"Failure to Properly Manage the Surge in Individual Evaluations Increases Burden"
"Unapproved Individual Evaluations Left Unchecked"…Recommendations for Consolidation Ignored
The Board of Audit and Inspection has pointed out that the government's work evaluations have been poorly managed. Work evaluations are divided into specific evaluations, self-evaluations, and individual evaluations. The agency found that the rapidly increasing number of individual evaluations has not been properly managed, leading to a greater evaluation burden, and that some self-evaluations have also been poorly conducted.
On October 28, the Board of Audit and Inspection released the results of its audit on the government's evaluation and management practices and notified the Office for Government Policy Coordination and relevant ministries to improve their management plans. This audit aimed to identify and improve evaluations that were conducted only formally or were indiscriminately newly established, covering evaluations carried out from the mid-2010s through 2024.
The audit covered specific evaluations, self-evaluations, and individual evaluations. Specific evaluations are conducted by the Prime Minister for each ministry, self-evaluations are carried out by each ministry for performance management, and individual evaluations assess particular policies and projects based on individual laws.
According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, the current evaluation system has failed to properly manage the rapidly increasing individual evaluations, resulting in a heavier evaluation burden for ministries, and some self-evaluations have been poorly managed.
For example, the Office for Government Policy Coordination took no action even after confirming that individual evaluations disapproved during preliminary consultations were still being conducted. In particular, 91 evaluations that had been recommended for consolidation or abolition were not managed and continued to be maintained.
By ministry, 16 ministries including the Financial Services Commission arbitrarily changed evaluation criteria during their autonomous fiscal project evaluations, resulting in higher scores for some projects. Four ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, omitted accounting-related audit findings-an unfavorable factor-when preparing performance reports.
In response, the Board of Audit and Inspection has notified the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the ministries to strengthen the management system for individual evaluations and reduce the evaluation burden, based on the findings of this audit. The agency also instructed them to improve their management plans to ensure the reliability and validity of evaluation results are not compromised.
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