Audit Observation | Strengthen the audit supervision of government purchase services

Government purchase services refer to matters that government agencies at all levels that originally belonged to their own responsibilities and suitable for providing services through marketization. Based on quality, the behavior of paying its cost. In January 2020, the "Administrative Measures for the Government Purchase Service" (Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 102) was promulgated; in April 2022, in order to strengthen the implementation of the government's purchase service policy, the Ministry of Finance issued a notice and deployed the focus of the government's purchase service reform in 2022 to reform the reform of government purchase service reform in 2022 Work and further increase government purchase services in key areas such as public services. According to statistics, in 2020, the national government procurement scale was 3697.06 billion yuan, and goods, engineering, and service procurement were 917.58 billion yuan, 1749.24 billion yuan, and 1030.24 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 24.8%, 47.3%, and 27.9%. It can be seen that the status of purchasing services in government procurement is increasing.

The government's purchase service has become a social hotspot in recent years. Especially under the current political situation that continues to strengthen anti -corruption and integrity, the "benefits" of authority and resources have decreased sharply. How to perform supervision duties in accordance with the law, so that government purchase services not only stimulate market vitality, but also save government administrative costs, which is a major challenge facing the audit authorities. Under the new normal, how to effectively participate in national governance while protecting the enthusiasm of the functional departments? How to realize the conscious change of "government food" to "people order food"? How to strengthen the audit supervision of government purchase services? To solve these problems, the author believes that you need to start from four aspects.

Examine the problem of "who will buy" to buy the main body

According to relevant regulations, the main body of the government's purchase of services should be administrative agencies at all levels, instead of being a subordinate unit or a public welfare institution, the establishment of the use of the business, and the financial allocation guarantee. In accordance with different responsibilities, the administrative agencies organize, manage and direct the administrative affairs of the country are government departments. The public institutions are social organizations engaged in education, culture, health and other activities, and implementing government public welfare services; public welfare institutions such as public welfare guarantee their operation in full, and responsibilities are to provide a certain public service. The main body; the group organization that uses the business and is guaranteed by the financial allocation is similar to that of public welfare institutions. Of course, these units can learn from the methods and mechanisms of government purchase services and mechanisms, and use social forces, but the budget arrangement of fiscal funds is a necessary prerequisite, and strictly abide by relevant national laws, regulations, policies, and procedures. The main qualification of the government purchasing service depends on whether it takes administrative functions. For example, public welfare institutions do not have administrative management functions. Its functional positioning is responsible for directly providing the main body of public public welfare services in specific fields. It is different from the nature of administrative agencies. It is not advisable to be the main body of government purchase services. The audit should review whether the purchase of the service entity is a subordinate unit of the administrative organ, whether it is a public welfare institution, or a group organization for business preparation and fiscal funding. Check whether the purchase service matters are the main responsibilities of these units. The audit should review whether the public welfare institutions do not directly provide public services, but to buy outsourcing services, which constitutes the transfer agent and stealth purchase entity of the administrative department. The funds are "shaking the shopkeeper".

Examine the problem of "what to buy" to solve the scope of purchase

Government purchase services, including public services such as health and education provided by the government to the public, as well as the government's business services needed for their duties. After sorting out and summary, in the process of reviewing the "what to buy" by government purchase services, the following control points are mainly existing.

The first is to review whether the projects for purchasing services have been fully demonstrated. If it is clear whether the content of the service is within the scope of the unit's own responsibilities, whether it depends too much on the third -party force to pass on some of its functions; whether the service content purchased by the government is not a service item within the scope of government responsibilities. The government shall not purchase services for service projects that should be performed directly by the government, not suitable for purchasing social services, and service items that belong to the scope of government responsibilities. On the one hand, it is necessary to prohibit some units from transferring their responsibilities, passing all the purchase services to the market, and lazy administration behavior; on the other hand, to prevent all -inclusive and complete services, and to purchase services that are not within the scope of government duties, and to increase financial increases, do not increase the fiscal increase. The necessary expenditure pressure. In the process of auditing, it is necessary to determine whether the service is suitable for socialized methods, whether the purchase service subject meets local conditions, adapts to local conditions, promotes local social and economic development, and reviews whether the purchased services are military, diplomatic, etc. related to state secrets related to state secrets. Or a strong confidentiality business; whether this service matters can introduce market competition mechanisms to choose suppliers; whether government purchase services are more efficient than direct performance.

The second is to review whether the projects that purchase services shall be approved according to authority. For major purchase service matters, there are no corresponding review links, and whether there are approval opinions or decision -making procedures for the relevant industry authorities. At present, the preparation management and budget management failed to form a joint force. The functional departments required the addition of institutions, expanded the preparation and personnel. When the preparation management department and the financial department failed to establish an efficient communication mechanism, it was easy to form "both supporters and care for care "The situation increases the pressure on fiscal expenditure.

