Noy forms task force to monitor national government agencies

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has formed an inter-agency task force to unify and strengthen the performance monitoring of national government agencies, as well as simplify, harmonize and boost the reporting systems in place.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said Administrative Order 25 will result in “a collaborative instrument for a unified and integrated Results-Based Performance Management System across all departments and agencies in government.”

“In line with the President’s commitment to streamline processes and systems in the bureaucracy, as well as his administration’s commitment to transparency, accountability, participatory and effective governance, our office initiated efforts to bring into line and integrate government performance monitoring systems,” he said.

“There is a need for a cost-effective and integrated framework to simplify existing reporting mechanisms used by the oversight agencies.”

Ochoa said the government should also “ensure that the data requirements are met by the reports submitted by the government agencies” and should not be “redundant” as in the present case, where agencies differ in monitoring systems.

The consensus was arrived at after a series of meetings with the National Economic and Development Authority, the Presidential Management Staff, Department of Budget and Management, Civil Service Commission and the Development Academy of the Philippines.

One thing the government wants to achieve is to do away with “reports in different formats, delay in submissions, inaccurate results and inefficiencies in performance monitoring evaluation and reporting.”

With the creation of the inter-agency task force, a Common Set Performance Scorecard and Government Executive Information System shall be developed and designed, among others, towards addressing deficiencies and duplication in the present performance monitoring systems and processes.

“In order to attain Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact status, the Philippine government had previously committed three Policy Improvement Processes (PIPs) to further improve good governance. One of them is the introduction and institutionalization of a balanced scorecard framework,” Ochoa said.

“So, there is a need for this unification of the efforts of government agencies mandated to exercise broad oversight of government agencies’ performance relative to our commitments and targets, as well as the national leadership’s agenda and Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016.”

Ochoa said this effort also strengthens public institutions in order to regain the trust and confidence of the public in government.

“This measure is one big step toward the specific goal of strengthening the capacity of government institutions to link their respective budgets with performance outcomes and enabling citizens and civil society to monitor and evaluate these,” he said.

Under AO 25, the inter-agency task force shall have the DBM as chair and the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES) as co-chair.

Members of the task force include the NEDA, PMS and the Department of Finance (DOF).

Other government oversight offices like the CSC and the Career Executive Service Board shall also be involved in the inter-agency task force in order to align the Strategic Performance Management System; the Career Executive Service Performance Evaluation System (CESPES) to the proposed RBPMS.

The Commission on Audit and the Office of the Ombudsman may also be invited by the task force to provide insights on the harmonization process.

The private sector will likewise be involved in the task force through the National Competitiveness Council for the purpose of providing inputs and aligning other performance management systems with the proposed unified RBPMS.

The DAP, meanwhile, shall serve as the secretariat of the inter-agency task force as well as its technical resource institution, according to the President’s directive.

Aquino also directed the task force to submit to him within six months its recommendation on the RBPMS through the Executive Secretary. Funding for the task force shall be provided by the DBM. –Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star)