Technical Assistance for the Implementation of. Structural Instruments. in Romania EUROPEAN UNION GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA. Structural Instruments

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN UNION GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA Structural Instruments Technical Assistance for the Implementation of Structural Instruments in Romania No. 4 October 2010

2 Technical Assistance for the Implementation of Structural Instruments in Romania No. 4 /

3 Project co-financed from the European Regional Development Fund through OPTA / Support for the implementation of the ACIS Communication Plan Editor: Directorate Technical Assistance, Ministry of Public Finance Publishing date: October 2010 The contents of this material does not necessarily represent the official position of the European Union and of the Romanian Government.

4 Contents Status of Using Technical Assistance in Romania as of August 31 st, 2010 Information and publicity activities financed under Technical Assistance within the Operational Programme Administrative Capacity Development Technical Assistance Administration Principles and the Possibilities of Using Technical Assistance in Lithuania Romanian German Cooperation Cooperation between the Ministry of Public Finance in Romania and the Ministry of Regional Development in Poland in the field of the European Union Cohesion Policy Implementation Status of Structural Instruments in Romania Conclusions and Recommendations of the Formative Evaluation of Structural Instruments in Romania Contact

5 Status of Using Technical Assistance in Romania as of August 31 st, 2010 The implementation of technical assistance in Romania is done through: The Technical Assistance Priority Axis within each Operational Programme (OP), which supports the provision of specific assistance for project preparation, monitoring, evaluation and control, as well as for communication activities ensuring appropriate publicity, with regards to specificity of the respective OP and The Operational Programme Technical Assistance (OPTA) which ensures horizontal assistance tools for the common needs of all structures and actors involved in the management and implementation of the Structural Instruments, by developing an effective single management information system able to provide also transparent information on funds absorption, as well as by activities aiming at general public awareness on the role of the Community support and an overview understanding of the interventions of Structural Instruments. In the period January August 2010, the pace for Technical Assistance (TA) use was accelerated by OPTA and TA Axes within the other 6 Operational Programmes, 100 TA projects being contracted in amount of 143 millions lei EU contribution and payments being made in amount of 35 millions lei EU contribution. Therefore, on August 31 st 2010, TA contracting was 17% out of the EU allocation, while payments were at 3.36% (varying from 16.26% in the case of ROP to 0% in the case of SOP IEC. Status of using Technical Assistance as of August 31 st, No. 4 /

6 The approval rate of the submitted projects is 86%, namely 206 approved projects at 31 August 2010 out of the 240 submitted projects. The payments made from EU funds, amounting to 98 millions lei, are comprised of pre-financing in amount of 30.5 millions lei and reimbursements in amount of 67.5 millions lei. Within the last meeting of the Coordination Committee for Technical Assistance that took place on September 30th 2010, the status of public procurement contracts financed within the TA projects was analyzed and the situation of these contracts on August 31st 2010 was the following: Total eligible value of contracts: 613 mil. lei Note: Within the contracts included in category I or V, support is granted also for Structural Instruments beneficiaries and it is not possible to divide the amounts for each category. 6

7 OPTA Operational Programme Technical Assistance ROP Regional Operational Programme SOP IEC Sectoral Operational Programme Increase of Economic Competitiveness SOP T Sectoral Operational Programme Transport SOP ENV Sectoral Operational Programme Environment SOP HRD Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development OP ACD Operational Programme Administrative Capacity Development Category I - support for the management of the Operational Programmes, Intermediate Bodies, Authority for Coordination of Structural Instruments, Certifying and Paying Authority, Audit Authority: millions lei meetings of committees and working groups (all Operational Programmes) assistance for preparing the project pipeline and/or the projects evaluation, selection and contracting (SOP Environment, SOP IEC, OP ACD, SOP HRD) assistance for on the spot checks, projects monitoring (SOP IEC) staff training from the management structures (OPTA, ROP, SOP HRD) events focussed on experience exchange (OPTA, SOP Environment) staff expenses for the Regional Development Agencies and the coordinators of the Growth Poles and their teams (ROP, OPTA) partial financing of staff expenses for the staff involved in SI coordination, management and control: 6 projects are under contracting - Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour and North-West Regional Intermediate Body for SOP HRD; the remaining 23 projects are under implementation (OPTA) rents and/or headquarters maintenance (SOP Environment, SOP HRD, SOP IEC, OPTA) others: accounting services, legal consultancy, public procurement consultancy, documentation management services, preparing projects pipeline, office procurement and supplies, etc. Category II support for beneficiaries: 8.7 millions lei: training for beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries (OPTA, ROP, SOP Environment, SOP HRD, OP ACD) working sessions with beneficiaries, organisation of events for beneficiaries (ROP) Category III evaluation of operational programmes, studies, analyses: 11.8 millions lei study for identifying the priority directions of reform of the post 2013 Cohesion Policy from Romania s perspective (OPTA), Technical Assistance Facility study (OPTA), study regarding the ROP implementation in the South-West Oltenia region (ROP) interim evaluations of the operational programmes (all Operational Programmes, except SOP Environment), evaluation of the National Strategic Reference Framework (OPTA), ad-hoc evaluation regarding challenges related to the public and private beneficiaries capacity (OPTA), evaluation of the Communication Plan implementation (SOP IEC), evaluation of the implementation of the priorities and projects targeted at the business environment (ROP) 7 No. 4 /

