Draft_RES-ist_Statement_of_Work_(SoW).pdf

USAID’s Radical E-Services (RES-ist) Activity

1 February 2019

I. Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to support initiatives to increase transparency and decrease corruption in targeted government-led processes, which include interactions between public officials and potential investors, local businesses, and citizens. The focus of the assistance will be on minimizing the discretion of public officials in decision making, which often results in the abuse of authority and hindering processes with which they are entrusted, and on empowering watchdog organizations for greater scrutiny over government-led processes.

The activities must be coupled and complemented by the tailored actions geared towards capacity building in CSO watchdog organizations (follow-on CSO project) that shall focus on public procurement processes.

II. Scope of the Activity

The focus area of the activity is digitalization as a tool for fighting corruption. The Contractor must employ a comprehensive set of initiatives to tackle interoperability issues between the different levels of the BiH governments, while enhancing efficiency of the governmental institutions responsible for providing different services to businesses and citizens. This activity is also focused on improving transparency in government-led processes and increasing participation of the private sector and citizens in public proceedings and decision-making processes. The main activity tasks are:

A.1 Assisting local authorities to adopt the country-wide e-signature service.

A.2 Automating processes that have an immediate, positive impact on BIH’s citizens and businesses by reducing corruption, and improving efficiency of administration in USAID-selected Government to Government (G2G), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Citizens (G2C) services.

A.3 Technical assistance for the Public Procurement Agency for increased transparency, risk mitigation and enhanced scrutiny in processes related to public procurements/tenders by automating processes.

A.4 Increase the technical capacity of the governmental institutions to work with wider public and empower the selected watchdog organizations over the government-led processes for increased scrutiny.

III. Background Information (Please see Attachment 1)

IV. Specific Technical Requirements/Tasks

A.1. Assistance to local authorities to adopt relevant standards and the appropriate IT infrastructure for country-wide certification of documents through digital stamp and signature.

Beneficiary: State of BiH (Council of Ministers, Fiscal Council), FBiH, RSBiH, BD, private sector and citizens

Focus of assistance: G2G, G2B, G2C

Estimated Level of Effort (LOE): 9%

Illustrative activities MAY include but are not limited to:

Additional tasks can be proposed for USAID’s consideration, based on bidder’s expertise and the rational discussion provided to USAID.

Detailed analysis of the current legislation pertaining to the e-signature framework at all levels of the government (state and entities).

Assisting local authorities in drafting amendments to the state legislation and relevant corresponding entity legislation to ensure harmonization in accordance with the EU regulations, with focus on enabling e-signature and CA accreditation country-wide. The goal would be to align the existing sector laws, regulations and corresponding administrative procedures with the e-signature law. Such intervention would focus on but would not be limited to the Law on Administrative Procedure and the Law on Archives.

Provide capacity building for the formal internal technical support structure for the relevant Ministries and agencies at the different levels of government. Provide technical assistance/training to the staff at different levels of the government, including the three interoperability groups.

When the conditions are created, work on the preconditions for provisions of services within Institutions in BiH by establishing and/or consolidating registers of services, businesses, citizens, e-maps etc. as anticipated for completion by 2021. These are the foundation for the provision of electronic services and the entity governments are expected to complete this task. In coordination with the CoM interoperability group, assist institutions at the different levels of the government to draft and sign interoperability agreements and protocols. Assist the local governments to improve vertical and horizontal interoperability among institutions is established for each service through agreements and protocols that regulate legal, semantic, process, and technical cooperation among institutions.

Support specific agencies which are close to completion of the CA accreditation process.

Multiple agencies from the state and entity levels should be accessed and surveyed in terms of technical capacity and readiness to adopt the relevant EU standards required for CA accreditation process. The Contractor’s interventions should create a pool of agencies that are interoperable and able to recognize each other’s certificates. Some of these agencies’ efforts to obtain certification endorsement, like ITA’s and IDDEEA’s efforts, are currently supported by the EU but not entirely. USAID/BiH could consider providing additional specifically tailored technical assistance to the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) and BiH Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange (IDDEEA) as well as to the FBiH and RS Tax Administrations, and/or the RS Agency for Information Society. The assistance can also be provided in aligning existing sector laws and administrative procedure regulations with e-signature law. The technical assistance should also support amending operating procedures of these agencies, integrating e-signature into existing systems and IT security.

