Performance Evaluation of National Programs for Fiscal Year 2013 assesses national finance in-depth with respect to 23 aspects, including major issues of national finance, high-cost national projects, and inter-ministerial projects.
The tasks to be assessed were chosen in consultation with the standing committees and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of the National Assembly in an effort to strengthen the linkage to account closing review by the standing committees. For more timely and effective evaluation, such tasks were selected with emphasis on national agenda. After a study on the programs of interest to each standing committee of the National Assembly, 10 tasks were assessed, out of the 22 tasks for which evaluation was requested.
Assessment of performance reports indicates that performance information on a substantial number of programs, such as performance indicators, performance targets, and measurement formulas, lacks validity and that there is no sufficient connection between performance records and budgets.
In some cases, the performance targets and management tasks were partially omitted in the setup of performance indicators. In other cases, outcome indicators were not sufficiently reflected, though it is generally desirable to use outcome indicators, as performance indicators, that show the ultimate effect of a program. There was also weak linkage between performance indicators and the actual achievement of performance targets and results of management tasks, which means that performance indicators often failed to represent actual performance of the programs concerned. For some programs, targets were so unambitious that they were nearly completely meaningless; evidentiary materials were not objective and transparent enough to validate the formulas to assess performance indicators; and management tasks were not designated in their performance reports even though they are hardly deemed an exceptional case.
In Performance Evaluation of National Programs for Fiscal Year 2013, assessment was carried out with respect to (i) comprehensive and inter-ministerial performance, (ii) economy and industry, and (iii) society and administration. Based on in-depth assessment findings, a total of 111 proposals were made including 59 requests for correction, 10 proposals for amendments to law, 24 proposals for performance management, and 18 proposals for budgeting.
Seven tasks were evaluated with regard to comprehensive and inter-ministerial performance: the employment project for persons with disabilities; the nuclear power R&D program; after-school care services for children and teenagers; the anti-sexual violence project; the corporate R&D support program; state-owned property management; and the ODA (official development assistance) program. Each task is summarized as follows:
With respect to the employment project for persons with disabilities, it is necessary to reexamine the management of levies and incentives regarding employment of the disabled, increase employment of persons with severe disabilities, and maintain consistency in performance management. Levies against a failure to employ a mandatory number of disabled persons serve as a funding source for the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation Fund. Applicable legal provisions set forth comprehensive use of the Fund, so the funds raised through such levies may be disbursed to finance operations of the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled. Therefore, potential amendment of applicable laws needs to be reviewed. While the obligatory employment rate of the disabled was adjusted upward, the unit cost of employment incentive payment was adjusted downward on five occasions since 2002. The unit cost of 2010 remains in effect today. It is necessary to consider raising it. In addition, requirements for compulsory employment of the disabled are being met primarily through hiring of persons with mild disabilities, and performance management indicators are subject to significant change each fiscal year. This situation requires improvement.
The nuclear power R&D program requires compilation of a budget according to a financial resource allocation plan for R&D efforts that reflects the degree of importance of different nuclear power technologies and the possibility of their commercialization. Korea remains below the world’s highest standards of nuclear technology. The country produced an unsatisfactory patent record over the past 10 years, and the funding allocation ratios do not reflect the relative importance of each area of nuclear power technology. In other words, there is a mismatch in funding priorities. Nuclear power technologies apparently rank in terms of descending importance as follows: nuclear power safety, radioactive waste disposal, future nuclear power plant development, and radiation technology development. However, funding was allocated with greatest priority on commercial nuclear power plant technology and then on future nuclear power plant development and radiation technology development.
Concerning after-school care services for children and teenagers, there is a need to rectify any overlap or vacuum in such services by consolidating and realigning inter-ministerial services and to establish an organization that supervises and coordinates care services in local communities. At present, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family respectively offer after-school care services, and their respective roles are not clearly delineated. It is also difficult to efficiently connect the service providers and prospective beneficiaries. The Ministry of Education has to devise means for its elementary after-school care classes to counter the expected side effects of widening eligibility for the services. It is also needed to explore the possibility of consolidating community child centers of the Ministry of Health and Welfare with the after-school academies of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The anti-sexual violence project confronts such improvement tasks as expansion of the scope of electronic tagging targets, improvement of underperforming anti-recidivism education programs, nationwide expansion of school education on human rights to sexuality, and increased deployment of statement assistants. It is necessary to consider electronic tagging of first-time sex offenders who are highly likely to commit sex crimes again. Anti-recidivism education has largely been ineffective because there are too few instructors, so more employees must be trained as instructors and their professionalism enhanced.
