Program Review Board Meeting Notes 6/8/03

Program Review Board Meeting Notes 6/8/03 Comments on the Minutes of Meeting of 6/6/03 -Arvis noted her request for ICC to have a voting seat on the PRB was omitted. We discussed that the issues would be taken up when we review the proposed PRB regulation; we discussed the fact that the UN, NGOs and donors feed into the Board through the ICC. -Castle noted one omission: "We agreed that we should coordinate, but not control, donor projects through the ICC, [if tendered.]" - Runnels noted a correction/omission and requested the following language be incorporated: the Management Liaison cell led by him is here to "work with us in developing our systems and processes to properly account for funds used by the CPA," not just act in an advisory capacity. Construction Initiative -Bremer's instructions were that that he wanted the green light from DOD and OMB by COB; Durant (OMB) concerned that the system for implementation aren't yet in place; we need something in effect to administer the program; further OMB expressed concern about programs going to Bremer for blessing, essentially before the Board had reviewed them; it was intended for the Development Fund but now it appears that it will be funded out of vested assets; McPherson explained that we will do our best to run all programs through the Board and maintained that the process is working, as in the case of security for the MOH, that we were forcing the resolution of policy issues in our reviews. McPherson indicated that he was comfortable proceeding with the program without further review; Hitchings (SA to the MOH&C) gave a brief overview of the initiative and referred to the program documents (incorporated herein as part of the minutes). -We had an extensive discussion about whether individual projects under the initiative will go before the Board. McPherson expressed view that Board should be informed but need not vote on specific projects; OMB questioned the process for selecting and funding projects; McPherson suggested Hitchings and Runnels work on accountability measures; we discussed that the Board would review, prioritize and approve projects and Hitchings will, to the extent possible, present them as a package. -Lucke indicated that we needed to take a strategic approach looking at the initiative - need criteria for design, approval, cost estimation, accountability, standards; need to conduct assessment of accounting system. - We agreed to support the initiative, that the committee would review individual projects Northern Team's Request - Increase from $100,000 - $250,000 - Kraham recommended disapproval; supported by the board; agreed no need to go to OMB to replenish accounts; can be done quickly. - Increase in brigade commander's disc from $10,000 - $25,000 per transaction- Kraham recommended approval; Deferred; need to do more research Funding review Request for funding for 4 M of T&C SOE's - Committee recommendation that we get a policy decision; we want to be consistent but we also don't want to invest in SOE's that might go away; we agreed that the SOE system is vital to the economy and we talked about keeping them up until we can focus on SOEs; McPherson wanted to decide whether we support based on whether they were commercial enterprises or public utilities; Morse indicated that some of the commercial enterprises were critical; Runnels indicated that he believed that these cos were critical to getting the public transport system up and getting people back to work; Nations would clarify that with T&C and we approved, subject to that criteria - Arvis expressed concern about an irrigation project $100,000 for the zoo indicating not a priority; board agreed to come up with a prioritization plan and approved this project; Committee will take it up - Morse gave detailed presentation on behalf of the $80M sewage project (proposal incorporated into the minutes) - Disposition of other projects attached Next Meeting Wednesday, 5pm