Expected Results:

Result 1 (output): Analytical update of the state of legislative framework relevant for e-signature

Result 2 (output): Drafted regulations/procedures regarding more harmonized e-signature related legislation

Result 3 (outcome): Improved technical capacity in the appropriate ministries, agencies and other relevant governmental institutions relevant for facilitation of the e-signature platform

Result 4 (outcome): Improved horizontal and vertical interoperability

Result 5 (outcome): Adopted EU standards and procedures as mandated in the relevant EU Directives by at least two BiH institutions (State or entity level)

A.2 Automating processes that shall have an immediate, positive impact on BIH’s citizens and businesses by reducing corruption and and improving efficiency of administration in selected Government to Government (G2G), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Company (G2C) services.

Beneficiary: FBiH, RS

Focus of assistance: Entity (Inspection services)

Municipal pilots (construction permitting departments and utility providers)

Entity extra budgetary funds (Health, pension, unemployment, war veterans)

Estimated LOE: 50%

The ultimate goal of these tasks is to improve transparency and reduce face-to-face interaction between public officials who are service providers and the beneficiaries or service users.

Illustrative activities include but are not limited to:

The contractor must develop a new information management system (IMS) for inspection services in RS and FBiH. The software platform shall be replaced with the new software solutions and supported with the new IT equipment. The new IMS entity systems shall be compatible in order to facilitate the data exchange. The IMS shall have embedded the modules for the inspection services at the border, in order to improve customs inspections in terms of time and cost, while offering more transparent inspection services for the foreign trade. The system shall include modules for self-assessment of businesses and citizens to enable better understanding of the legal requirements (the non-transparency of legal requirements that creates possibilities for personal interpretations of the legislation by inspectors was repeatedly stressed by businesses as a problem that also creates possibilities for kick-backs and rent seeking behavior). The system shall also have checklists and relevant legislation provisions for greater transparency and better understanding of the inspection findings by the businesses. The outdated equipment must be replaced to enable deployment of the new IMS system.

Create the state-of-the-art /enterprise system and serves required number of departments within a selected local government, while coordinating and linking a broad range of activities such as cadaster, planning, development, geographic information system (GIS), building safety services, finance, public utilities, fire safety, and public health. The contractor shall select 3-5 pilot municipalities throughout the country to implement this software solution.

The same system shall be available for further replication in other municipalities. The municipalities shall be selected based on the volume of construction (number of permits issued) and value of construction projects or investments. The contractor shall aim at the municipalities with significant construction dynamics and continues/potential for increase in construction investments. The contractor shall perform a survey of the potential locations in BiH. Given that the WB is already implementing the similar pilot project in Banja Luka and Gradiska, USAID’s project shall focus at Sarajevo Canton municipalities and secondary cities in RS and FBiH, such as Doboj, Tuzla, Mostar, etc. USAID shall create an integrated web-based system that includes, but is not limited to the following modules:

• plan review

• inter- and intra-departmental permitting status

• inspection scheduling

• fee calculation and collection

• workflow management

• customer communications through web-based customer services

• inter- and intra-departmental communication and management

This Integrated system shall be able to coordinate all building department activities and must provide an interface with other departments. The information from electronic permitting tools to be shared by multiple agencies, such as tax, transportation, utilities, labor inspection etc.

Creation of a centralized e-social register system for tracking allocation of social benefits for the two entity governments, integrated across all levels of entity government and agencies.

The system shall be integrated (or shared) with the IT system used by the Ministries of Finance for required oversight. The project can design and develop a digital social benefit card for citizens in order to centralize subventions and have better monitoring. The entity systems should be compatible so they enable data exchange. Centralized registries shall also allow for better monitoring, cross-link benefits across entity ministries and department by regular data exchanges.

Result 1 (output): Analysis produced, recommending the most viable IT solution for IMS system in RS and FBiH. Procured and installed compatible equipment in both entities

Result 2 (outcome): All inspection services in RS and FBiH included in a real-time IMS inspection system. Independent entity IT systems integrated in a way to enable data exchange

Result 3 (outcome): Reduced time and cost associated with inspections. Improved transparency in inspections measured by perception of the businesses

Result 4 (outcome): Risk based audit system for the businesses fully implemented in the RS and FBiH inspections

Result 5 (outcome): Enterprise system for e-construction permitting fully implemented in 3-5 selected municipalities in FBiH and RS

Result 6 (outcome): Time and cost associated with the e-construction permitting reduced

Result 7 (outcome): Created e-social integrated registers of social benefits and beneficiaries for the RS and FBiH

Result 8 (outcome): Reduction in number of beneficiaries and reduction of public expenditures related to the social benefits

A.3 Assistance for the Public Procurement Agency for increased transparency, risk mitigation and enhanced scrutiny in processes related to public procurements/tenders.