8 Category IV information systems: 34.4 millions lei technical expertise for preparing the tender documentation Development of MySMIS (OPTA) support for the Managing Authority, Intermediate Bodies and beneficiaries of SOP HRD to achieve a better management of the Actionweb system, supporting the maintenance and the preparation of financial and procedural reports for projects financed under the European Social Fund (SOP HRD) Management Integrated information system (SIM SOP HRD) IT equipment and software purchase (OPTA, ROP, SOP IEC, SOP Environment) purchase of equipment necessary for SMIS functioning (OPTA) integrated electronic system for document management (SOP Environment) etc. Category V information and publicity: 32.6 millions lei promotion conferences, mass-media campaigns, media spots, opinion polls, promotional objects, information materials, websites maintenance etc. (ROP, SOP Environment, SOP Transport, OP ACD, SOP HRD, SOP IEC, OP ACD, OPTA) In the same time, besides these procurement contracts, there are still 64 contracts under preparation, with a total eligible value of 150 millions lei (59% support for Operational Programmes management, 25% information and publicity and 15% IT equipment and information systems). From the above, one can notice that the signed TA projects have subsequent public procurement contracts in different implementation stages (finalized, ongoing, under contracting or under preparation). Nevertheless, in the TA implementation, many problems are still faced, mainly because of the difficult development of the awarding procedures, the lack of experience and guidance regarding defining and using the evaluation factors in the procurement of consultancy services and the lack of staff dedicated to TA-related activities. Thus, it is necessary to provide support for improving the process of public procurement development and accelerating the contracting pace and therefore the National Authority for Regulating and Monitoring of Public Procurement (ANRMAP) and the National Council for Solving Complaints will be included as potential beneficiaries in the Operational Programme Technical Assistance and may carry out projects supporting the public procurement system. 8

9 Information and Publicity Activities Financed under Technical Assistance within the Operational Programme Administrative Capacity Development The project Technical assistance for the Managing Authority for Administrative Capacity Development in view to ensure information and publicity processes for the Operational Programme Administrative Capacity Development (OP ACD) started on May 17 th 2010, being contracted with the company DIADIKASIA Business Consultants SA Greece, in partnership with Publicis PLC Romania. The project activities will be carried out during 18 months, benefiting of a budget of 2,456,700 lei, broken on specific components of the project. This technical assistance project is part of the Priority Axis 3, the key area of intervention Support for OP ACD promotion and communication. It is subject to the European Commission Regulation 1159/2000 and its recommendations defining the obligations of the Managing Authorities related to the publicity and information measures for the assistance available from Structural Funds. Its fundamental goals are increasing programme visibility and developing a promotion and information system for potential beneficiaries, for beneficiaries and the general public regarding OP ACD, in order to improve the communication activities of MA OP ACD. Thus, important activities were foreseen in the tender documentation to accomplish an efficient communication and awareness regarding OP ACD. These basic actions were proposed, on one hand, to answer to the findings in the Communication Plan of OP ACD, and on the other hand to cover the needs found at the level of projects and programme implementation. They are based on two strategic axes: A - Awareness and Information Addressed to the potential applicants of OP ACD, it includes the implementation of an efficient information campaign to increase funds absorption, by creating an identity manual of the programme, by purchasing and delivering promotion objects, printing information materials, organizing information events dedicated to projects beneficiaries and conferences dedicated to potential beneficiaries; B Institutional Capacity Building Addressed to the MA OP ACD, this strategic axis, besides obtaining an added value of the project, aims at developing the administrative capacity of the MA OP ACD to implement the Communication Plan and other promotion measures, increasing the interaction with potential beneficiaries, by implementing a range of training sessions and internal and external work visits for the staff MA OP ACD regarding the information activities, as well as by preparing support materials for the implementation of the annual Communication Plan. 9 No. 4 /

