GWATCH TOOL FOR CITIZENS MONITORING OF PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS

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G-WATCH TOOL FOR CITIZENS MONITORING OF PUBLIC
WORKS PROJECTS

• Prof. Juan Mayo Ragragio
• Ateneo School of Government
• 21 September 2004 Makati City

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Why monitor DPWH?

• Public works are vital public goods
• Big amount of contracts
• Corruption in agency

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What to monitor in DPWH?

• Delays
• Cost increases
• Causes of delays and cost increases
• Readily observable physical defects
• Deviation from normative process

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Framework for Citizens Monitoring

• Tool and method must be simple and can be applied
  easily by ordinary citizens
• Consultation with agency regarding the monitoring
  activity must be part of the method

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Monitoring Tool
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Methods

• Site visit
• Data-gathering
• Documents review and analysis
• Interviews

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Documents to use

• Progress reports and summary reports (Central
  Office data and field data)
• Contracts
• Supplemental Agreement
• Variation Orders
• Notice to Proceed
• Notice of Award
• Program of Work

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G-Watch Phases
Phase 1 Tool development and testing
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Phase 1

• No MOA with agency
• Coverage
• 4 highway projects
• 1 flood control project
• Ave. delay 415 CDs/project
• Ave. cost increase P176.5M/project
• Problems attributed to
• delayed fund releases from DBM
• bad weather condition
• financial crisis

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Phase 2

• MOA with agency signed
• Coverage
• 6 road projects
• 1 flood control project
• Ave. delay 831 CDs per project
• Ave. cost increase P105.5M per project
• Additional consultancy fee due to delay P522M
• Problems on right-of-way and environment clearance

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Phase 3

• MOA with agency signed
• Coverage
• 15 Locally Funded Projects (LFPs)
• 11 Foreign-Assisted Projects (FAPs)
• Ave. delay 52 CDs/LFP 287 CDs/FAP
• Ave. cost increase P241,290/LFP P59M/FAP
• Delays attributed to bad weather condition, late
  GOP payment, peace and order situation, RoW
• Cost increases attributed to changes in work plan
  and work suspension

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HIGHLIGHTS OF PHASE 3
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Monitoring Objectives

• To check the progress of on-going projects and
  performance of completed projects
• To identify problems that cause delay in project
  implementation
• To check on variances in targets (in terms of
  time, cost or project specifications)
• To identify other issues related to project
  implementation

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COVERAGE Criteria
There are a total of 26 projects monitored by
G-WATCH

• Projects identified in consultation with DPWH
• Implementing Office
• (Central Office, Local Offices)
• Project Status
• (Completed, On-going)
• Project Type
• (Road Construction, Flood Control, Airport
  Terminal, Road Maintenance)
• Funding Source
• (ADB, WB, JBIC, locally-funded)
• Geographical Spread
• (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao)

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11 FAPs vs. 14 Local Projects
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DELAYS OF MORE THAN 1 YEAR
ON-GOING PROJECTS
? in time
42.6
54.5
123.6
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SUMMARY (Time Variance)

• 18 out of 25 projects incurred delays (72 of
  those monitored)
• 4 projects incurred delays of more than 1 year
• All are Foreign-assisted
• 1 Completed, 3 On-going
• Change in Time 43 to 123
• Total Time Variance 3,941 CD or an average
  delay of 158 CD (5 months)

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CAUSE OF DELAYS
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TOP 2 PROJECT COST INCREASESIN PERCENTAGE

• P165,400,164.42
• 29

P354,641,354.03 92
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SUMMARY (Cost Variance)

• 14 out of 25 projects increased project cost
  (56 of those monitored)
• 2 projects increased cost by more than 25
• All are Foreign-assisted
• 1 Completed, 1 On-going
• Total Cost Variance P659,560,596.57 or an
  average increase of P26,382,423.86

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CAUSE OF COST INCREASES
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OTHER RELEVANT ISSUES
DPWH Responses (August 11)

• SUB-CONTRACTING
• Macalelon-Mulanay Road, Quezon, ADB
• BID IRREGULARITY
• Babak-Samal-Kaputian National Road
• MULTIPLE CONTRACTS
• Bislig Bridge, Surigao del Sur
• MISCOMPUTATIONS
• Some Local projects

• Allowed sub-contracting to verify
  amount/percentage sub-contracted if within limit
• To be verified by CO
• Splitting or Multi-release contract to be
  verified by CO
• Due to manual computations thus subject to
  human error

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A CASE OF SUB-CONTRACTINGMacalelon-Mulanay,
Quezon

• Reported case of sub-contracting
• Subcontracted by E. Ramos Construction to Wee Eng
  Construction km 247700 to 265700
• 41 (18 km) of road projects net length, 43.54
  km
• Amount P170,800,000.00 or 18 of contract price

Subcontract agreement XXX shall be subject to
increase or decrease by the CONTRACTOR depending
on its assessment of actual work done

• D.O. 4 and 70 s.2004
• prior written consent of the approving authority
• not gt 50 of value of project

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A CASE OF BID IRREGULARITY Babak-Samal-Kaputian
National Road

• Actual Start before Notice to Proceed
• Important Dates
• Bid Date March 28, 2003
• Notice of Award April 9, 2003
• Project Start April 25, 2003
• Notice to Proceed June 9, 2003
• Notice of Award closely scheduled with Bid
  Opening

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WHEN WILL WE SEE THE BRIDGE ?
99.99 accomplished
1998 P 31,116,039.51
All refer to exactly the same contract information
96.16 accomplished
1999 P 12,158,707.57
92.51 accomplished
2000 P 22,917,091.79
Actual Project Start July 13, 2000
60.32 accomplished
2002 (SA1) P 28,741,362.44
As of Feb 2004, researcher noted local district
officials observation that the project is not
even 25 complete in physical appearance. They
estimated that it may take another 5 years to
complete.
Original Project Cost Increased by P63,817,161.8
P94,933,201.31
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Bislig Bridge (Time Cost Variances)
Time Variance
? in time 159.2
Cost Variance

• P63,817,161.8
• 205

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CASES OF MISCOMPUTATIONS
Program of Work Babak-Samal-Kaputian

• ? A1 to A4 7,825,454.48
• 3 of ? (A1 to A4)
• 234,763.63
• Variance
• 350,000 - 234,763.63

115,236.37
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Major Questions

• Why do the same findings occur yearly?
• Why are they not addressed and corrected
  immediately?

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Learnings

• Non-technical monitoring by citizens can be done
  and can pressure both government and constructor
  to improve work quality
• Non-adversarial engagement with agency bears
  results

Thank you!