The World Bank (WB) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to remove overlapping of functions between FBR Information Management Wing (IMS) and Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) to clearly define functions for procurement of IT-related equipment and software development on federal taxes.
Sources told Business Recorder on Saturday that the WB review mission has given recommendations to define the role of IMS Wing and PRAL, a technical arm of the FBR, for speedy automation and integration of the tax administration. The FBR Chairman can also decide about a common supervisor of both departments of FBR. As a second option, a Memorandum of Understanding could be signed between the two departments to remove overlapping of functions.
According to WB, overlapping of functions is resulting in power struggle between the heads of PRAL and IMS on different issues. This has also resulted in interference by both these departments in each other's functions.
The performance of effective IT system within FBR requires the participation of both of the FBR IT-centric organisations--PRAL to deliver the technology, and IMS Wing to ensure the requirements for that technology--are well understood and the right FBR staff are participating in the project. The "marriage" of these two organisations is currently experiencing difficulties partially because the expectations of both organisations are not currently shared, the WB said.
The WB said that the IMS Wing and PRAL are still experiencing difficulties in defining their functions and how to resolve problems where overlap arises. It would appear that much of this comes from a basic problem of how PRAL is viewed.
The WB further said that there has been significant debate about the requirement for a procurement type unit within the IMS Wing. On one side of the debate is the recognition that procurement functions are the responsibility of another unit within FBR and there is no intent to move that responsibility into the IMS Wing. On the other side the issue is the need to provide some oversight of the technical specifications by a team that can evaluate whether the specifications that are being developed are fair and will allow the competitive process to work.
PRAL is an extension of the IMS Wing with the CEO responsible for the technology delivery and effectively reporting to the IMS Wing DG. According to the WB, PRAL is an independent organisation that undertakes work for FBR and has responsibilities to ensure that the information received from FBR is adequate to construct the systems that have been requested. It reports to the FBR Chairman and the IMS Wing is their interface with FBR. The IMS Wing under this scenario provides two functions: (a) access to FBR staff for development and monitoring of performance and (b) procurement experts who validate the requests that are received from PRAL.
Both of these options, unfortunately, require significant overlap of functions and as a result will end up with staff replicating effort and second guessing their counterparts. Both options will end up in a power struggle between the heads of the organisations as each sees the other interfering in their area.
At this critical time for the delivery of the new systems to the field it is extremely important that this issue does not impact on the IT services being used in the field.
The WB suggested that the PRAL, as the technical team, must have primary responsibility for setting architectural direction for the FBR IT systems and for providing the programming resources for maintenance and development of applications. It should also be responsible for running the data centre and providing help desk facilities for internal staff and external users of the systems. It should also identify budget requirements to meet the maintenance and development initiatives to undertake work that has been approved by the FBR. It would also draft technical specifications for Request for Proposal (RFP) in projects and reviewing those specifications with the IMS Wing. Technical evaluation of RFP bids is the responsibility of PRAL. PRAL does not participate in the financial evaluation of RFPs.
The WB has suggested that the IMS Wing should ensure that the technology team and the business teams have strong and fruitful working relationships. It would facilitates the acquisition of the appropriate "business experts" from the operational and functional wing organisations who will represent the business functions on any new development initiatives.
The Wing should be responsible to supervise and approve projects to ensure that the projects undertaken by PRAL have been appropriately and timely approved by the FBR. The regular reporting on those projects should be provided by PRAL to the IMS Wing and, via them, to the FBR management team. It would also be responsible to ensure that only approved work is done on IT projects in the field by the operational and support organisations. It would be engaged in participating in the drafting of technical specifications for new equipment, monitoring the progress of the RFP and participating in the financial evaluation of the resulting RFPs.
The support and monitoring functions would be performed by the IMS Wing to work with FBR operational and support staff and PRAL resources to develop and implement relationships to achieve business objectives and customer satisfaction. The IMS Wing should provide a reliable and highly valued resource on solving client problems and in meeting their expectations. IMS staff is responsible for the client's overall satisfaction with the business relationship, the WB added.
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