Participatory Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects (PH0060)

What is the problem the commitment addresses?

Public problems that this commitment intends to address:
-Weak M&E system
The prevalence of weak monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system in the government is named as one of the major setbacks why the desired results were not achieved in many government programs and projects, as indicated in many Zero-Based Budgeting studies/program reviews commissioned by the DBM. To address this gap, a circular was issued by DBM adopting a results-based monitoring, evaluation and reporting policy in government through National Budget Circular No. 565, series of 2016. This circular mandates all government agencies and instrumentalities to strengthen their M&E system which will promote evidence-based performance results for better decision-making and ultimately improve the government’s performance in the delivery of goods and services. The interactive transparency website will serve as a platform to engage the general public in the monitoring activities by providing feedbacks relative to the covered programs/projects located in their respective localities, thereby helping strengthen the government’s monitoring function and improve the quality of program/project performance information.

-Implementation delay of selected government infrastructure programs and projects
The considerable delay in the implementation and completion of government infrastructure programs and projects have translated into delayed provision of goods and services to the public. These delays were due to perennial reasons that serve as obstacles and hinder completion within the allotted timeframe. The most common of these obstacles are failure of bidding, unworkable sites, land ownership and ROW acquisition issues, delayed preparation of engineering design, poor peace and order conditions, and poor contractor performance, among others. These obstacles would have been avoided if there was good planning and regular monitoring of programs/projects. Through the routine monitoring, progress can be tracked regularly in terms of schedule, resource allocation/utilization and achievement of planned targets/outputs.

-Inadequacy of performance information at the program/project level
The inadequacy of information on the actual physical and financial status of programs/projects is one of the challenges being faced by oversight agencies. What is available is information on the financial status at the agency level, but few data especially on the physical accomplishments at the program or project level. The availability of accurate and regularly-generated monitoring information on both the financial and physical status at the program/project level is critical to project managers in making proper decisions, such as in terms of adjustments/change of strategy in implementation, catch-up plans if found behind schedule, discontinuance or expansion of the program/project, among others.

What is the commitment?

The DBM commits to establish an efficient, effective and participatory monitoring, validation and reporting mechanism for selected government infrastructure programs and projects (DPWH, DA, DepEd, NIA) through an interactive transparency website.
● Regular monitoring and reporting will facilitate the generation of timely and relevant information on the performance of government programs/projects, and the problems that delay the implementation. Detection of potential problems at an early stage will enable the implementing agencies (IAs) concerned, to undertake necessary steps/actions for their immediate and proper resolution.
● The feedback mechanism of the transparency website will enable the citizens to be involved in the monitoring of selected infrastructure programs and projects at their localities, and for the DBM and IAs to address/respond to the issues/concerns raised.
● Validation using science-based methodologies and tools will provide verified performance information on selected priority programs and projects.

See Action Plan for milestone activities

4. Participatory Infrastructure Monitoring

"The DBM commits to establish an efficient, effective, and participatory monitoring, validation and reporting mechanism for selected government infrastructure programs and projects (DPWH, DA, DepEd, NIA) through an interactive transparency website."

Main Objective

1. "Regular monitoring and reporting will facilitate the generation of timely and relevant information on the performance of government programs/projects, and the problems that delay the implementation. Detection of potential problems at an early stage will enable the implementing agencies (IAs) concerned, to undertake necessary steps/actions for their immediate and proper resolution;
2. The feedback mechanism of the transparency website will enable the citizens to be involved in the monitoring of selected infrastructure programs and projects at their localities, and for the DBM and IAs to address/respond to the issues/concerns raised; and
3. Validation using science-based methodologies and tools"

Milestones

1. Drafting the Functional and Technical documents with the following sections: (A) Functional Requirements Document. Functional manual specifies the function that a component of the Department must perform in relation to M&E. It focuses on what the other stakeholders might achieve in response to the function and defines the requirements to be implemented by DIME. (B) Technical Requirements Document. A technical requirement document defines the functionality, features and purpose of the fool. It includes those related to navigation, content, management, design, security and more: a) Section on Transparency and CSO participation in Project DIME, and b) Section on Utilization and Response to Citizen Feedback submitted through Project DIME.
2. Refinement and Finalization of the business process manual.
3. Launch of the Interactive DIME Transparency website.
4. Conduct capacity-building activities for Project DIME Task Force, national government agency representatives, and civil society stakeholders on the Business Process Manual and Project DIME website.
5. Established partnership with DBM/DIME PMO on posting and usage of contracting information for monitoring.
6. Training of 10 CSOs (from 5 organizations) on monitoring of projects covered by DIME.
7. 5 Re-entry plans on monitoring projects under DIME crafted by trained CSOs.
8. Submitted policy paper to DBM/DIME PMO based on results from the monitoring.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, along with the updated version submitted in the revised action plan, please see the Philippine action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/philippines-action-plan-2019-2022/.

Commitment analysis

This commitment seeks to establish a participatory monitoring, validation, and reporting mechanism for selected government infrastructure programs and projects. The platform, Project Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation (DIME), has been piloted since 2018. Through the Project DIME portal, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will disclose information on big-ticket infrastructure projects and secure citizen feedback on the status of projects’ implementation. The DBM will then use this feedback for validating the financial and physical accomplishments of the projects as reported by the implementing agencies. ^[49]

Apart from making the transparency portal more interactive with stakeholders outside of the DBM, the commitment will expand Project DIME by partnering with the Caucus of Development Non-Governmental Organizations (CODE-NGO) and building the capacity of stakeholders on the technical and functional requirements for DIME technology.

