Estonia, Financial Services, Good for Business, Latvia, Lithuania, Railways, Transport
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Thursday, 25.04.2024, 16:24
Auditors meet with the team of Rail Baltica Joint Venture to commence the audit
Ignas Degutis. Photo: railbaltica.org. |
The audit will be conducted jointly by the National Audit Office of
Estonia, State Audit Office of Latvia and National Audit Office of Lithuania
which will be the leading institution. This complex audit exercise will cover
not only RB Rail AS but also
implementing bodies and beneficiary institutions of the project in the Baltic
states.
The main goal of the audit is to answer whether the existing procurement
and contracting models are efficient and enable an effective and economic
delivery of the Rail Baltica project.
In addition, the auditors will assess whether the funding of the Rail Baltica Global Project is secured
by the governments of the Baltic States. Furthermore, it will evaluate how well
the project is prepared to mitigate financial risks associated with cost
increase and the EU funding availability.
The audit will last till the end of 2019 and cover the period from 2014
until 2018.
Ignas
Degutis, RB Rail AS acting CEO, “As Rail Baltica project entering the design
phase, the scope of procurement activity is increasing. It is essential to
ensure that all necessary procedures and rules are in place at all countries
and in all institutions involved in the project delivery.” “The scope of the
audit is focused on all important aspects of the project delivery, therefore we
will be looking forward to auditors’ feedback to continue improving our
performance,” he concluded.
During the meeting, RB Rail AS
procurement, legal and operational teams presented the auditors with the
Contracting Scheme, Inter-governmental and other agreements; project
governances structure and procurement system. In addition, the financial team
outlined RB Rail AS financing model
and the Global Project’s financing.
The Rail Baltica Global Project
is continuously assessed by both national and European Union institutions.
Regarding the EU funding, which is channeled through INEA, the joint venture
and national beneficiaries are subject to internal controls and a review of
independent auditors. By now RB Rail AS
together with project beneficiaries have submitted an interim financial report
to INEA and all costs incurred for the period from 2015 to 2016 have been
approved in INEA’s performed desk reviews. In addition, for one of the
projects, INEA has performed also a spot audit for costs reported by RB Rail AS and Ministry of Transport of
the Republic of Latvia.
Furthermore, in 2017 the National Audit Office of Estonia has performed
an audit regarding the financial obligation assumed by the state and the
decision-making mechanism within the project.