COST OF INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM WITHIN NORMAL RANGE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE AND COMPLEX SYSTEMS, FIFTH COMMITTEE TOLD

11 March 1999

Press Release
GA/AB/3285

COST OF INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM WITHIN NORMAL RANGE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE AND COMPLEX SYSTEMS, FIFTH COMMITTEE TOLD

19990311 However, Costs Could Have Been Reduced with Proper Planning And Timely Action, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Says

The Office of Internal Oversight Services had investigated the cost of the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) and found that the amount was within the normal range for the development of large and complex systems, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told this morning. However, those costs could have been reduced with proper planning and timely action, the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight, Karl Paschke continued.

He said the original contract for developing IMIS had been for a fixed price of $17 million. After 17 amendments, the contract cost had increased to $45.7 million -- an increase of $28.7 million, or nearly 170 per cent of the original amount. The United Nations planned to complete the System's implementation by August 2000, but unless management took concerted action, the same problems encountered earlier could recur, resulting in further delays and cost increases, Mr. Paschke warned, stressing the need for user training, effective operational support and proper maintenance.

Several delegations expressed concern about what measures were being taken to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. Was the Organization really capable of providing system implementation support and maintenance, and did it have resources for related training? the representative of the Republic of Korea asked.

Noting that the Oversight Office had emphasized problems related to insufficient participation in developing the System by the main user departments, Algeria's representative asked what practical steps were envisioned to definitively resolve the situation.

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Cuba's representative expressed concern about the relationship between the System and the Organization's real needs. Also, she drew attention to the fact that while many United Nations activities were postponed for lack of resources, other projects, such as IMIS, seemed to have excessive costs.

However, Canada's representative said the costs of IMIS were reasonable, given the size and complexity of the United Nations. Similar programmes had cost far more than IMIS, while not many had cost less.

Responding to questions, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, said that while he could not provide a guarantee, he could offer Member States his best professional judgement that based on what needed to be done, the work force available, and all other indications, the project would be completed in the year 2000 at the estimated cost.

He drew attention to those who had worked on the IMIS project for long hours and weekends over the past years -- often on general temporary assistance contracts. Gratitude and appreciation was owed them.

Statements on IMIS were also made by the representatives of Germany (speaking for the European Union), United States and Poland.

Under other matters, Committee members continued to pursue issues regarding the United Nations use of a canine for security purposes and questions related to escalators at Headquarters. Questions were also posed regarding the United Nations Garage, telephones and the issuance of documents.

The representatives of Costa Rica, Syria, Cuba and Guyana (speaking for the "Group of 77" developing countries and China) spoke. The Assistant Secretary-General for Central Support Services, Toshiyuki Niwa, responded to related questions and comments.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, to take up the financing of United Nations missions in Haiti.

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to take up issues related to the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS).

The Committee had before it the Secretary-General's tenth progress report on the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) project (document A/53/573). Since the last report, deployment of the system away from Headquarters has continued, and other users, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the International Labour Organization (ILO), have progressively adapted the software to their special requirements. A report of independent experts, initiated at the General Assembly's request, favourably evaluated IMIS from both the technical and cost perspectives. Their recommendations, as well as those of the General Assembly and the Board of Auditors, have been addressed.

Release 2 (staff entitlements) has been implemented worldwide, according to the report. Major enhancements to Release 3 (finance and support services) have been developed, and progress has been made on Release 4 (payroll and related functions) and release 5 (operational functions). The reporting facility has been enhanced and technical research, particularly remote accessing, have progressed. By February 2000, Release 3 will be in all offices and release 4 will be in New York by August 1999 and at all duty stations by August 2000.

Despite progress, the complexity of the tasks should not be underestimated, the Secretary-General reports. The payroll and financial applications will require unprecedented effort by staff to prepare data and training and reorganize work flows. Many automated processes will be introduced for the first time in some locations. The implementation schedule is ambitious, and the system implementation date has already been postponed.

The report states that costs have been reviewed as per the General Assembly's request. To date, the General Assembly has approved a total project budget of $68.1 million. Additional estimated requirements are $9.5 million, of which $3 million relates to the 2000-2001 biennium. Of the $9.5 million, $6.5 million relates to implementation activities away from Headquarters.

