This assurance report is on the Hawusewa-Abala-Irebti Road contract, based on the memorandum of understanding signed between Ethiopian Roads Authority, the Procuring Entity (PE), and CoST Ethiopia.
The assurance process is designed to have the dual function of first giving assurance that the information disclosed by PEs is valid and complete, and second of interpreting the disclosed information in plain language to detect matters of interest or potential concern that could be raised with the project owner. This enhanced accountability is expected to result in improved efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of infrastructure construction.
This assurance report is, however, prepared for project and contract information collected by the assurance professional and not by the procuring entity, so the validation of completeness and accuracy of disclosure is not covered by this report. The main purpose of this report is, therefore, to disclose information items collected by the assurance professional and to highlight identified areas of inefficiency, mismanagement and other causes of concern throughout the project cycle. The report further provides recommendation to the Multi Stakeholder Group Executive Committee (MSGEC) on key findings of the assurance process.

In particular, this report highlighted that the tender evaluation process was unusually slow; taking 230 days when the bid validity period was only 90 days, which meant that awarding the bid and signing the contract was also delayed. It recommended that the criteria for selecting consultants may have acted as a barrier to new entrants, and recommended to the PE that too much weight should not be given to experience. The assurance report has also pinpointed other procurement issues and changes to the contract scope