COA: PIDS has P81 million unfinished research projects

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), a government think tank, failed to complete P81 million worth of research projects within a timetable, a Commission on Audit (COA) report showed.

Based on COA’s 2019 Annual Audit Report on PIDS, the 24 research projects worth P81 million were not completed due to unanticipated delays encountered from other government agencies in processing requests for data and difficulty in hiring qualified project staff.

The COA findings revealed that completion dates of the P81 million worth of research projects were scheduled in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and that P56 million of the said P81 million has already been spent.

Of the 24 ongoing research projects, one was started in 2017 while eight others commenced in 2018.

“The above mentioned causes of delays should have been considered by [PIDS] Management in formulating the projects’ work plans as the non-completion within the timetable set by PIDS own researchers might render the purposes/objectives for these projects no longer relevant, or [that] the benefits that could have been derived therefrom by the intended users were not timely achieved,” state auditors said.

COA noted that such delays are contrary to PIDS’ mandate which is to provide relevant, reliable and timely policy research to guide policymakers and leaders in decision-making.

As a result, COA has recommended that PIDS researchers should carefully formulate the project’s work plan, specifically on setting the timetable of activities that would be attainable and to take into consideration such factors like problems in data gathering, the availability of qualified project researchers to carry out the project, among others, to ensure the execution and completion of the project within the timeframe.

In addition, state auditors urged PIDS to revisit the project work plans of the 24 ongoing projects and exert all efforts to complete these projects within the approved time extension in order not to defeat their purposes/objectives.

PIDS takes steps

In its response to COA’s findings, PIDS said it is already conducting close and regular monitoring of all ongoing projects and is set to enhance the capacity of research staff in Project Management through a seminar which will be held within the first quarter of 2020.

In addition, PIDS said they are currently hiring several key research persons to augment the manpower of the office after receiving the Department of Budget and Management's approval  late last year for funding additional plantilla positions.

“We thank the auditors for their inputs and recommendations to help PIDS in realizing its mission of providing relevant, reliable, and timely policy research. Rest assured that the PIDS is taking all steps necessary to be able to publish studies within the project work plans,” PIDS said.

PIDS argued that while some of the studies could not be completed according to timetable, the research process entails continuous and regular consultations with concerned government agencies and policymakers as part of the vetting, verification and validation of research findings which remain beneficial when PIDS provide its service to policymakers and other government agencies. — RSJ, GMA News