Beneficiary: Federation of BiH, selected Cantons

Focus of assistance: IT platform for enhanced internal control over the procurements at cantonal level

Estimated LOE: 33%

The important part of development of e-government in each country is the establishment of an electronic public procurement system, which is a tool for efficient procurement of goods and services. Well managed public procurement process is a fundamental step for preventing waste and achieving savings in public sector. Given that the BiH finances are in dire straits mainly due to the excessive public spending, the efficient and digitized public procurement system becomes a necessity for the country, and particularly for the Federation of BiH which has a complex and excessive governmental structure.

E-procurement is a system which enables authorized employees or procurement authorities to make a purchase of remote goods and services indirectly by using digital services. The entire idea behind the e-procurement systems is to automate the process in all of its phases in order to increase transparency and efficiency while minimizing opportunities for fraud and harmful corrupted procurement practices. More concretely, e-procurement implies the introduction of electronic processes as support for different phases of the procurement process, and they are comprised of following modules:

• e-notification, which implies notifications on procurements

• e-tendering, which implies publication and takeover of tender

• documentation , submission and evaluation of bids and documentation

• e-awarding, which incorporates contract awarding or ordering, invoicing and payments

The e-procurement starts in the early phase of the process, as it follows the entire process from the decision making moment to initiate purchase through to the invoicing and the receipt of services/goods. All e- procurement systems offer improved visibility and control.

E-Procurement can help track finances as audit officers match purchases with purchase orders, receipts, or other proof of purchases. It also provides a better view of the suppliers, inventories, contracts and pricing. The system helps improving purchasing decisions and prevents unauthorized personnel to make purchases. E-Procurement systems offer authorized officials a more efficient way of ordering from suppliers, and enables aggregated purchases that can improve pricing and efficiency thus resulting in significant savings of public funds.

The benefits of e-procurement are in the strengthening of the principles of transparency, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, healthy competition and the best value for money. These benefits of e-procurement produce measurable results. For example, within the European Union, contracting authorities that implement e-procurement reported savings between 5% and 20% of the procurement budget. The European Union treats e-procurement as the basic instrument to achieve a single public procurement market in the entire territory of the European Union. The efforts of the European Commission are aimed at making e-procurement become a binding rule, not the exception, and by the middle of 2016, to move to full e-procurement, which includes linking all segments of the supply chain, from e-notification to e-payments. This involves the transfer of procedure of the supply chain into the electronic space. Along with the adoption of provisions of the Directives on Public Procurement, EU Member States are working intensively on the transposition into national legislation of the objectives of Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and the Council on electronic invoicing in public procurement.

The SAA as a secondary source of EU law is also significant for BiH. This Agreement, which entered into force on June 1, 2015, does not address e-procurement openly but indirectly speaks to the obligations that BiH needs to fulfill in terms of e-procurement and in relation to potential membership in the European Union. Article 104 of the Agreement emphasizes that the Parties to the Agreement shall, in particular, strengthen cooperation in the field of electronic communications networks and electronic communications services with the ultimate goal of BiH adopting the acquis of the EU. In the section of the Agreement dealing with public procurement, BiH is, among other things, obliged to implement procurement procedures on the basis of nondiscrimination, reciprocity and facilitating access to public contracts and bidders from the European Union –all of these goals would be greatly supported by the efficient e-procurement.

In the sector, the BiH Public Procurement Agency (PPA) is an advisory body with headquarters in Sarajevo and with two branches located in Mostar and Banja Luka, respectfully, without the status of legal entities. The PPAs competencies are quite broad and include legal, monitoring and counselling in the overall public procurement system. One of the most relevant instruments the PPA has at its disposal is the ability to give opinions on specific procedures. However, PPA’s opinions are not legally binding, although they do have a valued status of evidence in administrative proceedings and disputes. In addition to the PPA, Procurement Review Board PRB and BiH Court, audit bodies on all administrative levels with the ability to determine procedural irregularities also play a significant role in the procurement process. Procurement Review Board is a collegial executive body representing the second instance in the public procurement appeal process. The headquarters are in Sarajevo, with two branches, one in Mostar and one in Banja Luka, which do not have the status of independent legal entities. PRBs decisions are final and binding.

