10 The designated responsible officer has primary responsibility for ensuring the submission of acceptable final DFC reports, and for certifying that:
- the report is adequate to evidence that the agreed activities were implemented according to the agreement, the approved budget and that the agreed outputs were achieved.
- assurance activities have been implemented as described in the Justification Memorandum, including the outcomes of those activities. If assurance activities could not be carried out, the Responsible Officer must provide justifications, describe the alternative controls that have been conducted and explain how they provide a satisfactory level of assurance that funded activities were conducted as planned.
- the FACE report was correctly filled out and certified by the implementing partner
20 The responsible officer certifies that all requirements of the DFC have been fully complied with (including the submission of a thorough technical report confirming that the activities were carried out and the planned outputs were achieved according to the agreement with the implementing partner).
30 For DFC purchase orders over $300,000, receipt of the final DFC report is cleared by the second line of defense to ensure the adequacy of the documentation.
40 The responsible officer, with the WHO Representative (WR)/Head of Country Office (HCO) and with support from the regional budget and finance units and the GAH assess the risks associated with a DFC and determine whether another implementation modality, such as direct implementation is merited given the risks involved. Assurance activities are formulated based on the risks faced, considering the following and other relevant criteria:
- the amount of funding for the activity
- overall DFC funding for the recipient in this period (year or biennium)
- the recipient's history of achieving the results intended, reporting and refunding receivables related to past DFC transactions
- the Implementing Partner Capacity Assessments (IPCA)
50 Assurance activities include all actions to ensure that DFC activities are implemented in accordance with the request received from the MOH, the approved budget and that funds were used for the intended purpose. It is highly recommended that third-party service providers are utilized to undertake financial spot checks, aligned with the UN system standards, as a strategic choice to facilitate the implementation of comprehensive and effective spot checks in a country or across a region. WHO may also collaborate with the UNCT on coordinating and contracting the spot check activities. There are two main assurance activities:
- on-site monitoring and spot checks of activities – refer to FIN.SOP.XVI.004;
- post facto reviews (including external audits) including examination of supporting documentation and accounting entries – refer to FIN.SOP.XVI.004.
60 Assurance activities strengthen the confidence of donors and other stakeholders that funds transferred by WHO to implementing partners are used to achieve results as intended. Based on the respective risk profiles, assurance activities reduce transaction costs for implementing partners and WHO. Assurance activities also strengthen national capacities for management and accountability, with the ultimate objective of gradually shifting towards utilizing national systems. GAH provides support to countries, regions and HQ technical units to harmonize and coordinate the assurance activities across the Organization as well as to improve the transparency and comprehensive availability of information needed to respond to requests from stakeholders. GAH provides tools, training and guidance to ensure users are resourced to undertake assurance activities. The financing of IPCA and Assurance Activities should be budgeted and charged directly to DFC, GLOA and DI activities. (Refer also to the Guidance Notes on Cost-Recovery and Development of Budgets for Proposals to/agreement with Donors – Appendix B of the Donor Agreement End to End -Appendix B - Guidance Notes to Cost Recovery. Currently, global harmonized assurance activities, including GAH, are partially financed through a levy of 0.5% on all DFC, GLOA and DI expenditure. The levy is applied to expenditure on approved PRs for DFC, GLOA and DI directly in the ERP and charged to the relevant expenditure type and is not visible as a separate line item on the Purchase Order.
70 Where the results of assurance activities are not satisfactory, either corrective actions can be taken to meet the objectives of the DFC agreement or WHO will request the reimbursement (in full or in part) of the payments made under the agreement. New grants should not be issued to the implementing partner until corrective controls are implemented satisfactorily by the implementing partner, reporting has been satisfied and any amounts outstanding from previous DFC payments have been reimbursed.
80 All documents pertaining to assurance plans and activities are to be uploaded to the Assurance Activities SharePoint Site: Welcome to ACT/EXP Assurance Activities Site (sharepoint.com) – this site is also accessible from the ACT Intranet page/Key Information and Guidelines/DFC.