10 Analytically, as concerns the additional services presented by the service provider in the technical offer (the winner), the project comprises the following activities and will achieve the following results: 1. Preparation of the visual identity of MA OP ACD Within this activity, the service provider proposed to draw up a methodology for the consultation of all actors involved in the implementation of the OP ACD in order to create a logo of OP ACD. This logo is to become, together with the slogan Innovation in administration, the logo to recognize and identify the programme within the potential beneficiaries of projects and the general public and in the same time a logo for the users (beneficiaries). The logo is to be attached on all materials printed or delivered within OP ACD, following a certain typology described in the Identity Manual of OP ACD. According to the tender documentation requirements, the (final) result of this activity is the Identity Manual for OP ACD. 2. Preparation, purchasing and distribution of promotional objects In order to support the action of building a single image of OP ACD through a logo and the consecrated slogan, a range of promotional objects are to be purchased within the project and personalised with the developed elements of visual identity. These promotional objects are to be distributed at events organized within the OP ACD, this project as well as within other projects. According to tender documentation requirements, the service provider shall personalise 38,100 promotional objects. 3. Conceiving, printing and distributing information materials In order to support the potential beneficiaries, but also the current beneficiaries of OP ACD projects, a range of information materials shall be printed within the project. These materials are also to be personalised with the OP ACD logo and slogan. Besides the requirements of the tender documentation regarding the type of publications and the number of printings, the service provider offered support in creating the graphic concept for each material, making DTP (inserting the text in the graphics and the printable format), developing the content of materials, in order to choose the format and the most attractive and intelligible language for the target groups. The results aimed are 28 different publications printed and distributed, amounting to a total printing of around 96,500 pieces. 10

11 4. Organizing information and publicity events at central and local levels This activity, the central theme of this project, is addressed on one hand to the potential projects beneficiaries, and on the other hand to the existing beneficiaries of projects contracted out of OP ACD. The aim of these actions is to increase the absorption of OP ACD funds by developing mature proposals but also by making a correct implementation and within the agreed period of time. Thus, 4 regional conferences of 2 days each, initially dedicated to potential beneficiaries, in the event of launching new calls for proposals, and 3 seminars of 2 days each dedicated to projects beneficiaries were asked in the tender documentation. The technical offer of the service provider assigned as the winner proposes the organization of 8 conferences of 2 days each for minimum 50 participants one for each development region opening with a press conference and followed by one regional seminar of 1 day at a period of 1-2 weeks. This information/promotion mini-campaign for the new calls for proposals was planned in order to favour the development of mature project proposals and clarify possible more difficult sections from the financing application. In case where there will be no more new calls for proposals, these events will be oriented towards the projects beneficiaries. In the technical offer of the service provider, the projects beneficiaries are allocated a number of 5 training seminars of 2 days each. The theme of the seminars is to be detailed in the Concept Note prepared for each event. Also, in addition to the tender documentation requirements, the winning technical offer added to this information campaign 10 announcements/articles of interest, in central press, 8 announcements/ articles of interest in regional press (one for each development region) and 5 radio interviews on OP ACD related themes. 5. Training MA OP ACD employees in order to acquire necessary skills in communication activities The activity is dedicated to develop the MA OP ACD employees ability to plan and carry out communication and information actions regarding OP ACD, by training courses and experience exchanges with counterpart bodies in the EU countries. 6. Preparing annual action plans for information and publicity activities, as well as other strategic documents The service provider will prepare annual action plans for information and publicity activities and will ensure the know how transfer regarding their preparation, by training at the workplace of the MA OP ACD employees, for obtaining a coherent vision on all activities specific to the OP ACD promotion campaign. In order to support the communication and promotion activities of OP ACD, the 11 No. 4 /

12 service provider proposed preparing communication guides accompanied by checklists for each communication action: A guide for preparing and publishing a newsletter; A guide for implementing a Communication Campaign on Structural Funds; Reporting and Monitoring on the information instruments in the Communication Plan; A guide for organizing a press office dedicated to OP ACD; A guide for organizing events on Structural Funds/ OP ACD. In order to support the information activities for potential applicants, and implicitly to support the press officers responsible with implementing the visibility and transparency activities, the service provider will initiate negotiations with the training institutions for developing training programmes in the fields specific to the project: writing projects generally, projects in the administrative reform especially, PR and publicity actions and preparing strategic promotion documents. The service provider will make available the course programmes and the proposed lists of lectors. One of the first events organized within this contract took place in July 2010 at Constanţa. The seminar was dedicated to those who already implemented projects financed by OP ACD and benefited of a large participation of representatives of public authorities in the South-East area. For the two days, the topics tackled were related to projects implementation monitoring, financial management, mandatory visibility elements, as well as reimbursement mechanisms and validation of expenditures. According to questionnaires filled in the end, more than 60 people who participated in this event appreciated especially the practical applications and the openness with which the subjects were dealt. 12

