Monitoring

Under Art. 34 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC, monitoring includes both physical monitoring, constituting a tool for management through objectives defined in the SOP-ICE, and financial indicator monitoring, as a function of financial management of projects and programmes.

In order to obtain efficient monitoring and evaluation of all public expenditures (both EU and national), dedicated units (departments) – monitoring expenditures and tangible effects of public intervention will be located in the long term within the Managing Authority.

The Managing Authority includes monitoring and control units. Units involved in the process of the ERDF funds’ flow at all levels of management shall apply uniform monitoring principles, both in tangible and financial monitoring, based on certain indicators and presenting information and reports in a required form.

Monitoring of the SOP-ICE course of realisation is the responsibility of the Managing Authority, while the Monitoring Committee supervises the implementation of the SOP-ICE.

Monitoring is carried out under the partnership principle. The Monitoring Committee was set up by the Member State, in agreement with the Managing Authority after consultation with the partners and in accordance with its own institutional arrangements and practice. The partnership shall promote the equal participation of women and men.

6.4.1. Membership and role of the SOP–ICE Monitoring Committee

The Monitoring Committee consists of:

1) on the government part – one representative of each: a) the CSF Managing Authority,

b) the Managing Authority,

c) adequate Ministers according to the type of activities under the programme, that do not play the role of the Managing Authority or the Intermediate Body,

d) the Intermediate Bodies, e) the Paying Authority;

2) on the part of self-governments, the representatives of: a) the Convent of Marshals,

b) nationwide organisations defined in the Act on the National Development Plan, Art. 23, par. 4, item 5;

3) representatives of the social and economic partners:

a) organisations of employees and employers, appointed pursuant to the Act of 6th July 2001 on the Tripartite Commission for socio-economic issues and regional social dialogue commissions (Journal of Laws No 100, item 108032),

b) non-governmental organisations – appointed by the Council for Public Benefit, c) scientific organisations – appointed by the Head Council for Higher Education. The Minister in charge of regional development should ensure, that the representatives of self-governments constitute 1/3 of total number of the members, and the representatives of social and economic partners constitute also 1/3 of total number of the members.

The Monitoring Committee meetings may be observed by: 1) voivodes or their representatives;

2) representatives of Final Recipients (beneficiaries) of the SOP-ICE; 3) representatives of the Supreme Chamber of Control;

4) representatives of the Treasury Control Office;

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Amendments to the Act: Journal of Laws 2001 No 154, item 1793 and No 154 item 1800, and 2002: No 10, item 89 and No 240, item 2056.

5) representatives of the Polish Bank Association; 6) representatives of the European Commission; 7) representatives of the European Investment Bank.

If the scope of the discussed matters requires so, experts and representatives of other institutions or social and vocational groups may participate in the Committee meetings, however with no voting right. The composition of the Monitoring Committee requires equal participation of women and men.

Subsequent changes in the membership composition of the Monitoring Committee may be approved by the Committee, subject to national legislation, without any required amendment to the SOP-ICE.

Pursuant to Article 42 par. 3 of the Act on the National Development Plan, the tasks of the Monitoring Committee cover:

- assessment and approval of the selection criteria for projects under each measure,

- examination and approval of the SOP-ICE Complement and suggestions of changes,

- periodical review of progress with regard to achieving the specific objectives defined in the SOP-ICE and its Complement,

- examination of results of the SOP-ICE implementation, including achieving the SOP-ICE objectives for the particular measures,

- examining and approval of the periodic reports, annual reports, and final implementation reports prepared by the managing Authority,

- examining and approval of changes and amendments to the SOP-ICE,

- proposing of changes and amendments to the SOP-ICE to the Managing Authority,

- examining and approval of the promotion actions plan under the SOP-ICE and suggestions as to its amending.

The Monitoring Committee decides on the reallocation of co-funded expenditure between the measures under the SOP-ICE, within a given Priority. Whenever the Monitoring Committee decides to reallocate the ERDF from one measure to another, the corresponding matching national expenditure will, in principle, also be reallocated. The change on the level of the Community contribution can only be introduces upon approval of the European Commission. Any amendment to the contribution of the ERDF, as well as transfers between the Priorities or between operational programmes is decided by the European Commission, in agreement with the Member State.

The Monitoring Committee is chaired by a representative of the SOP-ICE Managing Authority. The Monitoring Committee is set up no later than within three months after

the decision on the contribution of the ERDF. Subject to the principles set out in the foregoing paragraph, the Monitoring Committee is responsible for drawing up its own rules of procedure, in agreement with the Managing Authority.

For adequate evaluation, the Monitoring Committee shall appoint permanent working groups, particularly for monitoring activities of horizontal nature and seek opinions of independent experts. These groups shall monitor projects in relation to the compliance with horizontal policies (sustainable development, environment protection, equal opportunities for women and men, information society, innovation, labour market). In addition, they will promote and disseminate consideration of horizontal issues in projects.

6.4.2 Quantification of objectives, monitoring indicators

The SOP-ICE Managing Authority together with the Monitoring Committee pursuant to Article 36 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC, carry out the monitoring of the ERDF intervention on the basis of a set of indicators. The indicators defined in the SOP–ICE and its Complement serve to measure the progress of operational programmes, Priorities, measures and projects, as well as for evaluation of their effectiveness and impact.

The indicator system reflects the objectives of the SOP-ICE. A number of context indicators which are monitored over the course of the programme have been identified. It is not expected that the SOP-ICE alone will impact on those indicators, as they will also be affected by other factors (e.g. the global economy, fiscal policies etc.). The indicators have been constructed on both a top-down (related to the global objectives) and a bottom-up (related to measure level objectives) basis, consistent with the Programme Complement, the SOP-ICE and the CFS. Criteria of indicators choice take into account recommendations of the European Commission (correctness, appropriateness, availability, comparability, measurement, and reliability). The indicators will show:

- the specific targets, quantified where they lend themselves to quantification, for the Priorities and their mutual consistency,

- results and impact level (also at the initial stage, if there is a possibility of impact)

- the progress of the financial plan’s implementation, Where appropriate, the statistics are broken down by gender.

The Managing Authority drew up The Guidelines for Creating Monitoring Indicators of

Programmes, Priorities, Measures and Projects, as well as a list of core indicators for

monitoring in individual areas of structural funds intervention. Both documents were created on the basis of the European Commission’s:

- Working document No 3 – Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation,

- Guidelines for Systems of Monitoring and Evaluation of ESF Assistance in the period 2000-2006,

- Common Evaluation Questions with Criteria and Indicators for Rural Development Programmes 2000-2006,

The project data are introduced into the SIMIK monitoring system. The monitoring concentrates on the most essential data and due attention is paid to ensuring data quality. In the decentralised implementation of programmes and projects, common data in all regions are documented in a standardised way. High consistency is ensured between the Community Support Framework, the SOP-ICE, the Programme Complement, applications, other forms and reports and the monitoring system. The National Evaluation Unit will use the databases for evaluation.

The baseline period, against which indicators are measured, is the year (or its last quarter) preceding the year of the commencement of the implementation of the SOP- ICE , its Priorities, measures or projects.