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Use of consultants and temporary staff
New skills needed in a longer term UK NAO: Used well, consultants and temporary staff can be an important source of specialist skills and capabilities that are uneconomic for departments to maintain in their permanent staff. Since 2009-10, the government has used spending controls to reduce its use of consultants and temporary staff, and by 2014-15 spending had fallen by £1.5 billion. However, spending has increased by between £400 million and £600 million since 2011-12, suggesting that this was more of a short-term reduction than a sustainable strategy. In the longer term, departments will need to develop workforce, skills and capacity plans to reduce their dependence on external skills. They will need to improve their strategic workforce planning to determine where they can deploy existing staff, where they need to recruit, and where they need to engage temporary resources. Without this, departments cannot demonstrate that they are achieving value for money from the use of consultants and temporary staff.
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New skills needed in a longer term UK NAO: Used well, consultants and temporary staff can be an important source of specialist skills and capabilities that are uneconomic for departments to maintain in their permanent staff. Since 2009-10, the government has used spending controls to reduce its use of consultants and temporary staff, and by 2014-15 spending had fallen by £1.5 billion. However, spending has increased by between £400 million and £600 million since 2011-12, suggesting that this was more of a short-term reduction than a sustainable strategy. In the longer term, departments will need to develop workforce, skills and capacity plans to reduce their dependence on external skills. They will need to improve their strategic workforce planning to determine where they can deploy existing staff, where they need to recruit, and where they need to engage temporary resources. Without this, departments cannot demonstrate that they are achieving value for money from the use of consultants and temporary staff.
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National Audit Office
, issued in 2016
Risk cases: 7
Conflicts of interest
First, recognise the conflicts of interest are a real risk the British NAO gathered a significant amount of intelligence on conflicts, particularly in the health and education sectors. These are areas of government where services are increasingly commissioned and delivered by parties at arm’s-length to departments. Conflicts of interest can occur naturally as a product of the way a system is designed and most often arise from operational situations.
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First, recognise the conflicts of interest are a real risk the British NAO gathered a significant amount of intelligence on conflicts, particularly in the health and education sectors. These are areas of government where services are increasingly commissioned and delivered by parties at arm’s-length to departments. Conflicts of interest can occur naturally as a product of the way a system is designed and most often arise from operational situations.
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National Audit Office
, issued in 2015
Risk cases: 8
Identifying and meeting central government's skills requirements
Start with well managed responsibilities UK Departments have invested heavily in skills development. Government estimates that expenditure on formal training, including salary costs of departmental learning and development staff, was £275 million in 2009-10. NAO identified weaknesses of the system which start with devolved responsibilities, lead to: weak data, mis-profiled trainings, doubtful personal decisions, lack of well-targeted evaluation - and finish at more expensive buying-in and retaining key skills...
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Start with well managed responsibilities UK Departments have invested heavily in skills development. Government estimates that expenditure on formal training, including salary costs of departmental learning and development staff, was £275 million in 2009-10. NAO identified weaknesses of the system which start with devolved responsibilities, lead to: weak data, mis-profiled trainings, doubtful personal decisions, lack of well-targeted evaluation - and finish at more expensive buying-in and retaining key skills...
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National Audit Office
, issued in 2011
Risk cases: 6
Homeland Security. Oversight of Neglected Human Resources Information Technology Investment Is Needed
Human resources IT investments get stuck in management's lack of interest Although the Human Resources Information Technology (HRIT) investment was initiated about 12 years ago with the intent to consolidate, integrate, and modernize the department's human resources IT infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made very limited progress in achieving these goals. HRIT's minimally involved executive steering committee during a time when significant problems were occurring was a key factor in the lack of progress. This is particularly problematic given that the department's ability to efficiently and effectively carry out its mission is significantly hampered by its fragmented human resources. DHS's ineffective management of HRIT, such as the lack of an updated schedule and a life-cycle cost estimate, also contributed to the neglect this investment has experienced. DHS will be limited in efficiently tracking and reporting accurate, comprehensive performance and learning management data across the organization, and could risk further implementation delays.
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Human resources IT investments get stuck in management's lack of interest Although the Human Resources Information Technology (HRIT) investment was initiated about 12 years ago with the intent to consolidate, integrate, and modernize the department's human resources IT infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made very limited progress in achieving these goals. HRIT's minimally involved executive steering committee during a time when significant problems were occurring was a key factor in the lack of progress. This is particularly problematic given that the department's ability to efficiently and effectively carry out its mission is significantly hampered by its fragmented human resources. DHS's ineffective management of HRIT, such as the lack of an updated schedule and a life-cycle cost estimate, also contributed to the neglect this investment has experienced. DHS will be limited in efficiently tracking and reporting accurate, comprehensive performance and learning management data across the organization, and could risk further implementation delays.
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US Government Accountability Office
, issued in 2016
Risk cases: 1
The Swedish Transport Administrations support to research and innovation
Robust internal control required to manage innovations The Swedish agency dealing with transport innovations did not use sufficient control over its research funds, shows the audit of the Swedish National Audit Office. The deficiencies include risk analysis, administrative procedures and management of taxpayers' money.
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Robust internal control required to manage innovations The Swedish agency dealing with transport innovations did not use sufficient control over its research funds, shows the audit of the Swedish National Audit Office. The deficiencies include risk analysis, administrative procedures and management of taxpayers' money.