13 Technical Assistance Administration Principles and the Possibilities of Using Technical Assistance in Lithuania Technical Assistance Allocation Principles In Lithuania, EU structural assistance is allocated under 4 operational programmes: Human Resources Development OP, Economic Growth OP, Cohesion Promotion OP (hereinafter topical operational programmes) and Technical Assistance OP. Each topical operational programme and the Technical Assistance Operational Programme have one technical assistance priority, which is subdivided into three technical assistance measures: administration measures of operational programmes, information on EU structural assistance and EU structural assistance publicity measures (hereinafter information and publicity measures), EU structural assistance evaluation and evaluation capacity building measures (hereinafter evaluation measures). 13 No. 4 /

14 Administration Measures of Operational Programmes: 1.These measures aim at establishing the management and control system of EU structural assistance received under the Convergence objective and ensuring the effective functioning of the system, also improving professional skills, knowledge and abilities of public servants and employees administering EU structural assistance; 2.Funds of these measures are used for financing the preparation, implementation, management, monitoring, control and audit of the Human Resources Development OP, Economic Growth OP, Cohesion Promotion OP and Technical Assistance OP, as well as training and improvement of professional skills of public servants and employees administering EU structural assistance; 3.18 projects under these measures are currently under implementation. Information and Publicity Measures: 1.These measures, by emphasising the role of the European Community, aim at endeavouring more transparent allocation of EU assistance, securing presentation of public information on operational programmes to all target groups by widely using various communication means; 2.Funds of these measures are used for financing the implementation of information and publicity plans, information and publicity capacity building, information and publicity supervision; 3.16 projects under these measures are currently under implementation. Evaluation Measures: 1.These measures aim at reinforcing the quality, efficiency and continuity of the use of EU structural assistance, improving the strategy of operational programmes and its implementation; 2.Funds of these measures are used for financing the on-going performance evaluation of EU structural assistance, on-going strategic evaluation of EU structural assistance, implementation of EU structural assistance evaluation capacity building measures; 3.7 projects under these measures are currently under implementation. 14

15 Technical Assistance Planning Principles National legal acts embed that TA beneficiaries may be institutions and agencies that perform EU structural assistance administration, information and publicity, and/ or evaluation functions. The majority of TA beneficiaries (14) is budgetary institutions, 3 TA beneficiaries have the status of public institutions, while 1 TA beneficiary is a private limited company. However, it should be noted that despite the legal status of TA beneficiaries, all technical assistance allocated to them is planned along with the State budget appropriations, i.e. is allocated following the same principles as those for the State budget funds. TA projects implemented under OP administration, information and publicity measures are drafted for the entire EU structural assistance administration period , i.e. expenditure under these projects may be incurred from 1 January 2007 to 31 December The financing for these projects is allocated on yearly basis under real requirement by TA beneficiaries, i.e. on the basis of activities planned to be implemented during a year concerned. At the beginning of the year, TA beneficiary receives total amount of technical assistance allocated to it for the year concerned, it uses the assistance in the course of the year and, following the established schedules for submission of payment requests, reports to the Implementing Agency about used technical assistance. Thus, TA beneficiary is not required to use its own funds, it is granted a possibility of using immediately technical assistance. The Implementing Agency, after verification and certification of the payment requests, does not make real payments any longer, it only certifies whether TA beneficiary properly used technical assistance allocated to it. In such case, if TA beneficiary unduly uses assistance allocated, it has to pay such expenditure from other than technical assistance (own resources). Technical assistance projects implemented under evaluation measures are drafted following the same principles as those for ordinary projects, i.e. they are drafted for the call period, project expenditure is paid by way of paying invoices or reimbursing expenditure etc. Possibilities of Using Technical Assistance in Lithuania National legal acts establish categories of expenditure that can be financed from technical assistance. National legal acts also embed that TA beneficiary itself can choose which expenditure out of the approved list it will finance from technical assistance and which from the State budget funds or own resources (embedded possibility, but not an obligation). Basic categories of expenditure National legal acts also embed a possibility of applying pro rata principle, i.e. TA beneficiaries are granted a possibility of financing not only expenditure which is by 100 per cent related to administration of EU structural assistance, but also expenditure which is partially related to administration of EU structural assistance. For instance, national legal acts establish that each TA beneficiary can finance from technical assistance wages and salaries of all employees of the institution, whose functions performed are fully or partially related to administration of EU structural assistance. The employee s functions are considered to be partially related to administration of EU structural assistance, when the employee performs not only the functions of administration of EU structural assistance, 15 No. 4 /

