UD – Management of aid has ‘consistent weaknesses’

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende.Photo: Høyre

UD – Management of aid money has ‘consistent weaknesses’ in several areas

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) has found general weaknesses after examining 13 aid agreements in spot checks.

 

The review conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed that laws, regulations and internal guidelines relating to grant management and procurement have not been fully complied with. This happens in the Foreign Service’s cooperation with International Law and Policy Institute AS (ILPI).

– The system also failed to capture and correct the weaknesses revealed by the review. The shortcomings are largely occuring the same parts of the organization and recur over time, the report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states.

– In two cases, ILPI has received grants even if the company was not eligible as a beneficiary under the relevant scheme rules,” the report concludes.

It was in December last year that Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende, ordered his own ministry to conduct two investigations.

One was a sample check of so-called grant agreements, where the recipient receives assistance costs without having to compete in a bidding process.

The second was a review of UD’s seven-year cooperation with ILPI from 2009 to 2016.

Both reviews come as a result of VG’s disclosures relating to UD’s allocations to the consulting company ILPI.

 

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