In the corporate R&D support program, support for research and business development must be increased and the government’s royalty collection system improved. It is also necessary to raise the ratio of R&D endeavors with a high commercialization success rate such as the ‘start-up incubation technology development project’ and the ‘SME technology development project for commercialization’ in which assistance for R&D efforts leads to relatively greater success. Royalties payable to the government are collectively levied on successful R&D projects (faithful implementation) even before technologies are licensed and begin to generate revenues, unduly imposing a burden on companies. The royalty collection system must permit royalty collection only after technology licensing.
With respect to the status of state-owned property management and improvement tasks, problems with management of such property were pointed out based on inspection findings. This demonstrates a need to more closely monitor and supervise state-owned property management to increase its efficiency. Major examples of such managerial problems include accumulation of land left unattended for a prolonged period of time (16 lots), non-registration (17,730 lots), violation of special case procedures (304 lots), squatting (97,941 lots), inconsistent land categorization in public records (688,342 lots), idle land (54,291 lots of general property), and delinquency in payment for land purchased (KRW 30.3 billion). In addition to more stringent monitoring and supervision, the following steps need to be taken. Firstly, it is necessary to formulate measures for systematically connecting and efficiently using the existing state-owned property system and the integrated state-owned property management system now being established. Secondly, a uniform approach must be adopted regarding comprehensive state-owned property planning. (Currently, planning is carried out on an accrual basis and by means of double-entry bookkeeping while performance is managed on a cash basis and through single-entry bookkeeping). Thirdly, performance management needs to be stepped up concerning state-owned property management (e.g. establishment of management tasks for state-owned property management of the office of general control and administrative offices).
Concerning the ODA program, it is necessary to clearly define and coordinate grant and non-grant projects and improve professionalism of development NGOs. Currently, non-grants are designed to support expensive infrastructure projects while grants are aimed at promoting humanitarian emergency relief and technological cooperation. However, same-type projects in a single country are being pursued either as grant or non-grant projects. In addition, development NGOs with fewer than five Korean staffers, fewer than ten Korean workers involved in overseas projects, or no or only a few staffers at an overseas branch are pressing for an ODA program with assistance from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
The tasks to be assessed were chosen in consultation with the standing committees and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of the National Assembly in an effort to strengthen the linkage to account closing review by the standing committees. For more timely and effective evaluation, such tasks were selected with emphasis on national agenda. After a study on the programs of interest to each standing committee of the National Assembly, 10 tasks were assessed, out of the 22 tasks for which evaluation was requested.
Assessment of performance reports indicates that performance information on a substantial number of programs, such as performance indicators, performance targets, and measurement formulas, lacks validity and that there is no sufficient connection between performance records and budgets.
In some cases, the performance targets and management tasks were partially omitted in the setup of performance indicators. In other cases, outcome indicators were not sufficiently reflected, though it is generally desirable to use outcome indicators, as performance indicators, that show the ultimate effect of a program. There was also weak linkage between performance indicators and the actual achievement of performance targets and results of management tasks, which means that performance indicators often failed to represent actual performance of the programs concerned. For some programs, targets were so unambitious that they were nearly completely meaningless; evidentiary materials were not objective and transparent enough to validate the formulas to assess performance indicators; and management tasks were not designated in their performance reports even though they are hardly deemed an exceptional case.
In Performance Evaluation of National Programs for Fiscal Year 2013, assessment was carried out with respect to (i) comprehensive and inter-ministerial performance, (ii) economy and industry, and (iii) society and administration. Based on in-depth assessment findings, a total of 111 proposals were made including 59 requests for correction, 10 proposals for amendments to law, 24 proposals for performance management, and 18 proposals for budgeting.
Seven tasks were evaluated with regard to comprehensive and inter-ministerial performance: the employment project for persons with disabilities; the nuclear power R&D program; after-school care services for children and teenagers; the anti-sexual violence project; the corporate R&D support program; state-owned property management; and the ODA (official development assistance) program. Each task is summarized as follows:
With respect to the employment project for persons with disabilities, it is necessary to reexamine the management of levies and incentives regarding employment of the disabled, increase employment of persons with severe disabilities, and maintain consistency in performance management. Levies against a failure to employ a mandatory number of disabled persons serve as a funding source for the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation Fund. Applicable legal provisions set forth comprehensive use of the Fund, so the funds raised through such levies may be disbursed to finance operations of the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled. Therefore, potential amendment of applicable laws needs to be reviewed. While the obligatory employment rate of the disabled was adjusted upward, the unit cost of employment incentive payment was adjusted downward on five occasions since 2002. The unit cost of 2010 remains in effect today. It is necessary to consider raising it. In addition, requirements for compulsory employment of the disabled are being met primarily through hiring of persons with mild disabilities, and performance management indicators are subject to significant change each fiscal year. This situation requires improvement.
