At present, some PPP projects in China have completed construction and entered the first payment stage. As one of the public investment models, how to carry out PPP project audit and how to determine the audit focus have become the concerns of national audit institutions and auditors. The Audit Bureau of Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, combined with the development status of PPP projects in the region, carried out relevant audits, timely investigated the risks and hidden dangers of PPP projects, and helped promote the standardized and orderly development of PPP projects. This article takes the audit of the T project as an example to introduce the audit of the PPP project.
1. Key contents of PPP project audit
From December 2017 to December 2018, Jiaojiang District signed a total of 5 PPP projects, involving education, municipal administration, small town environment and greening remediation, etc., with a total initial budget estimate of 227.8 billion yuan, the longest cooperation period is 195 years, minimum 10 years. At present, 2 projects have been completed and entered the operation period, 2 projects are under construction, and 1 project has been suspended. As the first PPP project to be completed and put into use in the district, the T project is for the construction of a school with a scale of 84 classes, as well as the operation, maintenance and operation of commercial properties such as indoor sports venues (including swimming pools and other sports facilities), lecture halls, parking lots and supporting commercial buildings. The estimated amount of construction investment included in the PPP project is 48.5 billion yuan. The audit is conducted from the perspective of the first supervisor, and the performance of all parties to the PPP project contract is the focus of the audit.
(1) Pay attention to the implementation of PPP contract terms
The first is to inspect the implementation of relevant national regulations and PPP contract terms in the management and use of PPP project funds and the management of the construction period. The second is to review the availability of project capital and whether the capital meets the requirements of the contract according to the supervision of investment and financing in the PPP contractReview the capital expenditure, the authenticity, compliance and reasonableness of each expenditure, focus on the related party expenditure between the capital expenditure and the shareholders, whether there is a fictitious business, and transfer away the profits during the construction period in advance.
(2) Pay attention to the independent subcontracting of PPP projects
First, whether the project company has carried out the independent subcontracting project determined by the PPP contract in accordance with the legal procedures, whether the subcontractor has met the corresponding qualification requirements, whether the bidding method is compliant, whether it has entered the transaction in accordance with the regulations, whether the design budget estimate has been set as the bidding budget price, and whether the bidding result is legal. The second is whether the representative of the first party has effectively supervised the procurement as required, and whether the problems found have been questioned and adjusted. The third is whether there is a problem of benefit transfer between the project company and the subcontractor.
(3) Pay attention to the management of project changes and settlements
The first is to pay attention to whether the project change is consistent with the project change clause of the PPP contract, and focus on the necessity and rationality of the change. The second is to pay attention to the determination of materials, especially for PPP projects that are in a hurry, whether there are a large number of materials that do not have timely visas during the construction period, and be confirmed by both parties to the PPP project contract when the project is settled, and pay attention to the fairness of the confirmation.
2. Problems found in the audit of PPP projects
(1) Lack of supervision over bidding and bidding of independent subcontracted projects
First, the bidding method is not compliant. Kitchen equipment, swimming pool equipment and intelligent engineering bidding using non-** procurement project with reference to the ** procurement process, not according to the ** investment project construction project bidding method and bid evaluation method for bidding, such as intelligent engineering must be subject to public bidding but the use of invitation to bid, kitchen and swimming pool equipment is not according to the district small project bidding method for bidding. The second is to set the design budget as the bidding budget price. The above three content of the bidding to the design budget estimate for the bidding budget price (i.e., the upper limit), did not use the construction drawing budget price prepared by the intermediary commissioned by the representative of the first party, as well as the budget price of the bidding list optimized by expert demonstration, according to the bidding results, the winning bid price is only 6 according to the estimated budget2%, which is more than 3 million yuan higher than the normal floating rate. The third is not to enter the market in accordance with the regulations. The bidding and bid evaluation process of the three contents are directly placed in the office of the bidding company, and the transaction is not carried out in the municipal public resources trading center and the district small project trading place.