Project DIME was initiated by the DBM in 2018 as an effort to use existing technologies such as satellites, drones, and geotagging in monitoring the progress of big-ticket government projects. As a mechanism to oversee government projects in areas where physical inspection is challenging, the project depends on technology to ensure that government money is spent well and according to the specified timeline and standards for which it was procured. ^[50]

Historically, DBM focused on budgeting and primarily monitored projects through paper review. Project DIME allows more advanced monitoring of government-funded projects. It was initiated as an internal reporting mechanism to complement financial reporting on disbursements and appropriations to agencies. However, past reports lacked information on actual implementation and the DBM had no means to understand these delays, which were reportedly often beyond the control of the implementing agency. ^[51] It then evolved into a government decision-making tool and a platform for other agencies to check the status of their own projects, involving a feedback loop and negotiation between DBM and the related agency.

The technical team at DBM assesses and monitors priority projects according to selection criteria consisting of program prioritization, funding magnitude, weak performance, reach and impact, adverse findings from the Commission on Audit, and others. After analyzing government programs, Project DIME settled on 13 priority government programs starting in 2018. The Project Management Team of Project Dime reports to the Office of the Chief Information Officer, which has technical staff hired purposely for the project. Additionally, they support the composite Project DIME Task Force and regional DIME units to help identify and coordinate with agencies and ensure the timely data submission. All of these efforts had been carried out prior to this action plan.

After the first year of its initial implementation as a pilot project, Project DIME has allowed the DBM to investigate project implementation issues that are otherwise not explained or readily available in reports. Reports generated from satellite images, drones, and geotagged information have become the basis for dialogue with government agencies in order to clarify discrepancies and delays. Upon notice, the government agency or project implementer will then resolve the issues. ^[52] To ensure that there is a standard procedure in the process, this commitment will develop technical, functional, and business manual documents.

At the moment, the main users of the report are the Chief Information Officer and the bureaus at the DBM who monitor programs run by the 12 priority agencies. Through this commitment, CSOs will be trained to participate in monitoring programs under Project DIME. They will help populate information and reports through an interactive website to validate projects’ implementation, especially in remote areas. They recognize that the public is active in monitoring and reporting on government projects, especially via social media, but that the information does not reach proper authorities. This commitment equips the Project DIME website (dime.gov.ph) with a reporting feature to allow DBM and relevant agencies to consider citizen reports when evaluating implementation of priority programs. ^[53]

This commitment is relevant to OGP values in terms of access to information, civic participation, and public accountability. Transparency and access to information will be improved through the publication of information on key government infrastructure projects, which then can become the basis for feedback from civil society. Using this input, the DBM can then exact accountability from the implementing agencies should any discrepancies be found. The three standard documents to be developed will be the guidelines for the DBM and other government agencies to respond to the feedback.

This commitment has a minor potential impact on participatory monitoring for government projects. Harnessing citizen input to monitor government infrastructure projects is a notable departure from standard practice. Additionally, the website’s improved interactivity and monitoring feature will give citizens a more accessible platform to channel their feedback. However, this commitment is limited to setting up modest monitoring infrastructure, such as training only five CSOs. This commitment could have greater impact if it expands the public monitoring system to focus on widespread monitoring as well as government responsiveness to public input. An increased government focus on successful integration of citizen input will provide an effective template for utilizing public feedback to strengthen accountability.

Next Steps

Vitally, this commitment begins to open up the Department of Budget and Management’s monitoring processes and harness the benefits of civic participation. A greater focus on ensuring government accountability in response to public input will strengthen the open government impact of this commitment. Lessons from Mongolia’s 2016 commitment to increase participatory monitoring for health and education services include: ^[54]

• Provide online materials on social accountability alongside government project information from the start;
• Use capacity-building workshops as an opportunity to gather CSOs' consensus on which projects to monitor;
• Create incentives and conduct targeted outreach to ensure that poor and marginalized groups are engaged in monitoring efforts; and
• Publish CSOs’ final audits and consider an overarching report on the commitment’s sustainability and effectiveness.

As a result of these efforts, the government came to see the public and civil society as critical partners in decision making and collaborative problem solving.

Commitment 4. Participatory Infrastructure Monitoring

Verifiable: Yes

Does it have an open government lens?

Yes

Potential for results: Minor

● Completion: Limited

● Did it open government? No early results to report yet

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) worked to engage CSOs in using the Project DIME portal, [58] a platform that was intended to present data and visual images on selected big-ticket government infrastructure projects until it was discontinued in November 2021. CODE-NGO, with support from Hivos, trained 5 CSOs, which then monitored 20 projects (mostly farm-to-market roads) in 5 provinces (Rizal, Palawan, Oriental Mindoro, Mountain Province, and Camarines Norte). They were not able to rely on DIME data for this monitoring because of gaps in data provided by implementing agencies. CODE-NGO submitted a policy paper to the DBM on the results of these monitoring activities, with recommendations for DIME platform improvements. Before the project was discontinued, the DBM initially presented to CSO partners a redesigned DIME platform (which did not go public) and drafted a business process manual and technical document for DIME, which have yet to be approved. DIME was severely hampered by insufficient funding, agencies’ noncompliance with data publication, and lack of third-party monitoring protocols. [59] DIME’s transition from an internal monitoring mechanism to a public mechanism stalled, and the project was discontinued following a change in leadership at the DBM. To date, the new administration is not considering reviving Project DIME.