The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC | Lao People's Democratic Republic | Governance Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2019 | Seq No: 9 | ARCHIVED on 22-Feb-2024 | ISR59601 | Implementing Agencies: Lao People's Democratic Republic, Ministry of Finance of Lao PDR Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 14-Mar-2019 Effectiveness Date: 21-Jun-2019 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 31-Oct-2022 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: 30-Dec-2022 Original Closing Date: 31-Aug-2025 Revised Closing Date: 31-Aug-2025 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The PDO is to contribute to the coverage, timeliness, and transparency of financial reporting and to enhance public financial management skills. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Components Table Name Component 1: Foundations for a Core Public Financial Management System:(Cost $15.00 M) Component 2: Public Finance Management Skills Program and Change Management:(Cost $4.00 M) Component 3: Project Implementation:(Cost $1.00 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial Implementation Status and Key Decisions Progress towards achieving the project development objective (PDO) has been slow, mainly due to lengthy internal process. In the reporting period, implementation continued across all project components. However, due to a setback in Component 1, which is the biggest one, the ratings for Overall Implementation Progress and Progress Towards Achieving the PDO are downgraded to “Moderately Unsatisfactory”, Under Component 1, the contract for the financial management information system (FMIS) was signed in April 2023. However, in December 2023, the vendor withdrew from the contract and a new procurement process will be launched in 2024. It is expected that the process will be completed within 2024. The upgrade of the Government Financial Information System Plus was completed and it is being piloted using the revised chart of accounts. The upgraded Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS) version 6 is being used and data is being recorded in it. 2/22/2024 Page 1 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 Under Component 2, the new competency framework for the Ministry of Finance was approved. The functional requirements of the new learning management system (LMS) are being developed. A Change Management Strategy and Action Plan were drafted. The majority of the PDO indicators depend on the implementation of the FMIS and the LMS. Hence, only limited progress towards achieving the targets of the five PDO indicators can be observed. At the same time, this is to be expected given that all results indicators have only end-of-project targets. The indicators will be revised as part of the planned project restructuring. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance Substantial Substantial Substantial Macroeconomic Substantial Substantial Substantial Sector Strategies and Policies Moderate Substantial Substantial Technical Design of Project or Program Substantial Substantial Substantial Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Substantial Substantial Substantial Sustainability Fiduciary Substantial Substantial Substantial Environment and Social Low Low Low Stakeholders Moderate Substantial Substantial Other -- Moderate -- Overall Substantial Substantial Substantial Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes Coverage of financial reporting IN01391053 ►Coverage of annual financial statements and comparability with the approved budget (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Six of the seven CoA GFIS+ is being rolled Annual financial Annual financial segments have been out with 6 of the 7 new statements generated Value statements cover central approved for piloting in CoA segments. by the new FMIS cover and provincial level only. GFIS+. The seventh Implementation of central, provincial and 2/22/2024 Page 2 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 segment (economic FMIS contract started district levels classification) is expected successfully in June (excluding state-owned to be finalized and 2023 but FMIS will enterprises and other approved by December have to be rebid in statutory entities) and 2023. Once GFIS+ is 2024. are comparable with rolled out (expected the approved budget. within 2023/2024), reports are expected to have an improved coverage. FMIS contract has been signed and roll out is planned for 2025. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 Status: in progress. This indicator is consistent with PEFA Indicator PI-29.1, which requires financial reports for budgetary central government (excluding state-owned enterprises and other statutory entities) to be prepared Comments: annually and to be comparable with the approved budget. As the expansion of the coverage of the financial reports is one of the main features of the new FMIS, this indicator will only be achieved once the FMIS has gone live. In the meantime, progress on GFIS+ will be tracked. IN01391188 ►Coverage of in-year budget execution reports. (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target As GFIS+ is being rolled out, with time, it Once GFIS+ is rolled out will be possible to In-year budget (expected within prepare in-year budget execution reports 2023/2024), it will be In-year budget execution execution reports with generated by the new possible to prepare in- reports are not readily improved coverage. FMIS cover central, Value year budget execution available and do not Implementation of provincial and district reports with improved cover district level FMIS contract started levels (excluding state- coverage. FMIS contract successfully in June owned enterprises and has been signed and roll 2023 but but FMIS will other statutory entities) out is planned for 2025. have to be rebid in 2024. