10% of the Buenos Aires Regulatory Agency Public Services’ Staff Is Dedicated To External Control
<p style="text-align:justify">According to the City's Audit, 60% of the agency's staff does administrative tasks and there are no agent selection processes, but the Board recruits in a "discretionary" manner. In addition, there are no incentives for employees and the Agency’s building is "insufficient" in relation to the number of people who work there every day.</p>
Of the personnel who work in the Public Services Regulatory Authority of Buenos Aires, a little more than 10% is dedicated to external control tasks and 60% do administrative work. A report from the General Audit Office of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) said that within the agency "there are no selection processes" of employees, but it is the Board itself that decides the necessary profiles, without the participation of the area of Human resources, and performs recruitments "on a discretionary basis."
Contrary to what happens in other organisms, the AGCBA emphasized the "high receptivity of the Body" to respond in a timely manner to the requirements of technicians and not delay the execution of the exam. However, the report acknowledges that there was no single spokesperson to provide information and that the data was "modified according to who provided them." This, according to the Audit, generated "lack of reliability," especially in the consultations regarding human resources management, to the point that, since the Agency, "could not reconcile basically the number of agents" who work there, that is, they do not know how many employees they have. However, the Watchdog counted until 2007, 314 people between permanent and transitional staff.
The report also noted that the Regulatory Body does not have a defined personnel training policy. It is that the "limited resources" cause the costs to be prioritized over the profits, that is why "the organization does not have a strategic plan that directs its human resources to the institutional objectives", said the AGCBA, adding that in 2007 "81.21% of the Agency’s staff did not carry out any training courses."
According to the Buenos Aires Audit, "there are no incentives to staff" of the entity, nor a proposal for its implementation in the short term, although there were prizes and isolated extras, but not as agency policy.
Likewise, the technicians compared the seniority and level of study of the agents with the minimum requirements of the administrative career, and verified that 15 employees occupied positions without meeting the conditions of the ladder, eight did not have in their files some documentation that justified the role And that "9.96% of those re-entering and entering the permanent plant in 2007 do not meet the requisites requested for the new posts."
On the other hand, the Agency’s central building is "insufficient" in relation to the number of workers who attend every day. The agency operates in a rented building of Bartolomé Mitre 970, in the city's downtown area, the building has a total of 1403 square meters, but the optimal space should be 2968 square meters.
The "lack of reliability" in the information provided is also recorded in terms of the funds managed by the Regulating Entity. The same agency informed the AGCBA that in 2007 its budget had been $ 20,211,201, while, according to the investment account, it was $ 21,960,391. In Mitre 970 they said "to ignore the reason of these differences."
The Single Regulatory Entity of Public Services is under the orbit of the Executive Power of the City and controls the provision of passenger transportation, lighting and street lighting, urban hygiene, concessioner parking lots, urban highways, pathogenic and dangerous residues, Cable and data transmission, traffic lights and photographic fines. The agency must intervene before the complaint of a user who sees injured a right or interest legally protected and, in the event of a possible breach, punish the service provider.