Unclear requirements, seven similar programmes, and lack of funds complicated the purchases and repairs of police property
Press release for the audit No 17/07, 18th December 2017
The Supreme Audit Office examined programmes from which the Ministry of the Interior provided money between 2012 and 2016 for the development and reconstruction of the material base of the Police of the Czech Republic. These programmes have been used to finance the renovation of police property, to purchase company cars, computers, and other necessary techniques. The Ministry of the Interior paid a total of almost CZK 5.8 billion from seven programmes. Auditors examined 31 investment projects for more than CZK 864 million. According to the SAO, investment programmes helped to meet the needs of the Police only partially and that was not only because of the lack of resources. The Ministry did not have clearly identified requirements of the Police; systemisation and property standardisation were not up to date or did not exist at all. The Ministry did not monitor and evaluate the unit prices of the investment even though they had been significantly exceeded.
Although the funds were spent within the programme for the given purpose, the needs of the Police were not fully assured. One reason was the lack of funds. Almost CZK 11.4 billion was missing to cover expenditure on the Police's investment programmes. Another reason was the formal approach of the Ministry of the Interior to programme funding. At the same time, the Ministry did not specify the needs of the Police in the past. Their specification was an essential prerequisite for better planning of where the investment was directed.
The Ministry of the Interior created seven programmes for the distribution of investment funds over the years. Their objectives were overlapping. The first conceptual document that summarized the needs of the Police was drawn up in 2016. The Ministry did not clearly define those needs during the preparation and during the course of the programmes.
Due to changes in the Police priorities, the Ministry of the Interior significantly modified the time, financial, and material conditions of some programmes. Thus, selected investment activities were withdrawn. For example, the poor condition of the hangar D in Prague - Ruzyně was detected by the SAO in 2005 and subsequently in 2012. This bad condition still persisted at the time of the end of this audit, with the property being stored in the hangar in the range of CZK several billion.
Planning and implementation of the programmes was also complicated due to the fact that systemisation of Police property did not exist or was not up to date. For example, company cars systemisation dates back to 2008 and does not correspond to the current Police structure or its requirements. Systemisation determines how many vehicles, what type and with what parameters the Police need for their activities.
The unit prices are used to evaluate the efficiency of individual actions financed by the investment programmes. However, the Ministry had not set them to be used for evaluation. At the same time, they did not deal with these prices when evaluating the actions, even when they were exceeded several times. For example, for the construction, reconstruction, and modernisation of buildings, the unit price was CZK 4,403/m3. However, in case of building modifications in Prague 7, the actual price was CZK 15,207/m3, thus, the unit price was exceeded almost 3.5 times.
Some construction projects funded by the investment programmes were not sufficiently prepared. They were therefore delayed, costs increased, and extra work had to be done. For example, the reconstruction of the infrastructure at the Zbraslav premises was originally worth of almost CZK 21 million. After processing the project documentation, it was shown that the costs would be significantly higher and would reach CZK 144 million. Due to the lack of funds, the overall reconstruction was postponed.
Communication department
Supreme Audit Office