Microsoft Word pcr uzb public Finance Management Reform Project Final 7Sept2017. docx

F. 
Implementation Arrangements 
24. 
Project management arrangements are explained in para. 18. The PMO was responsible 
for day-to-day operations covering (i) recruitment of staff and consultants; (ii) establishment and 
maintenance of records and an accounting system; (iii) procurement of goods and services; (iv) 
submission of quarterly progress reports and annual audit of project accounts; (v) compliance 
with loan covenants; and (vi) preparation and submission of withdrawal applications and the use 
of the imprest account. The PMO had six staff members. 
G. 
Conditions and Covenants 
25. 
Compliance with covenants was generally satisfactory as the project complied with most 
covenants. However, the project had delayed compliance with covenants related to sector and 
government assurances, and some covenants were no longer relevant after the government 
changed implementation arrangements after the loan was closed. PMO did not comply with the 
covenant which required it to develop the gender action plan (GAP) within six months of the 
effective date. This was mainly due lack of expertise and resources. The GAP targets for 
recruiting and promoting female staff in the Treasury operations, integrating women's needs in 
the design and operation of project outputs, and establishing targets for women’s participation in 
training were also not clearly defined, thus resulting in different interpretation. In general, it was 
not prudent to impose such requirement for a project classified as having no gender elements. 
The project’s compliance with assurances under the PFM Reform Strategy, 2007–2018 was 
generally satisfactory but did not always follow the initial timeline. Details on compliance with 
loan covenants are in Appendix 2. 
H. 
Related Technical Assistance 
26. 
ADB provided a TA grant of $600,000 to build government capacity to implement PFM 
reforms, which covered (i) support for budget preparation, and (ii) support for budget execution 
through treasury operations using the GFMIS. Individual national and international consultants, 
funded by the TA and recruited following ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2007, as 
amended from time to time), supported the PMO. ADB prepared a TA completion report in 
2011.
19
The TA was rated as successful. The TA reports and workshops were well received by 
MOF and were developed into specific training programs. The TA shared best practices on 
development of performance-based indicators for budget organization in budget preparation and 
execution. While the TA was not able to provide support to development of a detailed GFMIS 
user manual, the Treasury was expected to complete this task under the ongoing Project. The 
TA assisted in preparing bidding document for the GFMIS package, which was crucial for 
the bids; and (iv) rejection of the procurement under revised package 1 by the bid committee for being 43% more 
than the budget, and decision by ADB not to rebid. 
19
ADB. 2011. 
Technical Assistance Completion Report: Supporting Public Finance Management Reform in 
Uzbekistan
. Manila. 

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10 
expediting implementation of PFM reform after delays. With the support provided by the TA, the 
EA launched the GFMIS procurement process. The TA required extension for one year. The 
recommendation from the evaluation was for the implementation period of future TA and PFM 
loan projects to be conterminous to enable continuous support.