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 Status: in progress. This indicator measures the expansions of coverage to the district level through a web portal, which will Comments: connect districts to the new FMIS. The in-year budget reports will then be produced by the new GFIS+ planned to be rolled out in 2024 and subsequently FMIS. Timeliness and transparency of financial reporting IN01391054 ►Time lapse of public disclosure of annual financial statements after the end of the fiscal year (Months, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 20.00 22.00 22.00 6.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 Status: in progress. Comments: 22.00 (The final budget execution report for FY2021 was published on 13 October 2023. The budget execution report for FY2022 has not been published). 2/22/2024 Page 3 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 The new GFIS+ and subsequently FMIS will facilitate a quicker preparation of the annual financial statements, therefore a reduction of the time lapse between fiscal year and disclosure can be expected once the GFIS+ is rolled out and subsequently FMIS is in place and operational. IN01391186 ►Time lapse of public disclosure of in-year budget execution reports after each quarter (Weeks, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 7.00 0.00 4.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 Status: in progress. 0/NA (The summary of quarterly financial statistics report for 2022 were prepared 2 weeks after the end of the quarter, except in Q3, when the report was produced 4 weeks after the quarter. However, the reports are not publicly available). Comments: The new GFIS+/FMIS will facilitate a quicker preparation of the annual financial statements, therefore a reduction of the time lapse between fiscal year and disclosure can be expected once the GFIS+/FMIS is in place and operational. Enhanced public financial management skills IN01391055 ►Percentage of MoF staff (disaggregated by gender and job profile) completing the PFM Skills Program (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 60.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 Status: in progress. The PFM skills program has not yet been introduced, but progress towards creating it has been made: the competency framework was finalized. The training needs assessment is expected to be finalized by March Comments: 2024. The consultations on the functional and technical specifications of the LMS have commenced and are expected to be completed by March 2024. IN01391187 Percentage of staff having completed PFM Skills Program being female (Percentage, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 35.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 12-Dec-2022 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 IN01391189 Break-down of PFM Skills Program graduates by job profile (Text, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target The draft competency The competency Job profiles not defined Break-down of the framework is being framework was Value yet; PFM Skills Program percentages of PFM finalized. The training finalized. The training not yet started. Skills Program needs assessment is needs assessment is 2/22/2024 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 expected to begin soon. expected to be finalized graduates by job The inception report for by March 2024. The profile. the LSM was finalized consultations on the and consultations on the functional and technical functional and technical specifications of the specifications will LMS have commenced commence in due time. and are expected to be completed by March 2024. Overall Comments PDO The first four indicators are related to the implementation of the new financial management information system (FMIS) under Component 1 and are therefore due only at the end of the project. As the FMIS contract was signed in April 2023, only limited progress has been made on these indicators, through the work on the upgrade of the Government Financial Information System Plus (GFIS+). The fifth indicator measures progress under Component 2, where good progress has been made. The results indicators will be revised as part of the planned restructuring to better capture intermediate results and results that can realistically be influenced by the project. Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Component 1: Foundations for a core public financial management system IN01391191 ►Progress of the FMIS implementation and interoperability with other government systems (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target The FMIS contract was Implementation of FMIS with the core signed in April 2023 and FMIS contract started functionality of budget the pre-development successfully in June execution implemented Value GFIS in place phase began in June 2023 but FMIS will be and interoperable with 2023. Roll out is rebid in 2024. at least 3 other expected in Q2 of 2025. government systems. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 This indicator depends on FMIS implementation. Comments: IN01391193 ►Percentage of budget transactions processed through FMIS with ex ante commitment (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 58.00 58.00 58.00 80.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 No progress yet as FMIS is not yet functional. Comments: IN01391195 ►Time lapse after end of fiscal year for submission of Annual Financial Statements to the State Audit Organization (Months, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target 2/22/2024 Page 5 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 Value 12.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 Date 01-Feb-2019 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 The MoF submitted the 2022 Annual Financial Statements to SAO on 27 June 2023. Comments: IN01391196 ►Documented disaster recovery tests (Business Continuity Management) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 No progress yet as business continuity management has not yet started. Comments: IN01391199 ►Bank reconciliation for active government bank accounts (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target TSA Committee has Bank reconciliation for decided to first The MoF Minister all active central consolidate bank asked relevant MoF government bank accounts at the No Bank reconciliation departments in accounts within the headquarters of each Value within the scope of the November 2023 to scope of the TSA commercial bank, before TSA takes place accelerate the takes place at least moving towards a TSA at implementation of the monthly, within 4 the BOL. A pilot with one TSA. weeks from the end of commercial bank is each month. ongoing. