On May 21, the Capacity Building Seminar for the Working Group on Policy Auditing and Infrastructure Regulation (GTInfra) from the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS) began in Brasília. The capacity building action focused on auditing concessions and public-private partnerships in infrastructure and continued until May 23 at the Serzedello Corrêa Institute for Capacity Building (ISC). The seminar was organized by the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) and coordinated by the Department of External Control for Infrastructure (SecexInfra). 

The seminar aimed to promote integration and capacity building among member countries from the OLACEFS to carry out cooperative audits in the second semester of 2024.  At the opening, Minister Jorge Oliveira recalled that the TCU suggested the creation of GTInfra in 2022 to achieve this goal. He also highlighted that the seminar would be essential for other bodies operating in Brazil.  "It will be an opportunity to integrate and train members of Brazilian court of accounts and other government bodies, such as the Office of the Comptroller General and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as non-governmental bodies", said the Minister.  Altogether, representatives from more than 20 state and municipal courts of accounts, as well as five GTInfra member countries, attended the seminar.

Minister Jorge Oliveira praised the audit instruments used by the TCU in analyzing processes in the sector, such as FISCOBRAS, while recalling that infrastructure is one of the most relevant sectors for national development. "The Court has developed a methodology, proving effective in improving spending on public works contracts in the country, FISCOBRAS, aimed at meeting the need for information from the National Congress. This methodology supports discussions on the annual budget by conducting analyses that verify the use of public resources, identify relevant flaws, mitigate possible losses, and propose corrective measures," he summarized. 

According to the Minister, the seminar is important in a scenario in which several countries have reduced state intervention and valued the role of auditing public services provided by private companies. "The concessions and PPP models, when well planned and executed, encourage investments, promote management and operation efficiency and boost sustainable economic growth and the improvement of public services, as well as making it possible to allocate scarce government resources to other actions that are in society's interest", added Minister Jorge Oliveira, when praising the importance of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in auditing and, consequently, in the development of countries.

Overview of the GTInfra

The head of the Department of External Control for Infrastructure (SecexInfra), Carlos Rafael Simões, was responsible for presenting an overview of GTInfra and outlining the group's next steps. GTInfra was established in 2022 and is expected to operate for two years. “The GTInfra group addresses various topics including strategic plans, selection and prioritization of infrastructure projects, integrity, financing, and project and institutional maturity. In 2023, we conducted a consultation within the working group to determine our priorities. It was decided that concessions and public-private partnerships would be our focus," he explained.

Since the seminar aims to promote training and integration, Simões presented TCU initiatives that could contribute to aligning audit institutions. "Alongside the GTInfra work, we had the opportunity to develop a concessions and PPP auditing technical framework at the TCU. It was a collaborative work in which we sought out the foundations and experiences of Brazilian courts of accounts. It underwent a public consultation for its consolidation but has not yet been officially launched.  However, it will serve as the foundation for the speeches that will be delivered during this seminar," he added.

Governmental and non-governmental bodies 

The Director of the Regional Integration Department of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), Minister Daniela Benjamin, and the Representative from the United Nations Office for Project Services in Brazil (UNOPS/Brazil), Professor Patrícia Valente, also participated in the opening ceremony. 

The Director of Itamaraty Daniela Benjamin emphasized the importance of uniting Latin American countries for the collective growth of the region. She highlighted the resumption of bilateral talks between Brazil and neighboring countries and underscored that infrastructure is a fundamental agenda for the region's collective growth.

Patrícia Valente presented UNOPS' vision on the topic and the organization's contributions to the regulation and development of infrastructure. Valente addressed the social infrastructure challenges identified in the country, such as the need to follow up on concessions and the approach to dealing with these challenges. 

Seminar

The seminar was scheduled to last three days. In the afternoons of the first days, four technical talks addressed details of the framework elaborated by the TCU. On May 22, the talks tackled topics related to government audit experience and cooperative audits, with presentations by representatives of the TCU, TCDF, CGU, and the Pezco consultancy. On May 23, the topics concerned inter-institutional integration.