Quarterly Report: Haiti Integrated Financial Management Project

The project's overall strategy is to provide technical, logistical, and managerial strengthening support to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) for the restoration, operation, and expansion of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). The project aims to improve the MEF's capacity to utilize the IFMS for financial reporting and auditing processes, build the network's capacity to support both operational support and financial auditing, integrate the expenditure and revenue systems, and enhance the MEF's IT governance and management capabilities. Key outcomes expected to be achieved under this task order include updating and improving the IFMS network infrastructure, expanding the GOH capacity to utilize the IFMS for financial reporting and auditing processes, building the network's capacity to support both operational support and financial auditing, integrating the expenditure and revenue systems, and enhancing the MEF's IT governance and management capabilities. The project has made significant progress in its first quarter, with achievements including the mobilization of long-term personnel, submission of a draft work plan and performance management plan, and completion of essential startup administrative activities. During the reporting period, IFMS project management focused on startup activities, achieving milestones in improving the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) Communications Network Backbone. The IT staff met with the IT Director and staff of the MEF to agree on an approach and schedule for upgrading the Network Operating Center (NOC) facility and purchasing communications equipment for the network sites. The project also made an introductory presentation to MEF General Director Mr. Etienne and representatives of the major institutions in the MEF, including Customs, Tax, Budget, and Treasury. The project has also established an electronic data exchange capability, exploring existing and available software platforms that could facilitate secure data exchange capability between government ministries. The IFMS contractual scope of work contains several requirements to assist the Ministry of Economy and Finance with electronic data sharing, and the project has made contact with the Government of Estonia's E-government Academy to take advantage of their e-government platform, the "X-Road", which is generally considered to be the international standard for electronic government data exchange platforms. The project has also initiated recruitment efforts for the remaining unfilled staff positions and identified an office, conducting negotiations for a three-year lease. The draft work plan and performance management plan (PMP) submitted to USAID are still under review. The project has also developed a strategy for electronic data exchanges between government ministries and offices. The Performance Management Plan Implementation Annex A presents the proposed indicators, baseline values, and targets for the IFMS task order. These draft indicators will be revised based on comments received in January from the USAID Mission. The proposed indicators include network monitoring software implementation, implementation of a live backup center, network monitoring dashboard implementation, number of GOH IT staff trained, number of procedure manuals and internal processes developed, revenue collection systems and expenditures management systems connected, percent uptime of data exchange interface, connectivity of new generation software, IFMS application integration and consolidation road map implementation, framework for Decision Support Systems implemented, auditing software/tools for GOH oversight agencies installed, number of municipalities using CIVITAX, number of audit reports produced, number of DGI offices connected to IFMS, number of CSCCA offices connected to IFMS, and GOH human resources management system operational.