A note by the Secretary-General transmits the independent experts' study of IMIS (document A/53/662 and Corr.1) conducted in July 1998. The experts concluded that IMIS was a well-designed computer application, satisfactorily utilized by a large number of users with differing interests. It has been developed and implemented by a small project team, and the $68 million invested so far was reasonable for produced outputs. The most critical IMIS issue facing the Secretariat was to effectively implement IMIS systems at offices away from Headquarters in 1999.

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The experts present an optional framework for long-term IMIS governance, with an IMIS Development Centre to provide services to participating members, to be funded by agreed-upon assessments from participating organizations. The level of assessments would be based on usage of applications, releases and services offered by the Centre and would be made several years in advance so participating organizations and agencies could include the proposed expenditures in their budget submissions.

The Adminstration should work with other participating organizations to establish and fund an Inter-Agency Governance Framework for IMIS, the experts recommend. They propose a model governance framework, with Inter-Agency Advisory Groups which would advise an Inter-Agency Governing Board on matters such as the overall computer system adequacy and recommendations for changes and new initiatives.

All organizations need additional resources in the user areas when new computer applications are being developed and implemented, but, according to the experts, this does not appear to have been understood or taken into account when the United Nations staff reductions took place. Due to a combination of environmental circumstances and management directions, over the project's duration, there had been a heavy reliance on the contractor for conducting implementation activities which would have been undertaken more properly by United Nations substantive staff, had they been available.

In the ACABQ's related report (document A/53/7/Add.7), it recommends that the General Assembly approve the additional $9.5 million for completing IMIS, thus bringing the total cost of the project's development and implementation to $77.6 million. The need for an additional appropriation under the programme budget for 1998-1999 should be considered in the context of the first performance report for the biennium 1998-1999. It points out that the regular budget contains a provision of $9.8 million for the maintenance of IMIS during 1998-1999, and recommends that in his eleventh progress report on IMIS, the Secretary-General propose a long-term maintenance plan for the System, which would also take into account the need to ensure that it be updated with the latest advances in technology.

The ACABQ stresses the importance of implementing all the experts' recommendations and recommends that the Assembly endorse these, according to the report.

The Committee also had before it a report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the increase in costs of the Integrated Management Information System (document A/53/829). According to this report, the increase in contract amount by $28.7 million -- from $17 million to $45.7 million -- can be attributed to three main causes. The first is the need for remedial or out-of-scope software development work related to incomplete or incorrect specifications. The net $11 million, or 64.5 per cent

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increase on the contract amount attributable to this is well within industry norms but could have been reduced through careful planning, needs identification and preparation.

The report states that the second and third reasons are that $17.7 million worth of implementation and production support, as well as software maintenance, was carried out by contractors at hourly rates to avoid additional delays. It should have been undertaken internally, but was not because of inadequate internal resources.

Underlying reasons identified in the report included an initial underestimation of the effort required to develop, implement and maintain the system, resulting in inadequate planning and resource allocation. From the beginning, inadequate participation of main user departments impeded development and caused delays. Delays in concerted effort to address deficiencies resulted in undue reliance on the contractor.

The Oversight Office disagrees with Administration statements that the contractor's services would not be required for major additional tasks, as the insufficient progress made on long-term operational support, software maintenance and staff training meant reliance on the project team and, possibly, the contractor was unlikely to diminish in the near future.

Convinced of the potential for improving work flows and processes through more efficient use of the System, and concerned that there is no assurance that problems like those of previous years will not recur, the Oversight Office makes three recommendations. First, it recommends that, as part of the establishment and communication of an overall strategy and detailed plan for implementation, the Administration should reissue and reinforce the relevant Secretary-General's bulletin on accountability, resources and monitoring, and should transfer training responsibilities from the System project team to the Office of Human Resources Management.

According to the second recommendation, the Administration should take urgent steps to strengthen maintenance and user support functions by reviewing the present arrangements, establishing a plan and a strategy, establishing clear responsibilities and resourcing the relevant areas properly. Third, the Oversight Office recommends that all department heads be asked to review existing work methods to identify opportunities for further administrative streamlining, so the System's full potential can be realized.