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 Status: in progress. Bank reconciliation is done through excel sheets on the day after transactions have occurred, based on a summary of transactions sent to NT by commercial banks, i.e. reconciliation is done but not within a TSA. Comments: IN01391201 ►Strengthening country systems for financial reporting under donor-funded projects (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target The FMIS is used on a Most donor-funded No progress yet as FMIS pilot basis to produce No progress yet as projects use a project- is not yet functional. Go- the required financial Value FMIS is not yet specific software for live of FMIS is expected management reports functional financial reporting. by Q2 of 2025. for reporting purposes to the World Bank. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 This indicator depends on FMIS implementation. Comments: IN01391202 2/22/2024 Page 6 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 ►Recording of domestic debt (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Domestic debt issued before 2022 has been recorded in DMFAS 6. Domestic debt issued However, there are before 2022 has been 30,000 long term recorded in DMFAS 6. domestic bonds from 1,600 of the 30,000 issues in 2022 which are Domestic debt is Domestic debt is not domestic bonds issued still not recorded in recorded in the Value recorded in the current in 2022 have been DMFAS 6. Public Debt updated debt DMFAS recorded and MOF is Management Department management system in the process of intends to record them on recording the rest. their own, without assistance from UNCTAD. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 Status: in progress. Comments: IN01391203 ►Number of public information dissemination activities (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 No progress yet The consulting company to provide change management and communication activities Comments: has delivered several outputs but concrete public events have not been completed yet. Component 2: Public Finance Management Skills Program and Change Management IN01391190 ►PFM Competency Framework (skills requirements for PFM related job profiles) (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target The draft competency The draft competency framework is finalized, framework is finalized, the questionnaire for the the questionnaire for training needs the training needs PFM Competency No PFM related job Value assessment is being assessment is being Framework approved profiles and requirements developed, existing developed, existing by MoF management curriculum and training curriculum and training materials are being materials are being collected. collected. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 The report on the competency framework was finalized and approved by MoF management. Comments: IN01391192 2/22/2024 Page 7 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 ►E-learning modules launched in the learning management system (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 The functional and technical specifications of the LMS are being prepared. The firm which will develop the Comments: content for the e-learning has drafted several modules of the PFM curriculum. IN01391194 ►Beneficiary Feedback: Average of reported perceived knowledge increase from PFM Skills Program, disaggregated by gender (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target PFM Skills Program PFM Skills Program has has not yet started, so not yet started, so Results from beneficiary beneficiary feedback beneficiary feedback Participants reported feedback after the first cannot yet be Value cannot yet be measured. an average score of at year of implementation measured. The The company that will least 4 out of 5 (TBA) company that will collect feedback has collect feedback has been hired. been hired. Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 IN01391197 Share of women in leadership and ITC training classes who have reported perceived knowledge increase (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 70.00 IN01391198 ►Stakeholder and other outreach and dissemination activities carried out under the change management communication campaign (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 2.00 2.00 20.00 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 30-May-2025 The change management company plans to conduct workshops on the topic during their next in-country mission. Comments: IN01391200 ►Beneficiary Feedback on reform implementation/change management (disaggregated by gender) (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Survey questionnaires for the first Change The first Change Management Survey Results of change Change management Management Survey was have been prepared perception survey Value program under planned for June 2023, and are being improved from first to preparation but has been delayed to reviewed by MoF. The second survey August/September 2023 survey is expected to be launched in Q1 and finalized in Q2 of 2024 2/22/2024 Page 8 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 Date 31-Oct-2018 20-Jun-2023 10-Jan-2024 31-May-2025 Performance-Based Conditions Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P167534 IDA-63770 Effective USD 20.00 20.00 0.00 3.48 15.57 18% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P167534 IDA-63770 Effective 14-Mar-2019 09-May-2019 21-Jun-2019 31-Aug-2025 31-Aug-2025 Cumulative Disbursements 2/22/2024 Page 9 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Enhancing Public Finance Management through Information and Communication Technology and Skills (E-FITS) Project (P16753 Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 2/22/2024 Page 10 of 10