16 but also other functions that are not related to EU structural assistance administration (e.g. a lawyer checks or prepares legal acts regulating not only EU structural assistance administration, but also other legal acts attributable to the competence of the institution). TA beneficiary, willing to apply pro rata principle has to draft and approve its methodology, which would establish the principles based on which a specific expenditure amount to be financed from technical assistance is calculated. If TA beneficiary does not have the mentioned methodology, it cannot apply pro rata principle. According to methodology, a partial payment from technical assistance can also be made for capacity building, equipment of workplaces and other expenditure. It is worth mentioning that the application of pro rata principle during the economic crisis created a possibility of saving the State budget funds, considering that the majority of TA beneficiaries prepared and approved their above-mentioned methodologies and applied pro rata principle for the wide range of expenditure. TA projects financed from the European Social Fund are also subject to application of the cross-financing method allowing project operators to acquire furniture and equipment necessary to perform EU structural assistance administration functions. It should be noted that these projects are also subject to the requirements laid down in Article 34(2) of Regulation 1083/2006, for the implementation monitoring of which the responsibility falls on the Managing Authority. 16

17 Romanian German Cooperation After the Revolution in December 1989, Romania started a profound process of State, economy and civil society reconstruction. Within the bilateral cooperation between Romania and the member states of the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany is one of the most important partners. The Romanian-German cooperation registered many successes until today and Romania has appreciated especially the support provided by the Federal Republic of Germany for preparing for the accession to the European Union as well as in other important fields for the country economic development. The assistance granted by the Federal Republic of Germany aimed at creating an internal framework for market economy (fighting inflation, privatization, limiting State participation in economy, reducing budget deficit, creating an efficient tax system, promoting investments and reducing consumption expenses), as well as adapting the economy of countries in transition to the demands of international markets (currency convertibility, external economic balance, international competitiveness). The assistance granted to Romania by the Federal Republic of Germany was implemented especially through a real partnership and supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) GmbH. The cooperation between the Romanian Government and the German Government took the form of financial cooperation and technical cooperation. The financial cooperation took place based on governmental agreements that were concluded to this aim. During this time, Romania received an important financial support from the Federal Republic of Germany. Although the bilateral cooperation has started since 1991, the legal base for technical cooperation was represented by the Framework agreement regarding the technical cooperation between Romania and the Federal Republic of Germany, signed on May 6 th 1994, ratified by the Romanian Parliament by Law no. 17 on March 6 th 1995 and entered into force on September 10 th This Agreement allowed the signing of supplementary agreements regarding different technical cooperation projects. In the same time, each contracting party of this Agreement assumes the responsibility for technical cooperation projects in his country. In project agreements, there are set: the joint conception regarding the project, especially the project objective, the activities of each party, the tasks and organizational status of participants, as well as the calendar for the project development. The technical cooperation was at two levels - sectorial, carried out in the benefit of the Romanian governmental institutions (ministries, governmental agencies); - general, carried out in partnership with the governmental institutions, universities, NGOs, professional associations etc. The bilaterally promoted projects regarding the technical assistance had as main objectives: preparing and training the experts, adjusting social assistance structures, making partnerships in economy, providing consultancy on market economy issues, fighting unemployment and professional integration of the unemployed. 17 No. 4 /

18 In the period , the technical and financial assistance provided to Romania was substantial, around 129 millions euro. The fact that this money was well invested is proved by multiple positive examples of some projects, such as: Rehabilitating the historical centre of the city of Sibiu; Supporting the School of Administration in Timişoara; Developing the Apuseni region; Improving competitiveness and eliminating commercial technical barriers; Consolidating the potential for tourism in the villages in Transylvania; Promoting the private sector and the employment; Supporting the ongoing training in agriculture and rural development; Careful rehabilitation and economic incentive of old historic buildings in Timişoara. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), in the names of German Federal Ministries, was charged to manage and implement many of the programmes regarding the institutional capacity building processes, which were financed by preaccession funds (PHARE). In the same time, Romania benefited of large support measures from Germany, under bilateral programmes that were, also, implemented by GTZ, in the name of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). One of these programmes was the Programme for economic development and promoting employment (GTZ-WBF), which concluded on The experience acquired in this period was shared to the authorities in the candidate countries and potential candidate countries in the South-East Europe, within the Conference on developing the capacity to manage structural funds, organized on May 26 th 2010 in Bucharest. Along with Mr. Leo Kreuz the Head of the South-East Europe Department within the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Mr. Ştefan Ciobanu general director ACIS and Mr. Răzvan Cotovelea deputy general director ACIS, representatives from public institutions in Romania involved in managing structural funds, the representatives of GTZ in Romania and Balkan countries, as well as guests from Balkan countries (Croatia, Serbia, Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania) representing the National Coordination Points of EU Assistance participated to the conference. The conference outlined the need and the opportunity for an organized information exchange between the public institutions of different countries and confirmed the fact that experiences specific to administrative structures in new member states are of special interest for the administrations of candidate countries. An experience exchange organized at technical level is essential. Besides the general experience exchange, future information and knowledge exchanges must focus also on specialized instruments and on developing instruments within the transition and adjusting processes. The participants outlined the importance and the benefits of multilateral information and knowledge exchanges at regional level, between different organizations and institutions involved in the EU funds management and implementation. The activities carried out as a part of this cooperation interaction should also promote setting up informal contacts between participants. The potential regarding the experience and knowledge exchange, clearly proved by this conference, should be promoted by setting up several specialized forums regularly organized. 18

