COORDINATED AUDIT ON ROAD WORKS - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Report ID: 318

The audit was conducted within the framework of the Public Works Audit Working Group (GTOP) of the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS), through compliance audits, with the participation of the SAIs of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

The objective of the coordinated audit was to evaluate, through compliance reviews, the quality of road construction and maintenance works under the direct administration of government, covering from preliminary studies to the execution of the works.

Due to the participation of several countries in the audit, it was necessary to set crosscutting and common audit criteria for the audited object. The criteria that were evaluated were distributed according to the phase of the project: contracting of companies, design, execution of the works, oversight of the works, and changes in design after project contracting.

The evaluations carried out in the audits were based on guidelines that describe those practices whose observance was considered essential for good quality works. In planning the audit within its territory, each SAI took on the responsibility of identifying the legal and regulatory provisions adopted in their country related to the guidelines.

Source:https://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/AC-obras-viales-resumen-ejecutivo-final-WEB-ERRATA-English_REVISADO_Setrad.pdf

Implementation of the Rail Baltica Project Cooperative Audit
Report ID: 252

In 2014, the governments of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania established the Rail Baltica joint venture—an equally-shared endeavor ratified in a 2017 intergovernmental agreement. Rail Baltica, to be delivered by 2026, is the largest railway infrastructure project in the region and aims to integrate the Baltic States with the European railway network.

In 2016, the SAIs of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania signed a Memorandum of Understanding to monitor the development and implementation of this unique and unprecedented project.

The audit focused on project governance, internal control system operations, as well as long term financial resource availability. Because the audit was based on a forward-looking approach, the audit team looked to analyze particular conditions, such as assuring an effective, economic procurement and contract management framework was established, functioning and able to address any deficiencies found during the audit.

Fieldwork began in 2018, and the audit team, consisting of at least two auditors from each SAI, examined the audit questions and criteria and agreed on main conclusions, which became the audit report’s basis. A steering committee (one representative per SAI) was instituted to decide on any significant issues arising during the audit.

Each SAI separately performed a quality control check at the audit’s end but jointly drafted the final report, which was electronically signed by all Auditors General and simultaneously published in all three Baltic States.

The joint audit led to recommendations that will improve the Rail Baltica project’s governance, operations and financial planning, and the SAIs of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will continue the already established cooperation to jointly monitor audit recommendation implementation.

Source: https://www.eurosai.org/en/databases/audits/Implementation-of-the-Rail-Baltica-project/

Auditing European added value — a case study based on a joint audit of the Rail Baltica project
Report ID: 354

Based on the input from the audit teams from the Supreme Audit Institutions of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia that participated in the Cooperative Audit to the Implementation of the Rail Baltica Projec, Urmet Lee, Director, and Jüri Kurss, Senior Advisor, officers from th  e National Audit Office of Estonia prepared a case study. In the case study the author  share their experiences of applying the EU added value (EAV)concept, a posteriori, to the joint audit.

For the purpose of their article, they decided to look into the question of whether the information gathered and the findings determined in the course of the joint audit of the Rail Baltica project would allow identification of the extent to which EAV has been /is being created or (possibly even unintentionally) jeopardised. They conducted a small case study and carried out a set of written interviews in August 2020 with the RBTF audit team leaders of the three Baltic SAIs. 

Find attached the case study published in the ECA Journal (Source: https://medium.com/ecajournal/auditing-european-added-value-a-case-study-based-on-a-joint-audit-of-the-rail-baltica-project-561788f0ea35)

To know the experience of the cooperative audit to the Rail Baltica project read the joint report in this catalogue: https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/catalog/report/implementation-of-the-rail-baltica-project-cooperative-audit

 

Coordinated Audit of the Brazilian Penitentiary System 2017
Report ID: 385

Although prison management is the main function of the federated states in Brazil, taking into account the balance of the National Penitentiary Fund and in order to examine the most relevant aspects of the operational management and infrastructure of prisons in Brazil,  the Court of Audit of the Union of Brazil, together with 22 Courts of Audit, and the support of the Association of Members of the Courts of Audit (Atricon), the Rui Barbosa Institute (IRB) and the National Council of Attorneys General (CNPGC), conducted a coordinated audit on this topic.