The nuclear power R&D program requires compilation of a budget according to a financial resource allocation plan for R&D efforts that reflects the degree of importance of different nuclear power technologies and the possibility of their commercialization. Korea remains below the world’s highest standards of nuclear technology. The country produced an unsatisfactory patent record over the past 10 years, and the funding allocation ratios do not reflect the relative importance of each area of nuclear power technology. In other words, there is a mismatch in funding priorities. Nuclear power technologies apparently rank in terms of descending importance as follows: nuclear power safety, radioactive waste disposal, future nuclear power plant development, and radiation technology development. However, funding was allocated with greatest priority on commercial nuclear power plant technology and then on future nuclear power plant development and radiation technology development.
Concerning after-school care services for children and teenagers, there is a need to rectify any overlap or vacuum in such services by consolidating and realigning inter-ministerial services and to establish an organization that supervises and coordinates care services in local communities. At present, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family respectively offer after-school care services, and their respective roles are not clearly delineated. It is also difficult to efficiently connect the service providers and prospective beneficiaries. The Ministry of Education has to devise means for its elementary after-school care classes to counter the expected side effects of widening eligibility for the services. It is also needed to explore the possibility of consolidating community child centers of the Ministry of Health and Welfare with the after-school academies of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The anti-sexual violence project confronts such improvement tasks as expansion of the scope of electronic tagging targets, improvement of underperforming anti-recidivism education programs, nationwide expansion of school education on human rights to sexuality, and increased deployment of statement assistants. It is necessary to consider electronic tagging of first-time sex offenders who are highly likely to commit sex crimes again. Anti-recidivism education has largely been ineffective because there are too few instructors, so more employees must be trained as instructors and their professionalism enhanced.
In the corporate R&D support program, support for research and business development must be increased and the government’s royalty collection system improved. It is also necessary to raise the ratio of R&D endeavors with a high commercialization success rate such as the ‘start-up incubation technology development project’ and the ‘SME technology development project for commercialization’ in which assistance for R&D efforts leads to relatively greater success. Royalties payable to the government are collectively levied on successful R&D projects (faithful implementation) even before technologies are licensed and begin to generate revenues, unduly imposing a burden on companies. The royalty collection system must permit royalty collection only after technology licensing.
With respect to the status of state-owned property management and improvement tasks, problems with management of such property were pointed out based on inspection findings. This demonstrates a need to more closely monitor and supervise state-owned property management to increase its efficiency. Major examples of such managerial problems include accumulation of land left unattended for a prolonged period of time (16 lots), non-registration (17,730 lots), violation of special case procedures (304 lots), squatting (97,941 lots), inconsistent land categorization in public records (688,342 lots), idle land (54,291 lots of general property), and delinquency in payment for land purchased (KRW 30.3 billion). In addition to more stringent monitoring and supervision, the following steps need to be taken. Firstly, it is necessary to formulate measures for systematically connecting and efficiently using the existing state-owned property system and the integrated state-owned property management system now being established. Secondly, a uniform approach must be adopted regarding comprehensive state-owned property planning. (Currently, planning is carried out on an accrual basis and by means of double-entry bookkeeping while performance is managed on a cash basis and through single-entry bookkeeping). Thirdly, performance management needs to be stepped up concerning state-owned property management (e.g. establishment of management tasks for state-owned property management of the office of general control and administrative offices).
Concerning the ODA program, it is necessary to clearly define and coordinate grant and non-grant projects and improve professionalism of development NGOs. Currently, non-grants are designed to support expensive infrastructure projects while grants are aimed at promoting humanitarian emergency relief and technological cooperation. However, same-type projects in a single country are being pursued either as grant or non-grant projects. In addition, development NGOs with fewer than five Korean staffers, fewer than ten Korean workers involved in overseas projects, or no or only a few staffers at an overseas branch are pressing for an ODA program with assistance from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).