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Swedish National Audit Office
, issued in 2018
Risk cases: 3
Steps Needed to Identify Acquisition Training Needs for Non-Acquisition Personnel
Non-Acquisition staff can be crucial for acquisition Despite from hundreds of billions of dollars spent annually to acquire products and services, the US Department of Defense does not full information about staff to be trained. The information is needed about the non-acquisition staff, who can play crucial role in particular acquisitions. As GAO underlines, their identification is necessary to fully understand the training needs and... budget.
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Non-Acquisition staff can be crucial for acquisition Despite from hundreds of billions of dollars spent annually to acquire products and services, the US Department of Defense does not full information about staff to be trained. The information is needed about the non-acquisition staff, who can play crucial role in particular acquisitions. As GAO underlines, their identification is necessary to fully understand the training needs and... budget.
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US Government Accountability Office
, issued in 2019
Risk cases: 4
The protection of valuable forest
Protection of valuable forest Protection of valuable forest land is an important mean of achieving the environmental quality objectives. Governments can establish formal protection of forests through the formation of national parks, biotope conservation areas, nature reserves or by signing nature conservation agreements. Beyond the state's formal protection of forests, the forest owners themselves are also expected to contribute through voluntary set-asides of forest. From a state perspective, it is important to investigate whether or not the resources for formal protection are being used cost-effectively. However, in order to achieve cost-effective formal protection work, the state also needs to address forest owners' voluntary set asides.
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Protection of valuable forest Protection of valuable forest land is an important mean of achieving the environmental quality objectives. Governments can establish formal protection of forests through the formation of national parks, biotope conservation areas, nature reserves or by signing nature conservation agreements. Beyond the state's formal protection of forests, the forest owners themselves are also expected to contribute through voluntary set-asides of forest. From a state perspective, it is important to investigate whether or not the resources for formal protection are being used cost-effectively. However, in order to achieve cost-effective formal protection work, the state also needs to address forest owners' voluntary set asides.
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Swedish National Audit Office
, issued in 2018
Risk cases: 4
The Shared Services Centre
The necessary environment for the efficient management of the Shared Service Center is lacking The department's administration of the Shared Services Centre (SSC) has been effective for sharing resources between the departments and delivering selected back-office services to a small client base. However, the governance arrangements established to oversight the SSC have not positioned it well for the future and the departments have not yet determined if the arrangement is efficient and resulting in savings. ANAO found instances where the advisory board of SSC was not consulted or involved in decisions relating to the strategic direction, financial arrangements and expenditure priorities. Information reported to the board did not focus on areas of strategic importance and the quality and completeness of this information could be improved. The mechanisms established for setting out responsibilities and obligations and ensuring transparency for services delivered by the SSC was weak. Service standards and levels were not fixed and can change. The delineation of responsibilities between the SSC and its clients was not clear and there was no commitment by the SSC to certify the quality of its control framework.
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The necessary environment for the efficient management of the Shared Service Center is lacking The department's administration of the Shared Services Centre (SSC) has been effective for sharing resources between the departments and delivering selected back-office services to a small client base. However, the governance arrangements established to oversight the SSC have not positioned it well for the future and the departments have not yet determined if the arrangement is efficient and resulting in savings. ANAO found instances where the advisory board of SSC was not consulted or involved in decisions relating to the strategic direction, financial arrangements and expenditure priorities. Information reported to the board did not focus on areas of strategic importance and the quality and completeness of this information could be improved. The mechanisms established for setting out responsibilities and obligations and ensuring transparency for services delivered by the SSC was weak. Service standards and levels were not fixed and can change. The delineation of responsibilities between the SSC and its clients was not clear and there was no commitment by the SSC to certify the quality of its control framework.
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The Australian National Audit Office
, issued in 2016
Risk cases: 2
Analysis of alternatively financed building projects of the Federal Institutes ofTechnology
Analysis of alternatively financed building projects Hundreds of millions was invested by third parties in the Swiss Confederation's real estate portfolio and analyses show a net return of over 4% for investors. Early exit from this alternative financing must be examined to get some advantages and greater attention must be paid to the economic effectiveness for future financing models.
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Analysis of alternatively financed building projects Hundreds of millions was invested by third parties in the Swiss Confederation's real estate portfolio and analyses show a net return of over 4% for investors. Early exit from this alternative financing must be examined to get some advantages and greater attention must be paid to the economic effectiveness for future financing models.
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Swiss Federal Audit Office
, issued in 2017
Risk cases: 2
Products sold on the European market: unravelling the system of CE marking
Problems with general picture The Netherlands National Court of Audit was interested in finding out whether anyone keeps track of all the actors involved in the process of system of European Union product markings. The interest was aroused by an observation that the vast majority of the questions raised about the system were prompted by incidents and that the questioners did not generally appear to be interested in the operation of the system as a whole...
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Problems with general picture The Netherlands National Court of Audit was interested in finding out whether anyone keeps track of all the actors involved in the process of system of European Union product markings. The interest was aroused by an observation that the vast majority of the questions raised about the system were prompted by incidents and that the questioners did not generally appear to be interested in the operation of the system as a whole...
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The Netherlands Court of Audit
, issued in 2017
Risk cases: 5