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Special Report 1/2004 “FP5 (1998 to 2002)”Management of indirect RTD actions under the th5 Framework Programme (FP5) for Research and Technological Development (1998 to 2002)Presentation to Budgetary Control Committee (COCOBU) by Mr François COLLING (Member of the Court)European Parliament, Strasbourg, 19. April 2004CLU000034EN02-04PP-FP5.ppt 1COCOBU, 19.04.2004Agenda• Why an audit of FP5? Some background information ...• What is the budget and the structure of FP5?• What were the audit objectives and the approach?• Summary of observations and recommendations• ConclusionCLU000034EN02-04PP-FP5.ppt 2COCOBU, 19.04.2004IntroductionSome background information on the FP5 audit ...• first audit of an RTD framework programme looking at organisational, 1administrative and financial aspects in a horizontal manner• overall duration of the audit 19 months (start in October 2001 and completion in April 2003 – i.e. three months after official end of FP5); formal adoption by Court after contradictory procedure in February 2004• staff resources used for this audit: 176 person weeks• excellent co-operation with Commission, resulting in a number of the recommendations being already reflected in FP6 (2002 to 2006)1previous audits, for example on FP4, focussed on specific programmes within the same RTD framework programme such as “Joule-Thermie”, “Fisheries, Agriculture & agro-industrial research (FAIR)” or “Training and mobility of researchers ...

Informations

• Publié par: Assa
• Nombre de lectures: 22
• Langue: English

Extrait

Special Report 1/2004 “FP5 (1998 to 2002)”

Management of indirect RTD actions under the th 5 Framework Programme (FP5) for Research and Technological Development (1998 to 2002)

Presentation to Budgetary Control Committee (COCOBU) by Mr François COLLING (Member of the Court)

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

European Parliament, Strasbourg, 19. April 2004

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

1

Why an audit of FP5? Some background information ...

What is the budget and the structure of FP5?

What were the audit objectives and the approach?

Summary of observations and recommendations

Conclusion

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

Agenda

2

Introduction

Some background information on the FP5 audit ...

first auditof an RTD framework programmelooking at organisational, 1 administrative and financial aspects in ahorizontal manner

overall durationof the audit19 months(start in October 2001 and completion in April 2003 – i.e. three months after official end of FP5); formal adoptionby Court after contradictory procedurein February 2004

staff resources used for this audit:176 person weeks

excellent cooperation with Commission,resulting in a number of the recommendations being already reflected in FP6 (2002 to 2006)

1 previous audits, for example on FP4, focussed on specific programmes within the same RTD framework programme such as “JouleThermie”, “Fisheries, Agriculture & agroindustrial research (FAIR)” or “Training and mobility of researchers (TMR)

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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1 2

3

Budget and structure of FP5

Budget and structure of FP5

FP5 (1998 until 2002)had a total budget of14 960 million euro two sections of FP5 forEuropean Community(13 700 million euro, i.e. 91% of the budget) andEuratom direct actionscarried out by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre andindirect actionscarried out through contracts with third parties and cofinanced by the Community budget (95% of the budget within the EC section)

1 five different action typesfor indirect RTD actions 2 FP5 comprisesseven specific programmesand three(four thematic 3 horizontal programmes) jointly managed byfive DirectoratesGeneral: for Research, for Information Society, for Energy & Transport, for Enterprise and for Fisheries

“Shared cost RTD actions”, “Training Fellowships”, “Support to networks”, “Concerted actions”, “Accompanying measures” “Quality of life and management of living resources” (QoL), “Userfriendly information society” (IST), “Competitive and sustainable growth” (Growth), “Environment, Energy and sustainable development” (EESD) “Confirming the International role of Community research” (INCO), “Promotion of innovation and encouragement of SME participation” (SME), “Improving the human research potential and the socioeconomic knowledge base” (IHP)

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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Budget and structure of FP5

Programme periods and budgets of the successive European RTD framework programmes

FP4: 1994 to 1998

FP5: 1998 to 2002

FP6: 2002 to 2006

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

18 000

16 000

14 000

12 000

13 215

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

14 960

17 500

FP4 FP5 FP6

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Audit objectives and approach

Audit objectives and approach for Special Report 1/2004 “FP5 (1998 to 2002)”