19 Cooperation between the Ministry of Public Finance in Romania and the Ministry of Regional Development in Poland in the field of the European Union Cohesion Policy The Ministry of Public Finance through the Authority for Coordination of Structural Instruments (ACIS) has started to cooperate with Poland since 2005, within the first twinning it benefited from Phare 2003 in order to strengthen the administrative capacity and to prepare for the Structural Instruments coordination and management after the accession to the European Union. The project, amounting to 1,935,000 euro, was implemented in the period September 2005 March 2007, in cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry from the United Kingdom and DATAR Department for International Cooperation in France. Within the project, besides the two resident twinning advisors, 65 short term experts from the United Kingdom, France, Hungary and Poland participated and obtained the following outcomes: Interministerial coordination created and operational the activity of the National Committee was improved under ACIS coordination; ACIS prepared to accomplish tasks defined in the European regulations in the field; Programming documents for the period finalized, forwarded and negotiated with the European Commission; Systems, structures, responsibilities, guidelines and operational procedures for an efficient evaluation of the National Development Plan and the Operational Programmes and staff trained in the relevant activity fields; The Managing Authority for the Operational Programme Technical Assistance operational and prepared to accomplish its tasks defined in the European regulations in the field; The Operational Programme Technical Assistance forwarded and approved by the European Commission and the framework document for implementation prepared. Following this project, in the period September 2007 April 2009, ACIS contracted and implemented another twinning financed from Phare 2006 in order to improve the coordination capacity of Structural Instruments, but also the capacity of other structures involved in the Structural Instruments management. The project, amounting to 1,000,000 euro, was implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Technology and Equal Opportunity from Germany and the Ministry of Regional Development from Poland. Within the project, besides the resident twining advisor, 34 short term experts from Germany, Poland and Hungary participated and the following outcomes were reached: An early warning system was developed that enables monitoring the use of Structural Instruments and timely identification of the areas that could not ensure the observance of the rule n+3/n+2; The bases for monitoring the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), for strategic reporting and for preparing the national annual report on Structural Instruments implementation were set up; Support on different themes such as: SMIS, evaluation, communication etc. was ensured; MA OPTA benefited from the experience of their colleagues responsible for the implementation of the Operational Programmes Technical Assistance in Poland ( and ); 19 No. 4 /

20 More than 500 people were trained in different fields: introduction into Structural Instruments, evaluation, monitoring, eligibility of expenditures, indicators, financial management, preparing and implementing projects financed from Technical Assistance etc. Besides the experience exchange within twinnings, between the representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development from Poland and ACIS representatives, bilateral meetings took place (May 5 th -6 th 2008, February 25 th 2009, July 15 th 2010), focussed on topics such as: the coordination of Structural Instruments, strategic and operational issues in managing these funds and possibilities to cooperate during the debates that take place at European level regarding the future of Cohesion Policy. In order to create the general framework for cooperation (objective, cooperation fields and ways) between Romania and Poland, after finalizing the twinnings, a letter of intent was signed at minister level, in May The activity areas where the cooperation with the Ministry of Regional Development in Poland will be continued, are: a. system of implementation, evaluation, management and coordination of the operational programmes co-financed from Structural Instruments and the Cohesion Fund, b. system of financing of programmes, c. institutional capacity and effectiveness of the implementation system, d. future of Cohesion Policy, e. technical assistance, f. promoting cooperation initiatives on regional and sub-regional level, g. distribution of information on possibilities offered by Structural Instruments in both countries, h. other relevant matters which can be mutually agreed upon. The cooperation is done by: a. trainings, seminars, meetings and study visits for staff development; b. experts consultancy in the field of cohesion policy, as well as assistance in realization of territorial cooperation projects between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Romania; c. exchange of information, also through the organization of conferences; d. exchange of strategic documents and evaluation thereof; e. preparation and implementation of common projects. In its capacity as coordinator, the Ministry of Public Finance shall involve, in the activities foreseen within this cooperation, as the case may be, other relevant institutions in this field, such as: the managing authorities, the intermediate bodies, the Audit Authority, the Ministry for Regional Development and Tourism etc. The cooperation with the Ministry for Regional Development from Poland proved to be extremely useful in the period for preparing for Structural Instruments management and implementation, as well as in the first years of actual implementation. In the context when Romania faces concrete issues in managing and implementing these funds, continuing bilateral relationships in order to have an experience exchange with a partner who faced and/or faces similar issues is a necessary initiative for the following period. 20