The basis of the system lies in the BiH Law on Public Procurement, which by its character is a special procedural law (lex specialis) that regulates the area of public procurement. The BiH Public Procurement System Development Strategy for 2010 – 2015 included plans to develop an information system for electronic public procurement in BiH. Presently, in response to the aforementioned strategy, the Public Procurement Agency already has a semi-developed E-Procurement system that shall be further developed and improved in the next 2- 3 years. The system has been designed as a comprehensive portal, on the national level, which would cover all phases of e-procurement, from e-notifications to e-payments. Under the new regulations, all contracting authorities are obligated to publish all information on the www.ejn.gov.ba portal. As of 1 January 2018, the publication of tender documentation on the portal became mandatory for all procurements.

The system’s development was funded by German GIZ, which also has secured funding for future updates of the system (with a number of additional features to be added to the system).

The system is currently being upgraded in phases and this is the opportunity for USAID to further advance the system by adding new features for added transparency and anti-corruption control. All interventions proposed under this concept note are been discussed with GIZ and PPA Management.

Illustrative activities include but are not limited to:

USAID’s funding shall focus on several upgrades of the system that should ensure better transparency and accountability in public procurement processes, such as:

a. Implementing centralized public procurement principles: Based on provisions of the Law on Public procurement of BiH, the centralized public procurements are envisioned in BiH. Further, BiH COM envisioned establishment of the centralized procurement authorities in its Rulebook on joint procurement and centralized procurement authority from 2015. The aforementioned Law and the Rulebook are in aligned with the EU Directive 2004/18/EC which regulates and recommends centralized procurements modalities. The EC Directive does not mandate establishment of the centralized procurements nor does it favor any specific type of centralized procurements. However, in the case of BiH which has large number of procurement agents and high volume of individual procurements, the benefits of the centralization are more than perceptible. In spite to the existing legal basis for the establishment of centralized procurements, to date there is not a single centralized procurement authority or body in BiH. As described earlier, the procurement process in BiH continues to be highly decentralized, which opens numerous opportunities for misuse of public funds. The main benefit of the centralized procurements can be summarized in one statement: Large procurement volumes generate better prices and reduce opportunities for misuse of public funds through price fixing and selection of preferred vendors, centralized procurements are resulting in simplified procedures, reduced time, lower administrative costs, improved quality of goods and greater and more strict control over the procurements. In addition, they improve standardization and compatibility among governmental agencies.

Some showcase studies in EU countries indicate savings of 20 percent in procurements. In the case of BIH, and in particular the FBiH, these savings could easily exceed 20 percent.

USAID shall assist the PPA to establish the centralized procurement IT application and related processes in the 4 pilot Cantons that earlier expressed their interest for a simplified procurement modality, These 4 Cantons include Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica-Doboj, and Gorazde.

b. Introducing greater scrutiny in all phases of the public procurement processes by implementing two interventions:

Social Witnesses Engagement /Module (Audience participation in procurement process): This intervention that includes development of an IT database could provide direct involvement of relevant stakeholders in the procurement system for added scrutiny and full transparency. Social witnesses are non-government organizations and individuals selected by the government through public tendering. They are required to participate in all stages of public tendering procedures above certain thresholds, in order to ensure fair competition, transparency and public scrutiny. The government maintains a registry of the approved social witnesses and evaluates their performance on annual basis. This intervention may require some legislative changes.

Contractor/Vendor Past Performance Report (Selection based on past performance):

For all governments, in order to get the best value, it is important to have companies of all sizes to access to public procurement contracts. Participation in public procurements through fair competition can be achieved only through streamlined tendering procedures and reduced bureaucracy, which reduces opportunities for corruption on the “demand” side. However, in order to ensure fair competition and to sanction corrupt practices, the “supply “side also needs to be sanctioned for corrupt practices. Those companies with a demonstrated track record of integrity breaches should be excluded from access to public procurement contracts, or their dishonest behavior should be flagged for added scrutiny during tender processes.

One of such ways to achieve this is through Contractors Performance Reports, frequently used in US procurement systems. Such reports ensure that the government focuses on doing business with contractors who value integrity, performance and quality. US Government agencies have been directed to improve the quantity, quality, and utilization of vendor performance information through the use of two systems: Vendor past performance information including an identification and description of the relevant contract, ratings across six dimensions (quality, schedule, cost, utilization of small business, etc.), and a narrative for each rating is contained within the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).

