two committees will also be implemented and thus the result indicator of making the reports generated by the system available on public website will be met. 5. The Bank also noted that the committee reports posted on the Parliamentary website were all necessarily compiled and uploaded outside the MIS, which was under development until December The MIS has already been rolled out from January 15, Ten relatively minor technical fixes identified during the mission, primarily related to the formatting of system generated outputs has already been addressed. In addition to increasing the efficiency and transparency of the work of the financial oversight committees, this will have an immediate impact on increasing the frequency of reporting to Parliament, which in turn will aid in readability and understandability of the committee reports. It is commendable that the project has identified these technical fixes and advised the consulting firm to resolve them within the specified time before rolling out. The project is on track to fully achieve these results prior to March 31, 2016, closing date of the project. IV. Detailed Implementation Progress 6. In December 2015, a level 2 restructuring was approved to extend the grant closing date by 3 months, from December 31, 2015 to March 31, This was in response to a government request to extend the closing date by 6 months up to June 30, 2016, and was the second extension of the project closing date, resulting in a cumulative extension of 21 months. 7. All of the following actions, agreed during the June 2015 implementation support mission, were noted to have been satisfactorily completed: An action plan, summarizing the activities along with the suggested measures to be undertaken by the consultants and relevant authority of the Parliamentary Secretariat. Issue a circular or order notifying the FOC staff of the decision to adopt the MIS. 2

3 Directive to the OPML consultants to submit an advisory note summarizing activities delivered till date, areas not yet covered, plan for completion and issues that require approval of the Parliamentary Secretariat. Presentation and workshops on MIS. A directive or order to the IT department to take over the MIS from the OPML including the operational manual. A note from the IT department on MIS before taking over, highlighting whether there are any issues that need to be addressed to complete the takeover. Component 1: Sustainability Plan and Rollout of MIS-assisted Business Processes in the Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat. 8. Since the implementation support mission of June 2015, a new Project Director has been appointed, all agreed actions from June 2015 mission have been completed, and significant progress has been made. Most notably, the Management Information System (MIS) which had not been used to produce a single briefing note or to record a single committee decision as of the June 2015 mission had generated over 100 briefing notes and records of decisions, and over 40 enquiry reports. These outputs were produced by a 22- member core team formed within the Parliamentary Secretariat since June 2015 mission, specifically to complete the development of the MIS, implement it prior to the closing date of the project, and sustain its use after the closing date. 9. The core team used actual data to generate the MIS reports, and as an additional quality check, an editorial board led by a Joint Secretary reviewed the MIS outputs to ensure that they would be suitable for public disclosure on the Parliamentary website. While many revisions to the MIS were made during this user-acceptance/pilot testing phase, 10 specific technical fixes remain to be addressed by the consulting firm (see Annex 3). 10. The required fixes are largely ones relating to formatting the system-generated outputs, and they will not delay plans to begin using the MIS for all business of the Public Accounts Committee, Public Undertakings Committee, and Estimates Committee, commencing from January 1, The Chairs of all 3 financial oversight committees have already indicated their support for the new MIS-assisted business processes, following demonstrations of the system delivered by the core team. In addition to user training on the new MIS, a core IT team comprising 18 staff has been formed in the Parliamentary Secretariat. The IT team has begun to receive training that will culminate after approximately 100 hours of study in an online international certification exam. The IT team will also continue to receive training on hardware and network maintenance and on Linux language. In addition, a maintenance team comprising systems analysts and computer programmers are receiving training on MIS development tools including training on PHP language by IECL. To ensure continuity of the system maintenance, it is recommended that PMCU reach agreement with IECL by February 15, Component 2: Project Management and Coordination Unit (PMCU) 11. The PMCU headed by PD (Admin) has been proactively functioning to achieve the targeted results. Several steps to expedite project implementation have been undertaken in the last six months. These include: (i) preparation and implementation of an MIS sustainability and maintenance plan; (ii) recruitment of an IT expert; (iii) arranging international level on-line training on MIS for secretariat staff; (iii) resolution 3