21 Implementation Status of Structural Instruments in Romania I. Context The absorption of Structural and Cohesion Funds is a major priority of the Romanian Government. Starting with 2009, at Government level, specific measures were taken in order to simplify the implementation mechanisms and eliminate the blockages and the delays in absorption, such as: Improving the Applicants Guides and reducing the number of documents required when submitting the projects (by eliminating some documents or replacing them with beneficiaries declarations on their own responsibility); Increasing the flexibility of some eligibility criteria for applicants (e.g. criterion regarding the lack of debts to the public budgets, in the sense of taking into consideration the net debts and accepting submission of projects from applicants with moderate net debts to the public budgets); Accelerating the tender procedures by modifying the public procurement legislation, in the sense of reducing tender periods and making the process more flexible, as well as in the view of setting up more efficient mechanisms to solve the appeals; Adopting a comprehensive and coherent legislative framework for the financial flows of the Structural and Cohesion Funds (Government Emergency Ordinance no. 64/2009) Granting financial facilities to beneficiaries: Doubling the pre-financing level (from 15% to 30% out of the eligible amount of the financing contract); Granting pre-financing also to beneficiaries who are under state aid rules, up to 35% of the grant value; Establishing a state guarantee mechanism of credits for ensuring co-financing, contracted by local authorities, regional water operators and promoters of the development projects for the research-development infrastructure; Eliminating the obligation for small businesses to ensure their own contribution (within the Key Area of Intervention 4.3 of the Regional Operational Programme); Ensuring with priority the financial resources for the beneficiaries that are institutions of the central public administration by allocating for the projects the full amount in the State budget; Modifying the budgetary legislation in order to facilitate the planning and multiannual execution (some exceptions were introduced from the compulsoriness of the public beneficiaries who grant advances to contractors to recover the amounts by the end of the year, if they are not justified by delivered goods, executed works or provided services). 21 No. 4 /

22 The simplification and improvement measures of the legal, institutional and financial framework generated a visible acceleration of the implementation process of the Operational Programmes in the period In spite of registered progresses, further actions are necessary to make the absorption process more efficient. To this aim, the Ministry of Public Finance submitted a Plan of priority measures to the Government for approval in order to accelerate the absorption of Structural and Cohesion Funds. This plan that was adopted on July 13 th 2010 contains short and medium term measures: strengthening the administrative capacity of the structures responsible for the coordination, the management and the control of Structural Instruments, as well as the public beneficiaries; strategic planning at the level of each Managing Authority and Intermediate Body of the contracting targets and payments up to December 2011; accelerating the projects implementation and the payments: terminating the financing contracts with beneficiaries who register unjustified major delays for the effective start-up of the implementation; setting up a monitoring system of the period of checking the payment claims and making the payments, in order to identify major delays and take corrective measures; introducing the obligation for the beneficiaries - central public institutions - to send payment claims in maximum three months from the time the payments for the project were made. II. Implementation Status of Operational Programmes The situation of submitted projects, approved projects, signed financing contracts/decisions and of payments made to the beneficiaries, for the seven Operational Programmes, on August 31 st 2010, is the following: Submitted Projects The total number of projects submitted for financing in the framework of the 7 Operational Programmes was 19,371, amounting to billions lei (around 42 billions euro). Approved Projects The projects selection and approval process was extremely complex and required sustained efforts from the Managing Authorities and Intermediate Bodies, so that from the 19,371 projects, a number of 4,878 projects to be approved up to August 31 st 2010, in total amount of 4.6 billions lei (around 10.9 billions euro, out of which 7 billions euro EU contribution, which means around 84% out of the EU allocation). The difference between the projects submitted and those approved includes also 8,589 projects rejected under evaluation because of their nonconformity from administrative point of view or lack of fulfilling the eligibility criteria. 22