Was FP5 managedeconomically, efficiently and effectively? Specific audit objectivesaddressed: – Intervention mechanisms and rules applicable to the Community’s financial participation – Organisational structure and procedures and methods for indirect RTD actions – Information Technology (IT) systems – Internal control system – Reporting to senior management description of management systemby Court,testing of a sample of 53 contractsfor FP5 indirect RTD actions (of all DirectoratesGeneral and all specific programmes) throughout their “life cycle” (i.e. from reception of proposal to closure of contract) andanalysis of other audit evidence(such as review of legal basis, internal documents, surveys, analysis of statistics, etc.) onthespot audits of 28 contracts in 9 Member States(Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom)

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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Intervention mechanisms

Structure, procedures and methods

IT systems

Internal control system

Reporting

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

Observations and recommendations

Decisionby EP and Council,implementing regulationandmodel contractsadopted late andrulesfor fixing the Community’s financial participationoverly complicated

legal requirementsfor proposal, contract and project management unnecessarily complex (for instance large number of model contracts, contract signature by all participants)

insufficientcontrol over reality and accuracy of costs declared by final beneficiariesand lack ofsanctions

mandatorycertification of financial statements by an external auditorand introduction of visible and dissuasive sanctions(as deterrent to participants overclaiming costs)  done in FP6

further strengthening ofjoint and several liabilityand drastic simplification ofcost systemsrecommended for a future FP7

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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Intervention mechanisms

Structure, procedures and methods

IT systems

Internal control system

Reporting

1 timetocontract(i.e. from reception of proposal to signing of contract) averaging8 to 9 months, and12 monthsfrom publication of the call for proposal

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

Observations and recommendations

fragmentation of programmesbetween DirectoratesGenerals resulting in a dilution of responsibilities, duplication of functions and increased need for coordination

significantorganisational problemsin starting phase and difficulties in recruiting staffwith required profiles

inefficientprocedures and administrative practicescontributing to 1 administrative delays and reducing the overall system efficiency – but in particular insufficientscientific monitoringof indirect RTD actions

simplification of organisational structure(“merger of FP activities in one entity”) and settingup ofcentralised support functions–partly done in FP6

streamlining procedures(aiming at halving of timetocontract) andstrengthening the role of the coordinator

concentrationof Community fundingon projects with highest likelihood of successbased on mandatory midterm evaluation by external experts

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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Intervention mechanisms

Structure, procedures and methods

IT systems

Internal control system

Reporting

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

Observations and recommendations

absence ofcommon or integrated information technology (IT) system inadequacyof the Commission’s (local and central) computerised systems for the proposal, contract and project management, not least due to insufficient investment technical and operational problemspersisted in most DirectoratesGeneral throughout the FP5 programme period, diminishing also the reliability of the Commission’s statistics

deployment of acommon and integrated IT systemfor all DirectoratesGeneral operating the RTD framework programmes– done for FP6

significant potential forefficiency gainsthrough phasing out of paperbased transactions during FP6 and fully electronic data exchange in a future FP7

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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Intervention mechanisms

Structure, procedures and methods

IT systems

Internal control system

Reporting

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

Observations and recommendations

improvements in internal controlthanks to gradual implementation of Commission’s internal control standards, but considerable differences between DirectoratesGeneral

tests of key controlsrevealed that not all had been operated effectively by Commission services and some controls were found to be lacking (mainly with regard to negotiation), but level of error not material

significant incidence ofoverdeclaration of costs by final beneficiariesandlate payments(by Commission but in particular by coordinators to other contractors)

simplificationof legal base, reducing need forexcessively detailed checks and verifications by Commission(which realistically cannot be carried out with the current level of staff resources)

joint definition ofrelevant and necessary controlsby all Commission services and use ofpreventive controls, as well as better monitoringof the operation of internal controls

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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Intervention mechanisms

Structure, procedures and methods

IT systems

Internal control system

Reporting

CLU000034EN0204PPFP5.ppt

Observations and recommendations

Lack ofcommon (or at least harmonised) operational objectives at the five DirectoratesGeneral for the research area and for the implementation of the RTD framework programmes

Commission’sreportingto Directors and DirectorsGeneral did not capture all relevant information andperformance indicatorsfor nonfinancial/budgetary aspects were missing

lack of proceduresto ensure that managementlevel information is preparedon timeand thatreportsare presentedin a standardised format

joint definition by the five DirectoratesGeneral ofoperational objectives and indicatorsallowing for a benchmarking of Commission services and programmes

development of a comprehensivereporting and controlling systemto permit an adequate monitoring of the RTD framework programmes and the efficient and effective functioning of internal controls

COCOBU, 19.04.2004

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