4 of contract issues with OPML including advance notice on contract management; (iv) delivering orientation training on the MIS for the Chairs and Members of the Financial Oversight Committees; and (v) processing a project extension in a timely manner. The PMCU has proactively handled the long pending issues concerning MIS user testing and set the stage for successful closing of project implementation. V. Fiduciary Arrangements 12. The overall fiduciary performance rating of the project is Satisfactory (S). Below is a summary of findings and agreed actions. 13. Fiduciary capacity: Fiduciary capacity of the project is considered adequate for managing financial management and procurement as per the agreed implementation plan of the project. The project financial reports (IUFRs) and audit reports have been received in satisfactory form and on time. The project is fully compliant with fiduciary arrangements. 14. Planning and Budgeting: Total revised budget for FY is BDT million. The cumulative reported expenditure till September 2015 is million. Expenditure forecast and fund flow planning for the next two quarters are BDT million. The project is coming to an end soon. However a few procurement, as discussed below, are pending. Since Shopping/RFQ method will be used for goods and single source for selection of firms, the project would need less than a month to complete procurement. i. Goods: Packages 11, 21, 22 and 23 will be procured in January ii. Services: Package S-16 is pending only (software firm) and the selection will be on single source basis. 15. Internal Control: The Mission noted inadequacy in timeliness of submission and settlement of invoices of consultancy firm OPML where two invoices, amounting to USD 30,582.21, are pending. The mission strongly recommends that the project take necessary measures to settle the pending invoices and request OPML to submit the invoices within the project period. 16. Governance and oversight arrangement: A draft annual audit report for the financial year ended on 30 June 2015 was submitted to the project. The auditor expressed an unqualified audit opinion which indicates that the financial statements of the project reflect a true and fair view of the operation. However, the mission noted that one audit observation for FY and three audit observations for FY are still unresolved. The mission noted that the observations were not material enough to affect the auditor s opinion, but recommends that PMCU follow up with FAPAD and resolve the audit issues before the Grant closing date. 17. Disbursements: As of December 26, 2015 the total disbursement stands at 86.45% amounting to USD 3.63 million. The undisbursed amount as of December 27, 2015 is USD 0.57 million. 18. Fund flow, accounting and financial reporting: Consistent and timely submission of IUFR was noted. Review of recent IUFRs till September 2015 shows that the submissions were in compliance with the Bank s requirement. 4

5 19. Procurement Capacity: The mission recommends that the project utilize some funds for training on procurement or project management in ITC-ILO, Turin, Italy. These capacity development training will have the impact of technology transfer and knowledge retention. Customized training programs for parliamentarians (MPs and PS officers) have also recently started in ITC-ILO. This course is tailor-made for PIU and PS-nominated participants. VI. Monitoring & Evaluation: 20. The mission noted that the PMCU has captured the performance against the results framework of the project and maintained the documentation systematically. The PD with the assistance of project members has been monitoring and reporting on project progress periodically and provided all necessary information and data to the mission. The M&E performance rating has been retained as Satisfactory. VII. Assessment of achievements against project development objectives and results: 21. During the mission an assessment of project performance since inception was carried out by a Bank staff independent of the project implementation team. The purpose of the assessment was to facilitate timely preparation of Implementation Completion Report (ICR) of the project and to identify any issues requiring resolution before project closing in order to have a fully successful project completion. An initial draft of project results was prepared by breaking down the PDO outcomes into five objectives and comparing the actual achievements against the baselines and project target values. However, adequate documentary evidence supporting 18 results indicators will be necessary. The work on this will continue till commencement of the formal ICR mission which is tentatively planned in March It was agreed during the mission that PMCU will also start preparing a project completion report and an independent consultant will be hired to support the PMCU in preparing the report. VIII. Agreed Actions and timeline Action Responsibility Date Complete 10 technical fixes to MIS OPML Feb 10, 2016 Supply final technical manual on MIS source code to Parliamentary OPML Feb 10, 2016 Secretariat Finalize the contractual formalities with IECL and individual PMCU Feb 15, 2016 consultant Supply final MIS user manual to Parliamentary Secretariat OPML Feb 10, 2016 Supply the Bank with evidence that the unresolved audit observations PMCU Mar 31, 2016 from the audits of the project accounts for FY 13/14 (1) and FY 14/15 (3) have been satisfactorily resolved Follow up with FAPAD to resolve the pending audit issues PCMU Mar 31, 2016 Submit Draft Completion Report to Bank PMCU Mar 31, 2016 Submit Final Completion Report to Bank PMCU Apr 30,