23 In this context, it needs to be specified that among the number of approved projects 30 major projects (projects with an individual amount over 50 millions Euro) are also included, with a total amount of 2.43 billions euro in the field of the environment (24 projects), transport (5 projects) and energy (1 project). Also, 3 major projects in the transport field (road and railway), 3 in the environment field (water and waste) and 1 project in the energy field (desulphurisation unit) were submitted to the European Commission for analysis and approval. Financing contracts/decisions signed with the beneficiaries The progress is also significant regarding the number of financing contracts/ decisions concluded with beneficiaries. Up to August 31 st 2010, out of 4,878 approved projects 3,507 contracts were signed, with an eligible amount around billions lei (7 billions euro, out of which the EU contribution is around 5.6 billions euro), representing around 64% out of the EU allocation. Payments to the beneficiaries The total payments to the beneficiaries, representing pre-finances and reimbursements (except VAT reimbursement), amounted to around 1.09 billions euro. The internal payments of EU funds are 12% out of the allocation. The acceleration of payments is shown also by the annual evolution of payments to the beneficiaries up to August 31 st 2010: 23 No. 4 /

24 A situation for each Operational Programme of the number and the volume of the submitted, approved and contracted projects, as well as the payments to the beneficiaries is below: Operational Programme No. SUBMITTED PROJECTS Total amount (millions lei) No. APPROVED PROJECTS Total amount (millions lei) No. FINANCING CONTRACTS/ DECISIONS Eligible amount (millions lei) PAYMENTS TO THE BENEFICIARIES Total payments (millions lei) Regional OP 6,143 49, , , , SOP Environment , , , SOP Transport 54 19, , , SOP Increase of Economic Competitiveness SOP Human Resources Development OP Development of Administrative Capacity 6,260 51, ,724 6, ,252 3, ,609 32, ,763 13, ,139 8, , OP Technical Assistance TOTAL 19, , ,878 46, ,507 29, , III. Conclusions The implementation status of the Operational Programmes on August 31 st 2010 shows important progresses registered in improving the implementation process, following the identification of procedural solutions and measures for overcoming main difficulties in this field. Strengthening the absorption capacity needs further special efforts to detect and to promptly remove any barriers when implementing projects financed from Structural Instruments (major infrastructure projects as well as those dedicated to regional and local development, the business environment or developing human resources), as well as for strengthening the administrative capacity of structures that ensure the coordination, the management and the control of these funds. The technical assistance available within the Operational Programme Technical Assistance, as well as in the priority axis specific to each Programme is a basic instrument at the reach of authorities in their approach to consolidate the management system of Operational Programmes, so that the proposed objectives are achieved with the estimated impact. 24

25 Conclusions and Recommendations of the Formative Evaluation of Structural Instruments in Romania Conducting evaluations for the period The Evaluation Central Unit within the Authority for Coordination of Structural Instruments (ACIS) implements the project Conducting evaluations for the period , financed from the Operational Programme Technical Assistance. The project has two main components, the first is a Formative Evaluation of Structural Instruments in Romania, and the second has four other evaluations, that is the Interim Evaluation of the Operational Programme Technical Assistance, a Synthesis Report of all evaluations carried out in the period , as well as two other ad hoc evaluations on thematic and cross-cutting issues. One of the main accomplishments of the project up to today is the finalization of Formative Evaluation of Structural Instruments in Romania, comprising the following conclusions and recommendations. General conclusions: The evaluation highlighted the fact that the Structural Instruments (SI) management and implementation system in Romania has not yet managed to scale the administrative burden involved in the procurement and financial management and control relative to the complexity of interventions, individual projects and the risk of default and fraud attached to them. Another feature of the Romanian Structural Instruments system is the tendency to gold-plate requiring 100% control coverage, as well as many levels of checks. The costs involved in control and audit, in terms of human resources and time, are not always tailored to the financial and moral hazard involved in the less-than-perfect enforcement of the applicable rules and regulations. General recommendations: A key overall recommendation is that ACIS and the Managing Authorities (MAs) ensure that the administrative arrangements pertaining to Structural Instruments implementation are proportional to the potential risk of the interventions. To this end, ACIS and the MAs are advised to adopt a classification of interventions (such as simple, normal, complex) according to their total budgets, complexity and risk of the project implementation and sustainability, and to re-design the project selection mechanism so as to match this classification of interventions. This approach would allow the selection of projects for simple interventions based only on eligibility criteria; general calls for proposals would apply to normal interventions and be based not only on eligibility criteria but also on scored project selection criteria; individual appraisals based on strict, preset criteria would apply only to complex interventions. In addition, ACIS is recommended to investigate on the basis of the findings of individual OP-level interim evaluations what options exist for funds re-allocation to counteract the effects of the current economic downturn, the perceived and projected absorption capacity, as well as the level of demand of non-reimbursable funds requested by potential beneficiaries. 25 No. 4 /