In an addendum to his tenth progress report, the Secretary-General responds to the Oversight Office's report (document A/53/573/Add.1). Annexed to it are his responses to the specific recommendations.

According to the addendum, the Secretary-General has reviewed the resource requirement estimates from his tenth report in the light of the

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Oversight Office comments. He concludes that they appear adequate for completing final stages of development and implementation and therefore requests approval of the $3.2 million balance required for the current biennium. Of the $6.5 million required for the current biennium, $3.3 million has already been approved by the Assembly.

The Secretary-General states that the Assembly may wish to note the resources needed and plan of action for completion of the project as detailed in his tenth progress report (document A/53/573). It may wish to approve the additional $9.5 million required for completion -- making a project total of $77.6 million -- and to note that $3 million would not be required until the next biennium.

Also according to the annex, the Secretary-General agrees with the recommendation to provide users with a detailed plan for implementation of Releases 3, 4 and 5 and for the System's institutionalization. Plans will be approved by the Steering Committee and officially communicated to heads of offices. The Secretary-General also agrees that urgent steps should be taken to strengthen maintenance and user support functions, and a review is under way within the context of preparation of the 2000-2001 biennium budget. While he also agrees that department heads should be asked to identify opportunities for further administrative streamlining, the addendum states that remaining implementation activities must be prioritized, and that such an ongoing programme can only be formally established once implementation activities are completed.

Statements

JOSEPH CONNOR, Under-Secretary-General for Management, introduced the addendum to the Secretary-General's tenth progress report. Various reports on the system had been provided to Member States and each provided a different perspective on the project. All confirmed that the IMIS system was not a virtual reality but was real. It was used by hundreds of staff world-wide every day. It was a complex project -- 3.6 million lines of computer code had been used.

He said that, in the addendum, the Secretary-General agreed with the conclusions of the Oversight Office. Some of the shortcomings had been identified previously by Mr. Connor. He was grateful to the Oversight Office for sharing its concerns over tasks still to be completed, and action was being taken to minimize risks related to them.

Progress continued to be made, he said. The new version of the finance applications had been implemented on 1 February, payroll and related applications were being tested and the implementation of Release 3 away from Headquarters would begin in Vienna on 1 July. Practically all operational and maintenance activities had been taken over by the Secretariat. It was clear

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that reliance on contractors would decrease and that levels of expenditure on contractors would be maintained within the level specified in the report.

Establishing IMIS had been a long and difficult process, he said. While some difficulties were bound to arise, he was confident that they would be overcome. To do so, the funds requested in the report were needed, as without them final development and implementation activities would have to cease at the end of July.

KARL PASCHKE, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, introduced the report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the increase in costs of the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS). The original contract for developing IMIS had been for a fixed price of $17 million. After 17 contract amendments, the contract cost had increased to $45.7 million -- an increase of $28.7 million, or nearly 170 per cent of the original amount.

The increase was due to three major reasons, he said. Contract amendments were issued to perform out-of-scope development work to rectify incomplete and/or incorrect contract specifications and add new functions. The increase in costs attributable to this cause, after taking into account reductions in the scope of the contract and penalties payable to the contractor, amounted to $11 million net, or 65 per cent of the base contract.

Since IMIS was the first such system development effort by the United Nations, preliminary work had not resulted in complete and correct specifications, he said. In part, that had to do with the fact that the Organization did not have uniform and integrated policies and procedures. Also, there was insufficient user participation, particularly in the initial phases of the development process. Significant changes had been made as the system development progressed.

The Oversight Office had compared the $11 million increase in development costs to reported experiences in industry and had found that the amount was within the range of costs overruns normally experienced for the development of large and complex systems, he said. However, with proper planning and timely action, those cost increases could have been reduced, through, for example, avoiding contractual penalties.

The other two causes for the increased costs pertained to implementation and production support, and software maintenance, he continued. Those accounted for an additional $17.7 million. Those work requirements had not been included in the scope of the original contract, since they were expected to be undertaken internally. Due to inadequate planning, and a lack of resources -- including a lack of skilled staff -- user departments had been unable to undertake those functions. Instead of implementation and production support and maintenance being part of normal operating costs, therefore, they

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became out-of-scope work to the contractor. With proper planning, those requirements might have been met internally.

