COST OF FIELD PROGRAMME SUPPORT

34. The provision of technical assistance is an important part of the Organization's mandate, specified under Article I 3 (a) of the Constitution, which states: "It shall also be the function of the Organization to furnish such technical assistance as governments request". Technical assistance is generally provided in the form of direct inputs to the field programme, whether funded from the Regular Programme - as for the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) and the Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) - or from extrabudgetary sources under the Government Cooperative Programme (GCP), Unilateral Trust Funds, UNDP or other arrangements for voluntary contributions.

35. The Organization makes a further significant contribution to technical assistance through its support to the field programme in the form of Technical Support Services (TSS) and Administrative and Operational Support (AOS) Services.

36. Since 1992, the Organization has made a concerted effort to measure and transparently report the cost of supporting the field programme under these two headings. This is achieved through the Work Measurement Survey which involves the completion of a detailed questionnaire by close to 1000 staff each year. This data has been used to help direct actions which would allow us to reduce such costs and has, in fact, been very successful in doing so. However, attention is drawn to the fact that cost is not entirely controllable and may fluctuate due to external factors such as the impact of variations in exchange rates between the US Dollar and the currency of expenditure and the mix of projects (particularly the overall proportion of emergency projects).

Technical Support Services

37. These are defined as:

• design and formulation of projects;
• project appraisal services;
• technical backstopping at headquarters, Regional Offices or in the field, including attendance at project meetings and tripartite reviews;
• project evaluation services.

38. The overall level of TSS is outlined in Table 2.5, which compares the 2000-01 result with the previous biennium. It should be noted that more detailed information on TSS is included in the programme tables later in the document under Summary of Programme implementation.

TABLE 2.5. TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES (TSS)

* The figures for 1998-99 have been restated to include the impact of staff cost variance so as to reflect actual costs at budget rate.

39. While delivery in 2000-01 increased by over 20 percent from 1998-99, the cost of technical support services only increased by US$1 million to reach US$56.5 million. As a result, TSS as a percentage of total delivery declined from 9.9 percent in 1998-99 to 8.2 percent in 2000-01 and a similar decline was also evident in the percentage of total delivery for each TSS component. This result can be attributed to the proportion of emergencies in total delivery. By their nature, emergency delivery does not attract the same proportion of TSS as non-emergency technical assistance.

40. It should be noted that while Table 2.5 shows a contribution of US$56.5 million to technical assistance via TSS, the Regular Programme contribution in 2000-01 is estimated at approximately US$47.5 million after offsetting reimbursements from projects for some of these services.

41. As a major portion of TSS is in the form of staff time, Table 2.6 shows the percentage of the cost of professional technical staff time dedicated to these purposes.

TABLE 2.6. PROPORTION OF TECHNICAL PROFESSIONAL STAFF TIME DEVOTED TO TSS TO THE FIELD PROGRAMME, 2000-01 (PERCENTAGE)

42. In terms of technical staff time, there has been a significant overall increase in TSS, rising from 24 percent in 1998-99 (see Table 2.6 of C 2001/8, paragraph 42) to an average of 29 percent in 2000-01. The major proportion of this increase is attributed to the greater involvement of decentralized technical staff in providing these services, with the time spent on field programme support rising from 33 to 47 percent in the Regional Offices and from 40 to 46 percent in the Subregional Offices.

43. The small increase in the proportion of headquarters professional staff time devoted to TSS from 20 percent in 1998-99 to 22 percent in 2000-01 is mainly attributable to a rise in support to the SPFS under Major Programme 2.5: Contributions to Sustainable Development and Special Programme Thrusts, which increased to 30 percent from the level of 25 percent in 1998-99. The professional staff time of all other major programmes at headquarters remained within 3 percent of the 1998-99 level.

44. The decentralization of primary responsibility for TSS to the Regional and Subregional Offices is evident from Figure 2.4. The Regional Offices increased the time spent by their professional technical staff on TSS to the Field Programme to 47 percent, from 33 percent in 1998-99 and 14 percent in 1996-97. In the Subregional Offices, field programme support increased to 46 percent from 40 percent in 1998-99 and 26 percent in 1996-97.

45. While there was some variation between regions, as shown in Figure 2.5, field programme support exceeded 35 percent of staff time in all Regional and Sub-regional Offices. The trend towards higher levels of field programme support provided by Subregional Offices is in line with the policy that such support should be provided from the location closest to the recipient countries.

Administrative and Operational Support

46. Administrative and Operational Support (AOS) Services consist of variable indirect costs that can be associated with the delivery of direct project inputs. They include:

• recruitment, briefing and servicing of project personnel;
• fellowships placement and servicing and formulation of study plans;
• selecting and procuring supplies and equipment;
• preparation and formalization of contracts;
• preparation, monitoring and revision of budgets and control of project expenditures;
• receipt, custody and disbursement of funds;
• maintenance of project accounts, financial reporting and external and internal audits;
• location and recommendation of qualified personnel;
• guidance and supervision of project implementation.

47. The level of these costs over the last two biennia is shown in Table 2.7, where two new components, project non-technical monitoring and project budgeting and accounting have been included to provide additional clarity on the nature of AOS costs. The introduction of the new components has required the recalculation of costs for 1998-99 to make them comparable with the 2000-01 figures. Given the policy of cost reduction, the results are considered encouraging. Costs have declined as a percentage of the related component delivery for each budget component except project budgeting and accounting and incremental indirect costs. However, as indicated above, the reduction in the percentage of AOS cost on delivery, which has fallen from 10.6% to 8.4%, has been in part due to external factors (e.g. the high proportion of delivery for emergencies).

TABLE 2.7. ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT COSTS

* The figures for 1998-99 have been restated to include the impact of staff cost variance so as to reflect actual costs at budget rate.

48. It is noted that a large proportion of AOS cost is not a contribution by the Regular Programme to technical assistance. Table 2.8 shows the extent of reimbursements for AOS Services by the projects themselves.

TABLE 2.8. ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT COSTS AND EXTENT OF REIMBURSEMENT RECEIVED

49. The net contribution of the Regular Programme to the AOS costs of delivering technical assistance was US$ 22.9 million, an 8 percent increase over the 1998-99 biennium. While costs were reduced by US$2.6 million, reimbursement fell at a faster rate mainly because of the higher proportion of emergency delivery within the total.