When conducting financial audit of the annual consolidated financial statement for 2022, the State Audit Office of Latvia has assessed whether 4,261,059 euros allocated to the Ministry of Education and Science to provide educational institutions and social care centres with the procurement of air quality meters for determining the CO2 level were used for the intended purpose and the planned results were achieved. In general, one can conclude that the funds have been used appropriately, however, the planned results have been achieved only partially. The State Audit Office of Latvia considers that the Ministry of Education and Science has not done enough to use the monitoring capabilities of the purchased air quality meters to their fullest potential, and there is no plan for the long-term use of purchased air quality meters and the data/information they provide.
BRIEFLY
- By allocating 4,261,059 euros to the Ministry of Education and Science for purchasing and installing air quality meters and ensure air quality monitoring in educational institutions and social care institutions, the overarching goal was to create prerequisites for air quality improvement. This is only partially achieved.
- The average level of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in educational institutions indicates generally poor air quality.
- Institutions have different approaches to air quality monitoring and different understandings of its importance for air quality improvement.
- The Ministry of Education and Science does not have a vision for the long-term use of the purchased air quality meters and their data.
The average level of CO2 concentration in educational institutions indicates generally poor air quality. Although air quality meters have been installed in educational institutions, which allow to monitor air quality, the data analysed by the State Audit Office of Latvia on the CO2 concentration level indicate generally poor air quality and, accordingly, insufficiently implemented measures to improve air quality. For example, in November 2022, only six buildings (3%) had an average CO2 concentration level as good out of 206 buildings of the 173 educational institutions included in the audit sample, 118 buildings (57%) had mediocre level, and 82 buildings (40%) had a bad or even very bad level.
By allocating 4,261,059 euros to the Ministry of Education and Science for purchasing and installing air quality meters and ensure air quality monitoring in educational institutions and social care institutions, the overarching goal was to create prerequisites for air quality improvement. For this purpose, a service provider was selected in a public procurement to not only provide daily monitoring at the place of installation of air quality meters, but also to accumulate data (measurements of air quality indicators) in the system centrally and provide all institutions with access to this data for decision-making and appropriate further action. In other words, this would create an opportunity to perform systematic and comprehensive air quality monitoring, i.e., see data analysis for longer periods of time, for instance, monthly, annually, as well as to perform data analysis for one, several or all institutions. In its turn, seeing the overall picture and taking actions based on the analysis of data obtained as a result of monitoring would be possible.
The audit has established that unfortunately, it does not happen in reality and the overarching goal to create preconditions for air quality improvement has not been fully achieved accordingly. First, although a Public Data Portal https://co2.mesh.lv/ has been developed for daily monitoring, where both educational institutions and any interested party can view air quality measurements in educational institutions, the Ministry of Education and Science has not implemented and has not used several functions of data collection and data review in the Mesh system. Secondly, the Ministry has not encouraged educational institutions (in which air quality meters are installed) proactively to apply for Mesh system user rights, as a result of which they do not currently have access or have not registered in the system, and therefore do not use the system’s functionality generally.
Institutions have different approaches to air quality monitoring and different understanding of its importance for air quality improvement. The results of the survey conducted by the State Audit Office of educational institutions and social care institutions show that the institutions do not have a unified approach to air quality monitoring, nor that there is a unified understanding of the need for monitoring and its importance in improving air quality.
On the other hand, the results of the survey conducted by the State Audit Office among local and regional governments show that the local and regional governments, which are the founders of 583 educational institutions (76%) (where air quality meters are installed) and which are responsible for providing services in 95 social care institutions, have not been actively involved in air quality monitoring in their educational and/or in social care institutions so far.
The line ministry has no vision for the long-term use of the purchased air quality meters and their data. Air quality measurement data allows each institution to draft evidence-based recommendations to improve indoor air quality in educational institutions. Unfortunately, there is uncertainty, and the Ministry of Education and Science has no plan for using the data from the purchased air quality meters after three years when the agreement with the current service provider expires, and in the long term in general. Namely, under the provisions of the currently valid agreement, air quality measurement data for educational institutions is expected to be provided in the Mesh system until 22 December 2024, while the duration of the operation of the Public Data Portal https://co2.mesh.lv/ has not been stipulated.
“If the Ministry does not determine the long-term purpose of using the purchased air quality meters and their accumulated data and the sequential actions to be taken to improve the air quality, then there is a risk that the air quality in educational institutions will not improve significantly, and there is also a risk that the air quality will not meet the recommendations of the World Health Organization. On the other hand, after the expiration of the agreement with the current service provider, the opportunity to prepare evidence-based recommendations for improving the indoor air quality of educational institutions will disappear,” indicated Ms Inese Kalvāne, Council Member of the State Audit Office.
Justification for purchasing air quality meters and the procurement made
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, insufficient air quality, insufficient ventilation and forced air exchange systems in institutions were one of the reasons that prevented the resumption of face-to-face studies. To reduce the negative impact of the consequences of COVID-19 on the learning process, the Ministry of Education and Science offered a solution to purchase CO2 air quality meters for state and municipal general and vocational educational institutions.
- As a result of the open competition, the Ministry of Education and Science and Moduls Engineering Ltd concluded an agreement on 23 December 2021, which defined the procedure by which local and regional governments, educational institutions, social care institutions agreed and concluded a supply contract for the purchase and installation of CO2 air quality meters.
- Based on this contract, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated 4,336,640 euros to the Ministry of Education and Science for the purchase of air quality meters (indicative 14,000 pcs.) for measuring the CO2 level for 765 educational institutions and social care institutions in total.
State Audit Office recommendations #PēcRevīzijas
After the audit, the Ministry of Education and Science was recommended to take measures to ensure regular monitoring of air quality and successive actions to promote compliance of air quality with legal framework and recommendations of the World Health Organization.
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About the State Audit Office of Latvia
The State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia is an independent, collegial supreme audit institution. The purpose of its activity is to find out whether the actions with the financial means and property of a public entity are legal, correct, useful and in line with public interests, as well as to provide recommendations for the elimination of discovered irregularities. The State Audit Office conducts audits in accordance with International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI (ISSAI), whose recognition in Latvia is determined by the Auditor General.
100 years of AUDIT STRENGTH
On 16 August 2023, the State Audit Law will turn 100 years old. With the adoption of this Law, the State Audit Office from a formal de facto institution founded on 2 December 1918 became a de jure independent, collegial supreme audit institution of the Republic of Latvia. The State Audit Office is one of the independent state institutions enshrined in the Satversme (Constitution) of Latvia. The Constitution was signed by Roberts Ivanovs as the secretary of the Constitutional Assembly, who was then confirmed as the Auditor General. He worked as the first Auditor General for 12 years. His signature confirmed the text of our Constitution alongside that of Jānis Čakste.
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