6 Annex 1 List of people met Senior Secretary Md. Ashraful Moqbul, Parliament Secretariat, Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat Mr. Md. Mosta Gausul Hoque, Director (Planning and Development) and Project Director SPEMP C Mr. Faisal Morshed, Senior Committee Office, Secretariat Support Unit, SPEMP C Mr. Md. Arif Hasan, MIS consultant, Bangladesh Parliamentary Secretariat Mr. Didarul Islam, Financial Management Specialist, SPEMP C Ms. Shahnaj Karim, Team Leader, OPML Mr. A. R. Azimul Hoque, IT and MIS specialist, OPML Mr. Rajib Mahmud, Programmer, OPML Mr. Md. Alaudin, Office Manager, SPEMP C 6

7 Annex 2 Results Framework Project Development Objective (PDO): To modernize the business processes followed by the financial oversight committees of the Parliament of Bangladesh PDO Level Results Indicators* FOC reports readily available on public website Unit of Measure Baseline Cumulative Target Values** Frequency Data Dec 14 Jun 15 Dec 15 Source/ Methodology Responsibili ty for Data Collection Number Nil Bi-annually Website Project Office Description/ Comment Achieved Dec 2015 value = working links on committee.parliament.gov.bd/ pac/. Note 2 other links shown but not working Intermediate Result (Component 1): Sustainability Plan and Roll-out of MIS assisted Business Processes in Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat Briefing notes prepared using new MIS Number Nil Bi-monthly Project Director/Con sultant Team Leader Project Office Briefing notes are to be prepared for each sitting Achieved Dec 2015 = notes prepared using live data to test MIS. Includes 15 briefing notes posted to Parliamentary website. Record of decisions Number Nil Bi-annually Project Director/ Project Office Record of decisions represent minutes and attendance records for a sitting 7

8 produced using new MIS Consultant Team Leader Achieved See above comment on briefing notes. Dec 2015 value includes 13 records posted on Parliamentary website. Inquiry reports generated by the new MIS Number Nil Bi-annually Project Director/ Consultant Team Leader Project Office Inquiry reports summarize the results of a number of sittings conducted on a particular topic Achieved See above. Includes 7 reports posted on Parliamentary website. 8

9 Annex 3 10 (Ten) Technical Fixes The Parliamentary Secretariat has communicated to Oxford Policy Management Limited the following ten technical fixes required for the MIS: 1. Created inquiries are not available while preparing sitting notices. 2. Sitting Notice is still not presentable. 3. Briefing note is one of the key outputs of the system. Some unwanted or wrong information is coming and the hard copy of the briefing note is still not presentable. 4. Sometimes briefing notes cannot be prepared. It shows the following error message: index of /parliament/app/web root/files/pdfs/briefing Notes. 5. Inquiry and follow-up reports, another two major output of the system, are also still not presentable. 6. In all reports, sometimes, keeping half page blank the next page is starting and sometimes heading is on one page and description is on another. 7. Fonts are not consistent in the same report and briefing note. 8. Record of decision is also not presentable. 9. In the task flow, while editing data, selecting one inquiry but retrieving another inquiry s data. 10. Selected organization s offices are not shown. 9