Audit office urges ADT to use in-house quality testing

The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) still had limitations with respect to in-house verification of quality tests submitted by contractors, the National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report to Parliament yesterday.

"The directorate still lacks its own in-house laboratory and it was noted that the procured laboratory equipment has been stowed away" the audit office said.

"Although quality tests are being regularly submitted by contractors, the authority is constrained by its limited resources on how far it can independently verify the submitted results. This critical concern was also highlighted in June 2004 in a report drawn up by the authority's external consultants."

The NAO report was drawn up as a follow-up study on progress made by the ADT since an initial report by the NAO at the beginning of last year.

The office said a number of improvements had been made by the authority in terms of organisational restructuring, the application of adequate financial controls, and the planning and management of major projects.

However, limitations remained with respect to in-house verification of quality tests, overall handling of smaller scale projects and the on-site abidance by contractors to traffic management regulations.

NAO said the ADT has not yet formalised proposed policy documents on project management and procurement. These documents, it said, were the backbone of the proposed action plan highlighted in a letter the authority sent the Public Accounts Committee in July last year.

In its recommendations, the audit office said the documents on policy management and procurement procedures should be finalised and fully integrated into the ADT's systems as soon as practically possible. Immediate action should be taken to review the robustness of the quality assurance system being adopted by the authority, while the option of utilising existing in-house laboratory facilities should also be fully explored.

The level of coordination between the authority and the utilities should be maintained and strengthened in order to further faclitate the solution to some of the more pressing problems, such as inaccurate information on the location of underground services, supply shortages and delays arising from capacity limitations.

With regard to enforcement, all applicable sanctions, such as penalties, withholding of payments and blacklisting, should be consistently resorted to by the ADT and the Department of Contracts. A strong approach needed to be maintained to compel defaulting parties to comply at first instance with all contract conditions.

In traffic management, stiff penalities and other corrective measures should be imposed to deal effectively with persistent infringements.

NAO proposed a comprehensive audit to assess manpower needs at the Network Infrastructure Directorate, as well as the skills and competencies required to fulfill current and future commitments.