STATE auditors reported that the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) failed to complete 24 research projects worth P81 million due to “unanticipated delays” encountered from other government agencies.
“Verification of the Project Status Report as of December 31, 2019 furnished by (PIDS) Management to the Audit Team showed that there were still twenty-four (24) ongoing projects with total cost of P81.236 million, which original target completion dates were in CYs (calendar years) 2017, 2018 and 2019,” the Commission on Audit (CoA) said in its 2019 Annual Audit Report.
Ou1t of the total project cost of P81.236 million, PIDS spent P56.321 million with the balance at P24.915 million. The 24 ongoing projects included one project which was started in 2017 and eight projects which commenced in 2018.
“According to Management, the causes of the non-completion of the projects within the original timetable indicated in the projects’ work plans could be attributed to, among others, delays encountered from other government agencies in processing PIDS’ requests for data and difficulty in hiring qualified project staff. PIDS requested for time extension in consultation with the partner agencies, in the case of externally-funded projects,” CoA said.
CoA said these delays go against PIDS’ mandate to provide “relevant, reliable and timely” policy research to guide policymakers and leaders in decision making. — Genshen L. Espedido