The audit addressed issues related to the emergency measures taken to address the recent rebellions (January / 2017) that occurred in several Brazilian criminal court establishments, the electronic system of monitoring the execution of sentences, the adequacy of the allocation of prisoners, the provision of services to those in need by the Public Defender's Office and the monthly cost of the prisoner. 

The following questions were addressed in the audit:

(a) Are the strategies adopted by the Union and the states / FD sufficient or adequate to prevent or contain rebellions in prisons?

b) Is the monitoring of the execution of sentences in accordance with the provisions of Law 12.714 / 2012?

c) Does the allocation of inmates in penitentiary establishments comply with the provisions of articles 82, §1, 84, 85, 87, 91, 93 and 102 of the LEP?

d) Does the Public Defender's Office provide a full and free service inside and outside prisons in accordance with articles 16, 81-A and 81-B of the LEP?

e) To what extent do the managers responsible for the management and implementation of public policies aimed at the penitentiary system know the monthly cost of each inmate in order to evaluate the management of the system?

The study covered the Federal District and 17 other states: Acre, Amazonas, Bahia, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Pará, Paraíba, Piauí, Paraná, Rio Grande do Norte, Rondônia, Roraima, Rio Grande do Sul. Sergipe, Tocantins.

The audit found, among others, that 59% of the 17 states inspected had not calculated the monthly cost of the prisoner in the last three years. Also with data from the last three years, no state analysed sent the monthly cost of the inmate to the National Penitentiary Department (Depen). Although the National Council of Penal and Penitentiary Policy (CNPCP) has established parameters for the calculation of this cost, 83% of the respondents do not follow these criteria.

Another fact that stands out is the fact that 11 out of the 18 units of the federation (UF), including the Federal District, therefore 61%, faced some kind of rebellion between October 2016 and May 2017. It was also verified that the majority of rebellions during this period took place in establishments with a shortage of space: 18 of the 23 penitentiary units that had a record of rebellions. In other words, 78% of the cases of rebellion took place in overcrowded prisons.

Source: https://portal.tcu.gov.br/imprensa/noticias/realidade-prisional-auditoria-mostra-que-o-custo-mensal-do-preso-e-desconhecido-em-varios-estados.htm  

** The summary of the audit is part of Ruling 2643/2017 - TCU Plenary (Process: 003.673 / 2017-0).

Auditoría Coordinada sobre Obras Viales - Resumen Ejecutivo
Report ID: 388

El documento consolida los principales resultados y oportunidades de mejora identificadas en la Auditoría Coordinada sobre Obras Viales realizada en el marco del Grupo de Trabajo de Auditoría de Obras Públicas (GTOP) de la Organización Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Entidades Fiscalizadoras Superiores (OLACEFS). Esta auditoría se realizó con el propósito de evaluar, por medio de auditorías de cumplimiento, la calidad de obras viales de construcción y mantenimiento de once países: Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, México, Paraguay, Perú y República Dominicana.

La auditoría coordinada tuvo como objetivo evaluar, por medio de revisiones de cumplimiento, la calidad de las obras viales de construcción y mantenimiento bajo la administración directa del gobierno, abarcando desde los estudios preliminares hasta la ejecución de la obra. Debido de la participación de diversos países en la auditoría, fue necesario emplear criterios de auditoría que fueran transversales y comunes al objeto auditado. Además, se observó que la legislación y las normas técnicas aplicables
a las obras viales en los diversos países, aun cuando tienen muchas similitudes entre ellas, también son ricas en diferencias.

El informe consolidado completo también está disponible en: https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/catalog/report/auditora-coordinada-de-obras-viales

Fuente: www.olacefs.com/auditorias-coordinadas/