The Ministry of Environment administrates its information system only as a matter of form
Press Release – February 18, 2008
The Supreme Audit Office (SAO) aimed at management of the state budget funds earmarked for establishing, reproduction, and exploiting of the information systems and communication technology kept by the Ministry of Environment. As František Dohnal, president of the SAO said, the information policy of the ministry does not include complete information about the systems, or a description and a list of requirements.
From May to November 2007, an audit was carried out at the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Informatics, Ministry of Interior, CENIA (the Czech informational agency for the environment), and the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute (CHMI). The audited period expanded from 2004 to 2006 and included associated data from the previous time and till the end of the audit.
Long-term strategies of using the information technologies or a security policy were not created by the CHMI or by the Ministry of Environment before the audit began. The auditors from SAO also noted that the concept of integral environmental information systems was only conceived as a theory as all its components lack continuity and the document only lists all subsystems without a survey coherency. “The Ministry of Environment does not entirely administer the integral information system as imposed by the law of the information systems within the public administration. We miss a clear definition of the duties and responsibilities, which the subjects participating on the systems operation should obey,“ said Dohnal.
CHMI violated the law of public order when choosing the programme contractor for reproduction of the property. Nor did its part to audit annually how terms including the licensed conditions for the installed software were kept. “From 2004 to 2006, financial audits of the state budget funds did not aim at the information and communication technologies of the Ministry of Environment. No audit was carried by the Ministry of Informatics or by the internal audit or financial departments of the Ministry of Environment,“ said Dohnal.
The auditing operation was included into the 2007 Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 07/16. Ludmila Brynychová, Member of the SAO, controlled the operation and drew up the audit report as well.
Radka Burketová
Press Speaker
Supreme Audit Office