therefore actually receive the increased emoluments. As a result there have been cases in which officers have been given enhanced awards, even though the no pay leave had been granted to meet their own convenience and there had been no reciprocal benefit to the Government. A procedure to prevent the increase of retirement benefits in these circumstances has been suggested to the Secretary for the Civil Service. I have also suggested that where an officer returns to duty after no pay study leave, it should be made a condition that he must then serve for a specified period in proportion to the length of his no pay leave, before being allowed under any circumstances to count the period of that leave as pensionable service, and in addition that where a single female officer is granted no pay study leave, her service on return to duty should be on the permanent and pensionable establishment. Following my observations I have been informed by the Secretary for the Civil Service that the whole question of no pay leave is under review.
50 Head 57- Printing Department. Subhead 008. Stores and equipment. An audit survey of supplies held by the Printing Department indicated an excessive stockholding of one category of paper, valued at $1.7 million. The Government Printer agreed that at the current rate of consumption it would take more than seven years to exhaust the holding, but in the absence of the officer directly responsible for the procurement, who had retired from the service, he was unable to offer a full explanation of the reason for the purchase of such a large amount. He conceded, moreover, that nearly one third of the stock was of limited use, because for technical reasons it was unsuitable for most of the purposes for which it had been acquired. Although delivery of the order was completed in March 1976, I have seen no evidence that any attempt was made to reject the consignment of which this quantity formed part, on the grounds that it was not in accordance with the specification.
51 In the case of the purchase of some supplies, a special contract condition provides for a cash discount on the tendered price if payment for the goods is made within a specified period, but at a recent audit inspection it was noted that the Government Printer had failed to take advantage of this concession in cases where the discounts available would have resulted in savings totalling over $30,000. The Government Printer considered that the practicalities of the situation precluded settlement of the accounts sufficiently promptly to qualify for the discounts, but I have pointed out that the amount of the discount offered by tenderers is presumably one of the factors taken into account in considering the award of a contract. If it is in fact impracticable to take advantage of the discount, any benefit from it is illusory and should be ignored in considering the relative merits of respective tenders. The possibility of rephrasing the special conditions of contract relating to discounts to overcome the present difficulties is now under consideration.
52 Head 62 Public Works Department: Building Development. Architectural Office - Maintenance Works. I have repeatedly expressed misgivings at the inadequacy of remeasurement checks by staff of the Public Works Department on work carried out under Architectural Office maintenance contracts and at the possible existence of a substantial element of overpayment in expenditure incurred on such work. In March 1974, a firm of management consultants recommended the computerisation of the buildings maintenance system as a matter of some urgency, but it was not until over two years later, following an initially abortive start, that the first phase of the system came into use and not until late April 1977 that the full system became operational.
53 Although I had stressed at an early date the necessity for a complete documentation of the system and its operation, this was not received until after the system was functioning, and I have therefore not yet been able to confirm the extent to which the system will meet all the various requirements for which it was designed. None the less it has already been noted that, despite an assurance previously given to me by the Data Processing Division of the Government Secretariat that there would be an adequate interface between this system and one recently implemented by the Government Supplies Department, the system as designed does not process and account for the supplies requisitioned for use on maintenance work. This was considered to be one of the more important aspects in relation to financial control within the system and the Government Maintenance Surveyor has commented that its omission is one of the major disappoint- ments of the computerisation process. Furthermore, although it was provided in the original design specification that it should do so, the system as presently operated does not cover the whole range of maintenance works carried out and to that extent also it must be regarded as deficient.
54 In addition it has now become apparent that an extension of the system would be desirable to improve the checking procedures over minor maintenance works, in order to assist in the elimination of overclaims by contractors on those works, which available evidence indicates are still all too frequent. I understand that until this can be done, procedures for the improvement of the present checking system are being designed by the Management Services Unit of the Public Works Department. It is anticipated that these procedures will be along similar lines to those devised for major maintenance works, to which I referred in paragraph 37 of my previous report and which have already resulted in substantial savings. The latter procedures have also considerably shortened the time required to process accounts in the Maintenance Branch of the Architectural Office and reduced the value of draft bills on hand to more manageable proportions. However the total backlog of outstanding accounts where work has been completed remains at a high level, because of delays by contractors in submitting their accounts and in subsequently agreeing adjustments made to them. This backlog should be greatly reduced by revised conditions of contract, applicable from 1 October 1977, which pre- scribe time limits within which contractors must submit and agree bills.
55 Head 63 - Public Works Department: Engineering Development - Management Services Study. In a report dealing with the objectives, structure and operational procedures of the Electrical and Mechanical Office of the Public Works Department, which was completed in March 1975, the department's Management Services Unit expressed the view that improved cost benefits of the order of $10 million to $15 million were readily available and recommended several areas
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