Additional information regarding certain business integrity issues, including contracts terminated for default or cause, information about criminal, civil, or administrative procedures related to a federal contract; and prior findings that a contractor is not responsible, is captured in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). Similar reporting system can be established within the PPA, with the set threshold value (e.g. reporting is done for all contracts with the value of KM 100,000 and above).

c. Perform survey in the PPA on the agency’s job systematization. Perform the SWAT analysis of PPA human resources. Provide expert level specialized training to PPA staffers on selected topics relevant to the BIH procurement issues. Introduce PPA staffers to the public procurement best practices in accordance to the EU and world standards.

Result 1 (outcome): Improved and centralized procurement practices in 4 Cantons through four centralized IT procurement systems

Result 2 (outcome): Savings achieved through centralized procurements expressed as % of total procurement value year to year

Result 3 (outputs): Social Witness Database developed and deployed

Social witness organizations participating in procurement processes

Result 4 (outputs): CPARS database developed and deployed

CPARS populated with data and reports about past performance generated

Result 5 (outcome): Increased technical capacity and knowledge of the PPA staffers

A.4 Assistance to selected civil society organizations (CSOs) for increased public participation in government-led processes in coordination with the Public Procurement Agency.

Beneficiary: Public Procurement agency, targeted CSO community, wider BiH public

Focus of assistance: Open government, increased transparency

Estimated LOE: 8%

In the recent years there has been a significant increase in use of digital media by either citizens or private sector to actively engage in information exchange with governmental institutions, agencies, media and civil society. This engagement is mostly limited to requesting or providing feedback, and only in some cases to more complex exchanges. As the private sector strives to use the digital formats as much as possible to simplify business environment and reduce costs, and the interest of the citizens drives them towards fast available information, using digital tools becomes a necessity of the modern governments.

In a same manner, digital tools can be utilized to increase transparency and reduce corruption in government-led processes. According to Transparency International, corruption is defined as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” In practice, corruption can take countless forms. It could mean a simple bribe in return to a preferential treatment for example, construction permit, birth certificate, speedy utility connection, pardoning traffic stop or even criminal offenses. It could also be more complex and hidden, such as lack of financial or operational transparency by public institutions, non-transparent expenditure of public funds, shielded procurements that can involve nepotism in the awarding of public contracts, non-transparent decisions that affect general population, etc. Public transparency in government actions is necessary to ensure both government and individual act legally. Governments must strengthen the transparency requirements around beneficial ownership in order to fight private and bureaucratic corruption that are often interconnected. Hence, the pragmatic governments use technology and different types of social media to shape policy decisions and to communicate their plans and decisions affecting the broader community. The feedback is often received through social media as well. This allows policy makers to hear opinions, concerns and insights of their constituency and to make changes to address the relevant issues accordingly.

Since the general public has limited knowledge about the technical processes led by the government authorities, this activity shall involve targeted governmental institutions assisted through RES-ist, and selected CSOs to ensure sufficient technical knowledge and permanent data sharing arrangements that in all phases of development and deployment of the earlier described legislation, IT systems, and databases. This component of the project shall collaborate closely with the Mission’s anti-corruption activity implemented by CSOs.

The primary development hypothesis for the new civil society anti-corruption activity is:

“If USAID supports anti-corruption efforts of local civil society to reach out and partner with a wide array of stakeholder groups, including the private sector, media and Bosnian public, CSOs’ influence shall be more effective and shall increase the cost of public corruption, building disincentives for public officials.”

The tasks under this component shall fully support the above development hypothesis.

USAID RES-ist plans to ensure high level of technical knowledge of the selected CSOs on targeted government-led processes and the USAID funded systems and reforms deployed by this activity. This shall be ensured through an early inclusion of the selected CSO organizations assisted under the new civil society anti-corruption activity in all phases of development of the RES-ist’s planned tasks. With that, the selected CSO shall be fully equipped to analyze and interpret data provided through USAID funded and designed systems. This data for the sake of greater transparency shall be disseminated to the wider public to increase the pressure on public officials in order to curb corruption, waste, and misuse of public funds. Further, this component shall intensively work with the PPA staffers to increase their technical knowledge and capacity related to the best procurement practices in EU countries.