The third is to review whether the content of government purchase services is included in the "negative list." If it is a cargo and project stipulated in the government procurement law, or projects that bundle projects and services; whether the content of the government purchases services is illegal financing; whether the content of the government's purchase of services is in disguise in the way of labor dispatch; the government purchase service content Whether it is included in the scope of the local government's purchase of service guidance, and other public services that are not included in the guidance catalog, are not allowed to purchase in principle; whether the government's purchase service matters belong to other types that are not allowed to be purchased by laws, regulations and policies. Examine the purchase program to solve the problem of "how to buy"

After sorting out and summary, in the process of reviewing the "how to buy" government purchase services, there are the following control points.

The first is to review the funds required by the government's purchase service, whether it is included in the department's budget for the purchase of the main body, and no budget and no expenditure; whether the administrative agencies at all levels will prepare the government's purchase service budget, whether the government purchase service budget is refined, whether the principle of fixed costs is based on the principle of fixed expenses, or whether the government purchase service budget is based on the principles of the expenses. It is reasonable to determine the purchase amount through the evaluation of the industry authority, such as whether the financial evaluation items should be reviewed through the financial investment review center's financial evaluation project; whether it is disconnected from the budget. Due to the poor planning and forward -looking work of the unit or department, there are often budgets before the project is ended. The project has not found that there is no annual fund arrangement during the acceptance and payment stage, or due to the slow start of the project, the new and old contracts are disconnected and the service empty windows are empty windows. The situation and other situations have caused a large amount of financial funds to pay accounts and no budget expenditure.

The second is to review whether the purchase procedure follows the principle of marketization, whether it is open and transparent, and whether it is in accordance with the provisions of the government procurement law, whether there are projects that should be implemented in government procurement without implementation of government procurement, and adopt the situation of direct packets The applicable conditions of the law are determined to determine the supplier by public bidding, invitation, competitive negotiations, inquiries, and a single source, and shall not be subcontracted. Buying a service coat to avoid the risk of fiscal fund allocation. The government purchase service is to provide the number of services and quality payment for services, and pay more attention to performance and result orientation in management. For the procurement of service items below the limit standard, it shall review whether to formulate the corresponding internal control system in accordance with the budget expenditure management regulations. Clarify the implementation rules and internal control requirements, whether to implement the internal control system, if the unit purchases news promotional services, can it be combined with "fine, small, scattered", whether there is a split package, and whether it can be concentrated in the purchase service. , Small, San "whether to execute the internal control system of the unit.

The third is to review whether the contract performance management is strictly implemented, whether the purchasing contract is signed in accordance with the agreement of the government procurement bidding documents, and whether the elements have been complete; whether the subject has had a transfer or unblocked subcontracting without permission; , Clarify whether the target, quantity, quality, cooperation period, fund payment method, liability for breach of contract, etc., whether the purchase service is paid in accordance with the contract; , Performance evaluation, etc.

Improve the evaluation system to solve the problem of "buy value"

At present, with the continuous deepening of the concept of performance management, the concept of "administrative cost" is increasingly prominent. As the main body of the purchase service, the government is the first responsible person for purchasing services. It should strengthen the supervision of third parties and evaluate the effect of purchasing services. The audit should be guided by the purchase service performance indicators, and strictly review whether the purchase service is "available for buying", that is, how to evaluate the "buying value" question.

The first is to build a performance management mechanism for the entire process of government purchase services. The government's purchase service contract should clearly clear the performance goals such as service quantity and quality. During the implementation of the service, the purchase subject should be tracked and monitored to the implementation progress of the project and the degree of performance goals, and correct the problems found in time. The purchase of the subject and the financial department shall conduct performance evaluation of the service implementation during the service period according to the characteristics and implementation period of the project. After the service period is over, the performance evaluation will be carried out in an all -round way.

The second is to set up a government purchase service performance index system. The government's purchase of service performance goals must follow the principles of clear, reasonable, feasible, and refined quantitatives, including the number of services, quality, cost, timeliness, economic benefits, social benefits, and service object satisfaction. The government's purchase service performance evaluation indicators shall be personalized based on the characteristics of the "Budget Performance Evaluation Communist Indicators System" issued by the Ministry of Finance, which are personalized.

The third is to establish a mechanism for publicly disclosure to the society. Different from goods or engineering is an intangible asset. For services that the government purchases from the society, a performance evaluation mechanism should be established. The service process is supervised throughout the process, and after the end, the project quality and capital performance will be evaluated to achieve "spending money must be effective, ineffective must account for accountability", without performance and non -expenditure. Establish a comprehensive review mechanism composed of third parties such as purchasing entities, service undertaking, and auditing. For conditions, you can explore and promote third -party evaluation, and provide important references for the next step of government purchasing services. (Author Li Shihui unit is the Hunan Provincial Audit Office)

Source: "Audit Observation" magazine 2022, No. 7

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