Special Report Management of a Cross-Border Broadband Initiative: the Bytel Project

Report ID: 280

This report is the result of a co-ordinated examination between the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Northern Ireland Audit Office to the Bytel project. The project was aimed to provide high-speed broadband connectivity linking Belfast, Craigavon, Armagh, Dundalk and Dublin It was supported by the European Union (EU) Interreg III programme, which ran from 2000 to 2006.

Due to the nature of the issues to be examined and that Bytel was located in Northern Ireland, the detailed work in relation to the grant payments was carried out by the NIAO. The NIAO's report is also attached as an appendix of the report. The report examines the role of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in the management of the project.

Source: https://www.audit.gov.ie/en/Find-Report/Publications/Special%20Reports/Special-Report-90-Management-of-Cross-Border-Initiative-the-Bytel-Project.html

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/

Joint Report on Parallel Audits of Expenditure on the Construction of the Motorway Prague – Dresden

Report ID: 276

In 2005 and 2006, the two supreme audit institutions of Germany and the Czech Republic conducted parallel audits of expenditure on the construction of the motorway Prague – Dresden (D 8 motorway in the Czech Republic and the A 17 motorway in the Federal Republic of Germany).

The motorways are connected by a border bridge co-financed by the two countries. By working together SAI Germany was able to audit in depth the efficiency of the funds used for building the border bridge. As a result of working closely SAI Czech Republic  was furnished for comparative purposes with the necessary data of German cost levels of bridges and tunnels.

As part of the joint audit effort motorway bridges on the D 8 and A 17 were compared based on the prices per square metre of area of the bridge structure. The statistical analysis of prices made it possible to identify bridges that came at a high cost per square metre. This analysis revealed that the border bridge was the most expensive bridge as compared to other large bridges having a length of over 100 metres. The price increase could also be attributed to the delays occurred in the tender procedure.

When auditors analysed the costs of tunnel structures they found that the prices of tunnels are considerably higher on the D 8 motorway than the prices of comparable tunnels in Germany.

Benefits
The cooperation achieved the objectives of both audit institutions. The two supreme audit institutions developed a database of the prices of bridges and tunnels that can be relied on in future audits. 

SOURCE: https://www.nku.cz/assets/publications-documents/other-publications/paralelni-kontroly-dalnice-praha-drazdany.pdf

Parallel audit of the preparation of Poland and Ukraine for the organization of the European Football Championship "EURO 2012" tournament

Report ID: 305

The parallel audit on the preparation of Poland and Ukraine for the organization of the Final Tournament of the European Football Championship "UEFA 2012" was carried out at the initiative of the SAI of Poland and the SAI of Ukraine. The audit was carried out in the period 2009 to 2010 and had the scope of those years.

The purpose of the audit was to evaluate the state of implementation, coordination, supervision and financing of the tasks related to the preparation of Poland and Ukraine for the organization of the UEFA 2012, carried out by the corresponding authorities.

Source: https://rp.gov.ua/upload-files/IntCooperation/IntAudits/31-12-2010%2009-00-00/Zvit_UEFA_EURO_2012_2010.pdf

Report available in Polish and Ukranian