Take project management away from govt agencies<\/p>\n
Robert J. Cochrane, Former Strategic, Development Consultant,
\nAsia Development Bank<\/p>\n
As corruption shows no sign of abating under decentralization
\nit is a gloomy picture indeed despite the best intentions of
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri's government. The World Bank,
\nthe Asia Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and
\nother agencies are stopping projects, and private democratic
\ncountry based investors would rather deal with China, a communist
\ncountry!<\/p>\n
Then there is the recent situation with the Rp 144 trillion
\n\"problem\" with Bank Indonesia, the momentary glimmer of hope with
\nrespect to the use of a foreign audit firm, and the subsequent
\ndashing of that hope. Ministers have a very hard task to break
\nthe cycle of corruption, but drastic situations call for drastic
\nsolutions. As an old auditor, and still a current certified
\npracticing accountant, who has worked as a consultant in aid in
\nIndonesia, I offer the following suggestions:<\/p>\n
* Take procurement and project management away from the
\nministries and into the private sector, and have the ministries
\ninvolved only as project designers, and customers of a
\nprocuring\/project management private firm.<\/p>\n
It is at the procurement stage of projects that corruption
\nstarts, and it is completed in implementation by the same
\nprocuring \"group\" authorizing payment. At present, what we have
\nin old auditing terms is a simple lack of control through poor
\nseparation of functions.<\/p>\n
In effect in a directorate general one person can be the
\n\"Czar\" in relation to aid project design \/ specification,
\nprocurement, implementation\/ project management, and payment
\nauthorization. It is then easy to see why a ministry should be
\nseen as one individual for control purposes.<\/p>\n
Because very lowly paid ministry employees owe their \"extra
\nmoney\" to the \"Czar's\" success, this \"one person effect\" in a
\ndirectorate is real. It effectively comprises a set of many
\npeople in collusion.<\/p>\n
Private firms should be appointed to carry out the procurement
\nof services or goods, and then supervise the implementation by
\ncontractors. These firms must have credentials that are
\nrecognized by the international community as impeccable -- e.g.
\nPrice Waterhouse Coopers, KPMG, Ernst & Young. Contracts for
\n\"procurement and project management\" should be for one year only.
\nEach firm must be audited by a peer firm (e.g. PWC's by KPMG
\netc.).<\/p>\n
* Scoring of procurements for the technical winner through
\npanels selected by the private firm should not have any current
\nmembers of the customer (ministry) on the voting panel. Panel
\nmembers should be changed periodically within a process without
\nnotice.<\/p>\n
This scoring, as at present can be easily twisted to suit a
\ncolluding contracting party, but if you continually change the
\npanel members, and the organizers and controllers of the panel
\nare non public servants who are paid a living wage (i.e. people
\nlike KPMG), then you have a much better chance of clean
\nprocurement than at present.<\/p>\n
* In the modern corporate audit world it is taboo to have one
\nindividual control all the processes -- separate people handle
\nall four of the above stages of a project.<\/p>\n
By splitting the procurement, and project management \/
\nimplementation away from ministries it dramatically improves
\ncontrol. It also gives the government someone to sue if things go
\nwrong!<\/p>\n
This control change will allow the ministries to be the
\nvisionaries and project owners, and to reduce staffing levels --
\nthey can then pay their remaining staff better salaries, and the
\npublic can perhaps begin to expect these better paid public
\nservants to serve them rather than serve themselves.<\/p>\n
Corruption could be significantly reduced because the firms
\nwill employ well-paid people to be the project facilitators, and
\nprocure in a true and fair way.<\/p>\n
Most importantly however this change would be seen as a great
\nstep forward by the aid providers and by investors -- and be a
\ngood first step in gaining some significant good publicity for
\nthe government.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/take-project-management-away-from-govt-agencies-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}