Findings No.9 COA Annual Audit Report 2006

July 25, 2008

9. The City Engineer’s Office personnel failed to ensure the preparations of a more appropriate Program of Works, project plans, specification and detailed estimates resulted to variation/change orders/extra orders of 39 projects, hence implementation of these projects were often delayed.

For infrastructure projects, before prosecuting any project, the necessary program of work shall be prepared and submitted for approval to the proper authorities. No program of work for any project shall be approved without detailed engineering. Field Survey is one of the works to be undertaken under detailed engineering. Field survey may include aerial, hydrographic, topographic, surface, monumenting and other surveys. Survey unless shall be prepared in a manner satisfactory to carry out accurate design and production of plans.

In the course of our audit, we noted that the 39 infrastructure projects were subjected to variation, changes and extra work order with project cost of P56,410,000.00. [Annex C].

The personnel of the Office of the City Engineer failed to ensure the preparations of a more appropriate program of work, project plans, specifications and detailed estimates which resulted to variation/change order of 39 projects worth P56,410,000.00 hence, implementation of the projects were often delayed.

In reply to our Audit Observation Memorandum, the City Engineer justified that Variation Orders were necessary because during project implementation, they found out the need for a new work items that are not included in the original contract. They also enumerated the following factors that may have caused these problems:

Their Planning Division is under-manned, due to the absence of 3 planners;

The lack of technical expertise and experience of their new programming, planning and designing personnel.

The lack of needed transportation for City Engineer’s personnel to conduct a thorough on site pre-construction inspection.

The limited planning manpower were pulled out to attend to special activities of the city.

Personnel records showed that the City Engineers Office has twenty-one (21) manpower complements in their office to help solve the present situation. If managed properly as to job assignments, the above cited problems would have been addressed. Verification of records showed the following:

PARTICULARNumber of

PersonnelPermanent Employees under the Planning

Division:

1 Engineer IV, 1 Engineer III, 1 Engineer II,73 Engineering Asst. and 1 DraftsmanCasual Employees:65 Engineering Assistants and 1 DraftsmanJob Orders:8 8 Engineering Assistants, all are engineering ___Graduates

Total

Recommendation:

Require the personnel of the City Engineer’s Office to ensure that estimates are based on the actual needs of the projects to preclude issuance of change orders/extra works/ variation orders. Likewise, make use of the 21 engineering manpower complements already existing at the City Engineer’s Office.

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Written by admin · Filed Under Commission on Audit, Gingoog City