Brazil

Ratings for the Second State Pension Reform Technical Assistance Project (PARSEP II) for Brazil were as follows: outcomes were moderately unsatisfactory, the risk to... Show More + development outcome was substantial, the Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also moderately unsatisfactory. Some lessons learned included: A lesson is that small operations can have a big impact. Despite the relative small size of this operation (US$ 5 million), its implementation strengthened institutional capacity in 15 states and 43 government institutions, with annual potential savings accounting for over US$26.2 million and an internal rate of return of 195 percent. The strong commitment of the current federal administration in reforming pension management and implementing a strong anticorruption agenda shows the ex post relevance of these operations. In the particular case of PARSEP II, the project's activities conveyed a clear anti-corruption message in the participating states, in particular in Federal District of Brasilia. Projects that involve relatively large and complex procurement processes should consider additional and enhanced support from at least part-time consultants with solid experience in Bank procurement processes and rules, in particular at the beginning. For this project, while the change in the strategy for procurement management, from hiring United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as an intermediate agency to managing procurement in-house, is commendable, additional procurement support should have been considered at the beginning of project implementation until capacities at the Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) have been adequately strengthened. Show Less -

The Second State Pension Reform Technical Assistance Loan (TAL) Project for Brazil will upgrade state pension management (public officials' pension system for civil... Show More + servants) thereby significantly reducing unwarranted pension claims, improving financial sustainability, strengthening state and federal institutions, and building reform constituencies. The project changes are: (i) reduce project scope to limit the activities to those that will be funded under the loan; (ii) revisions in results indicators to reflect reduction in project scope; (iii) extension of closing date by six months to December 31, 2011 to allow for completion of activities that are critical to the achievement of the project development objective (PDO); and (iv) reallocation of loan proceeds to reflect nature of contracts to be pursued under the project. Show Less -

The objective of the Rio de Janeiro Renovating and Strengthening Public Management (Pro Gestao) Technical Assistance Project is to support the State of Rio de Janeiro... Show More + to introduce performance-based management and information technologies to drive service delivery improvements in key public services, including secondary education and hospital care. This restructuring aims to introduce new activities under component one of the project, therefore reallocating funds amongst project components, as requested by the Government of Rio de Janeiro (GORJ). Moreover, an additional intermediate outcome indicator will be added to measure the effect of the new activities. No changes are being to the original project development objectives, or to any other aspect of the project. Finally, no changes to the legal agreement are required. The activities to be support by this project aims at significantly improving the early warning system through the use of meteorological radar. Show Less -

Ratings for the Municipal Pension Reform Project (PREVMUN) for Brazil were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was moderate,... Show More + the Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also moderately satisfactory. Some lessons learned included: the participation of key political and technical actors at project design is helpful to ensure priorities are correctly defined and to promote ownership. This administratively difficult project ran relatively smoothly after the initial delays. The lack of major problems during implementation despite high political turnover at Ministry of Social Security (MPS) and the strong participation by municipalities in the exercises and training financed by PREVMUN reflects the high sense of ownership. Projects combining technical assistance to federal and municipal governments whose election cycles are not aligned will benefit from planning the implementation timing to avoid electoral periods. This could be achieved by starting after municipal elections, or from presenting plans for mitigating their potential effect as much as possible. Also, other political factors such as the risk of needing political actions outside the effective control of the implementation team (as the decree requiring pension management units to report the information using the Integrated Pension Information System (SIPREV) format) need to be looked at carefully. Relatively small operations at the federal level in Brazil absorb a relatively high amount of effort and supervision budget. However, this is partially because the Bank's rules and regulations require the same due diligence irrespective of loan amount. When needed for strategic reasons such as the social security reform at the time of the preparation of PREVMUN the Bank could consider simplifying procedures so that large and small loans are treated differently, thereby supporting the viability of smaller loans. Show Less -

The objectives of the First Phase of the Adaptable Program Loan for the Health Network Formation and Quality Improvement Project for Brazil are to: i) improve the quality... Show More + and efficiency of the Unified Health System (SUS)' Regional Health Care Networks (RHCN) with the emphasis on secondary-level health care, specialty, diagnostic and emergency centers, and logistical systems serving the project's targeted regions and populations; and ii) improve the effectiveness of the SUS' RHCNs delivery systems to prevent, detect, and treat priority health conditions in the project's targeted regions and populations. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is development of regional health care networks and strengthening of health care facilities. This component supports two related categories of activities. The first involves the development and implementation of regional and organized arrangements for coordinated or integrated care - (RHCNs). The second consists of upgrading, quality enhancement, organizational reform, and strengthening of management practices in facilities within the RHCNs. The second component of the project is systems development for performance enhancement. This component supports the creation of an enabling institutional and systems environment to support the implementation of RHCNs, improve quality and care management, promote alternative payment systems, and strengthen monitoring and evaluation capacity. This component will have a national focus and will be implemented directly by the Ministry of Health (MOH). The third component of the project is project management. This component aims at strengthening the MOH to implement and supervise the project implementation and results. It will finance a group of fulltime consultants that will support the MOH's staff to carry out procurement, financial management and administrative tasks associated to the project's daily implementation. It will also finance facility upgrading (rehabilitation, office furniture, and computer equipment), consulting and non-consulting services such as printing, training and travel expenses. Show Less -

The Second State Pension Reform Technical Assistance Project for Brazil will upgrade state pension management (Public Officials' Pension System for civil servants) thereby... Show More + significantly reducing unwarranted pension claims, improving financial sustainability, strengthening state and federal institutions, and building reform constituencies. There are 5 components to the project: 1) Upgrade state pension cadastres for all branches of government through validation of individual registers and upgrading pension and HR systems. 2) Refine, install and train state officials in the use of the Government's leading edge pension software (SIPREV) and its actuarial, benefits and payroll modules and cross reference SIPREV with extant systems to upgrade data bases and eliminate unwarranted claims. 3) Support implementation of the unified state pension administrator by developing and disseminating an agency prototype and providing hardware and software required to accommodate cadastre upgrade and SIPREV. 4) Strengthen state institutions through training and dissemination activities and state stakeholder workshops. 5) Strengthen the Ministry of Social Security through studies and debate of disability and health insurance, conduct of actuarial analyses in each state, support for the State Association of Pension Officials, pension publications and consultant and logistics support to assist state participants. Show Less -

The outcome for the Rio Grande Do Sul Highway Management Project for Brazil was satisfactory, the sustainability was likely, the institutional development impact was... Show More + substantial, and the Bank and borrower performance were both satisfactory. Lessons learned from the project: the execution of the project confirmed the efficiency of result-based contracts for road maintenance and rehabilitation contracts, even in a fiscally-constrained environment. Fundamental political preferences are highlighted in a highly fiscally-constrained environment. The implementation of the project suffered from two main external implementation delays: (a) a 15 months delay in effectiveness; (b) a 3-years implementation delay, reflecting the tight fiscal situation at the level of the state, and the ensuing difficulties for the Government, in such context, to prioritize financing of project expenditures. As part of the project restructuring, it was agreed that the project implementation period would be extended by two years, but that the second year extension would be subject to the achievement, during the first year of a specific implementation target, to confirm the validity of the project restructuring. Show Less -