(2) Lack of construction management supervision
First, it is difficult to determine the visa for priceless materials. In order to catch up with the progress of the project, the change materials were not determined in time during the actual construction, resulting in 670 materials to be confirmed by both parties to the PPP project contract during the project submission process, which is not conducive to the effective implementation of the PPP project contract terms. Second, the delay in the construction period caused by the lack of management has led to an increase in the interest during the construction period. Due to the lack of timely treatment of construction obstacles and the untimely provision of design drawings before the construction unit submits the construction site, the construction period is affected by 158 days, and the interest during the construction period increases by about 5.53 million yuan.
(3) Lack of supervision over the compliance operation of PPP project companies
The first is to transfer the profits during the construction period in advance, which damages the rights and interests of state-owned shareholders. By signing the whole-process consulting service contract, in the form of entrusted consulting services, the construction profits during the construction period belonging to the social capital party will be paid in advance in the form of consulting fees, and the profits of the PPP project company will be transferred in advance by 8.91 million yuan without mentioning the first service, which will damage the rights and interests of state-owned shareholders and increase the cost of the PPP project company. Second, it is easy to breed a hotbed of "unclear politics and business". Through the extended audit of the PPP project company, it was found that the party that made the first party from the business entertainment expenses accepted the banquet and gifts of the project company on behalf of the relevant personnel. Third, the cost control of PPP project companies is not strict. According to the requirements of the PPP project financing loan bank, the PPP project company shall increase the project capital in the same proportion as the loan, and the additional project capital shall be fully raised and invested by the private capital, which is actually invested by the PPP project company in the form of a loan to the private party.
3. Recommendations for PPP project audits
(1) Grasp the key points of PPP contract clauses and coordinate the preparation of audit implementation plans
Before the trial, it is necessary to study and familiarize yourself with the PPP contract terms, pay attention to the reasonableness of the contract terms, whether fairness and efficiency are taken into account in terms of risk sharing and benefit distribution, take into account the reasonable return expectations of the social capital party, the financial bearing capacity of the first party and the user's ability to pay, prevent any party from excessive damage or excess benefits, and reasonably prepare the audit implementation plan in combination with the review of information. During the audit, if the consortium wins the bid, it shall be reviewed whether the project content is allocated in accordance with the agreed division of labor in the construction of the project;For the best business with high technical and quality requirements, review whether it has set the corresponding qualification standards. The audit should make recommendations from the perspective of reserving room for adjustment and change during the future contract execution period.
(2) Break through the traditional investment audit thinking and strengthen the audit supervision of PPP projects
Compared with the traditional audit of investment and construction projects, the audit supervision of PPP projects should supervise the project company from the perspective of the first manager. By absorbing the audit experience of traditional investment and construction projects, we will formulate a supervision work path and a supervision framework at different stages in line with the practical characteristics of PPP at this stage in a timely manner, further clarify the key and difficult points of auditing, clarify the audit content, and provide a clear target for the future approval and standardization of PPP project supervision.
(3) Deepen the application of PPP project audit results
The first is to further focus on the audit work of the PPP project, plan and plan the audit work measures, fully tap the audit results, and promote the transformation of achievements and expand the utilization of results. The second is to transfer in-depth audit cases, and for the problems found by the extension project company, the evidence should be sufficient, and the conversation should be recorded when necessary, so as to consolidate the audit evidence and lock the clues of violations of rules and disciplines by public officials. The third is to give full play to the role of audit in "curing the disease and preventing the disease", grasp the essence of the PPP project problems, analyze the deep causes, look at the problems from the perspective of development, establish a list of PPP project problems, adhere to the prevention first, treat both the symptoms and the root causes, and improve the coordination mechanism of audit supervision and other supervision.
The copyright of the article belongs to the author, part**From the Internet, the author's information has been marked, and some of the author and the first release cannot be identified**, only for peer study and research. Author: Audit Bureau of Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City