Compendium of Country Examples and Lessons Learned from ...

Elements of transparency (transparency throughout the procurement process and especiallyfocused on non-competitive procurement).Elements of management (ensuring funds are used as intended and professionalisingprocurement through common knowledge, skills and ethical standards).Elements of corruption resistance (risk maps, close collaboration with the private sectorregarding integrity and quality and providing mechanisms for monitoring, detection andprosecution)Elements of accountability and control (establishing a clear chain of responsibility, resolvingcomplaints in a fair and timely manner and enabling stakeholders to scrutinise the process).Country experiencesWith respect to audits covering procurement, the national systems are still at an early stage. Even ifinternal and external audit institutions exist and generally function well, usually they lack specialisedprocurement audit manuals, procedures and knowledge. Another weak point is the timely follow-up onaudit recommendations and sanctions. In general, as elaborated earlier, poor record keeping limits theeffectiveness of a national audit system.Table 6 illustrates some of the challenges faced by partner countries conducting audits of procurementtransactions and lists capacity development strategies recommended or implemented according to thecountry reports.Table 6. Audits of procurement: Challenges and approaches (country examples)MongoliaProcedures as defined Weaknesses Capacity Developmentgoals/activitiesThere are internal and externalaudits. The State InspectionAgency is responsible for internalcontrol and is adequately staffed.External audit is carried out by theNational Audit Office. It isanswerable to parliament and plansits audits based on its own plansand under the direction of aparliamentary standing committee.Sierra LeoneAdequate general auditmechanisms exist and audits areconducted by the Office of theAuditor General.Tendency of both State InspectionAgency and National Audit Office toconfuse compliance, efficiency andperformance audits with the resultthat they often appear to besecond-guessing the decisions ofthe evaluation committees. There isa tendency to confuse various typesof audits with the result that noneappears to be carried out properly.The report with the AuditorGeneral’s findings and subsequentremedial decisions are oftendelayed with the result that theAuditor General’s recommendationsare rarely followed up, leading toineffective enforcement of the auditlaws.Specialised procurement audits (asdistinct from financial audits) are yetto be established as a discipline bythe Office of the Auditor General.Specialised workshops/seminarsand manuals on procurementmonitoring and audit for externalmonitoring agencies including theNational Audit Office, the StateInspection Department, the AntiCorruption Agency and civil societyorganisationsThe enforcement of theProcurement law at all levels in theMDAs and an audit system put inplace to assist the properfunctioning of procurement.It is envisaged that specificprocurement audits will be carriedout by the Office of the AuditorGeneral in conjunction with theNational Public ProcurementAuthority once the requisite trainingof staff has been carried out.COMPENDIUM OF COUNTRY EXAMPLES AND LESSONS LEARNED […] - OECD 2008 57