Weaknesses/needs: Corruption discourages foreign investment and erodes citizen trust in government institutions. Part of the problem is a lack of knowledge that the citizens and CSOs have on selected topics; additional problem is in the limited access that CSO have to data resources, and/or in the limited ability to analyze and interpret data. This is often coupled with the lack of knowledge and insufficient training on digital systems on the part of the government agency staffers, lack of efficient digital tools, or technical barriers that can provide relevant information.

Illustrative activities include but are not limited to:

a. Analyze “modus operandi” and level of technical knowledge of the selected partner CSOs on reforms to be funded by RES-ist in close cooperation with the new CSO anti-corruption activity

b. Analyze technical capacity of the PPA staffers and identify “gaps” in knowledge that can be addressed through targeted capacity building programs, using the EU best practices as a guiding document

c. Establish stakeholder “task teams” and include them in all phases of development in order to familiarize them with business, administrative and legal requirements for the new systems

d. Assist the selected CSO to draft relevant reports based on the data collected from the USAID funded systems. Help the CSOs to interpret government’s reports, announcements and data sourced from the IT systems into concrete effects on public, providing a platform for domestic accountability

e. In coordination with PPA and other governmental institutions create and organize trainings to increase their technical capacity and introduce them to the best EU practices

f. Recommend new channels to government authorities for communicating with citizens and other stakeholders in real time for added transparency

g. Explore possibilities for working with Open Contracting Data Partnership for enhanced anti-corruption education and transparency in procurement processes

Expected results:

Result 1: Selected CSOs fully trained to analyze and interpret data generated by BiH government institutions that are RES-ists beneficiaries

Result 2: Integrated approach to information dissemination by RES-ist developed systems that includes active participation of CSOs

Result 3: Increased number of reports and other means of information targeting wider public on the anti-corruption issues tackled by RES-ist activity

Result 4: Improved technical capacity of staffers in the PPA and in other governmental institutions on different topics relevant for the RES-ist context

V. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)

Monitoring and evaluation of performance and impact shall be a collaborative process with the participation of the project implementer(s), USAID, and the third party (MEL contractor).

USAID shall conduct a third party performance evaluation. The evaluation shall be conducted to evaluate activity performance and to ensure that the approach is relevant to the current context.

USAID shall monitor the impact using the approved project-level logical framework that provides basic guidance for project monitoring and evaluation. The purpose, as indicated in the supporting documents is to: Increase transparency and reduce corruption in the selected government-led processes. The purpose will be measured by three outcome indicators:

Percentage of surveyed citizens satisfied with the delivery of services targeted by RES-ist, Percentage of surveyed businesses satisfied with the delivery of services targeted by RES-ist, and an indicator to be developed by the RES-ist implementing partner in collaboration with relevant government institutions. The minimum agreed measurable outputs that shall be collected by the implementer of this activity, aggregated and combined by the third party M&E contractor in this process, are listed below as illustrative outputs:

Introducing e-signature infrastructure 1. # of legal analysis

2. # of new legal improvements drafted, amended or eliminated with USAID assistance.

3. # of people trained in Ministries and institutions

4. # of EU standards adopted with USAID assistance

Selected e-services implemented # of recommendations produced

Time and cost associated with inspections reduced

Business community perception of corruption in inspection services reduced

# of IMS systems implemented in inspections

# of enterprise systems for construction permitting implemented in municipalities

Time and cost of construction permitting reduced

# of social registers developed

Savings in benefit payments expressed in money

Strengthening public procurement processes

# of Cantons implemented centralized procurement systems

Savings achieved through centralized procurements

# of databases implemented in Public Procurement Agency

# of procurement processes using information from USAID funded databases

Strengthening capacity of watchdog organizations

1. Number of CSOs selected and familiarized with RES-ist reforms

2. Increase in number of media articles related to RES-ist activities

3. Corruption perception index changed on issues tackled by RES-ist

The Contractor shall propose a MEL plan that shall include all indicators necessary for activity monitoring. The MEL plan shall include baseline data, and clear targets throughout the life of activity. The MEL plan must be approved by the COR and CO. Also, the Contractor shall develop a Performance Indicator Sheet (PIRS) for each indicator in the M&E plan (PIRS template to be provided by USAID/BiH).

The last stage shall be the learning process. The outputs and milestones defined in the work-plan, and measured continuously during implementation, shall be used for making adjustments during the project cycle in response to ongoing events.