The Organization planned to implement the remaining releases at Headquarters and at all other offices by August 2000, he noted. Unless management took concerted action, the same difficulties and problems encountered in implementation of the earlier Releases could recur and result in further delays and cost increases. Monitoring systems must be strengthened to ensure accountability for the successful implementation of the IMIS Releases. User training, effective operational support and proper maintenance were needed.

The IMIS provided a framework for streamlining and improving administrative efficiency, but progress had been insufficient, and there was no assurance that the reliance of the IMIS project team would diminish or that further contractual services would not be required, he continued. The Administration had agreed to implement recommendations concerning user training, software maintenance and operational support, the implementation of the remaining Releases and the review and streamlining of work processes using IMIS.

KLAUS D. STEIN (Germany), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the Union attached great importance to the efficient and effective implementation of the system -- it was crucial to the overall functioning of the United Nations. He shared the assessment of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the Secretary-General's tenth progress report, and that of the independent experts' report. The Union endorsed the Advisory Committee's recommendations.

He also took note of the Oversight Office report finding that inefficiencies had caused increases in costs. The Oversight Office had also said that the cost increases were well within industry norms. None-the-less, the Union believed they were serious, and it hoped the Secretariat had learned a lesson. The Union concurred with the Secretary-General's assessment that there was no need to adjust cost estimates.

THOMAS A. REPASCH (United States) said his country also considered the project important, as it was an integral element of a more modern and efficient United Nations. The United States had supported the system from the beginning, and had followed its progress -- and sometimes its lack of progress -- in development and in costs. He had not yet had a chance to read all the documents; however, he asked Mr. Connor to break down the $77.6 million the Secretary-General had indicated would complete the costs. Were training and so forth additional to this amount? Did it only refer to regular budget funds and, if so, were there other funds being spent? he asked.

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JAN JAREMCZUK (Poland) said his delegation aligned itself with the statement made by the representative of Germany on behalf of the European Union.

EVA SILOT-BRAVO (Cuba) regretted that, as on previous occasions, when it had initially stated its position the Oversight Office report had not been available to Member States. Cuba found the report useful and valuable. A number of its findings were important and illustrative of what the system had meant to the Organization in the years since its initial implementation.

She took note of the causes of the increase in contract costs that the Oversight Office had identified. In particular, she noted the $64.5 million cost caused by incorrect planning and the observation that more planning and preparation would have greatly spared costs. She also noted that the two remaining costs identified by the Oversight Office -- support for implementation and production, and software maintenance -- could have been carried out by the Secretariat, but that insufficient resources had meant they had had to be outsourced, causing costs to increase.

She also noted the background factors that had impacted on the costs, for example, that there had originally been an underestimation of resources required to develop, implement and run the system. That shortcomings had not been corrected in time through concerted action, resulting in excessive dependence on the contractor, had also been explicit in the Auditors' report considered in March 1998.

Cuba was concerned that despite the Administration's assurances that there would be reduced dependence on contractors, the Oversight Office said there would probably not be a decrease in that dependence. Commenting on the Secretary-General's observations on the Oversight Office report, she noted a trend towards dealing with Oversight Office recommendations by requesting greater resources. The main determination of the Oversight Office was not that problems were due to lack of resources, rather, it had said that it was necessary to look to the future and that there was a need to consider additional resources despite the Secretary-General's assurance that no additional resources were needed beyond those already requested. The Auditors had also said more resources would be required.

Additional requirements being proposed would need to be analyzed in the context of the current budget, budget procedures and the use of the contingency fund, she said. Cuba would like information on the current use of the fund, and on the level of resources still available to the Assembly.

HAE-YUN PARK (Republic of Korea) said his delegation attached great importance to the effective implementation of IMIS, which was essential to the Organization's development of an effective system for administration and management. His delegation had supported the system's introduction, but was

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disappointed by the prolonged delay and increased costs. It had carefully examined the report of the Oversight Office on increased costs, which, together with the earlier report of the Board of Auditors, illuminated major causes for cost increase. Though the Oversight Office said that the increased costs were well within industry norms, he expressed concern that such a perception might lead to spiralling costs in the future. To avoid repetition of past mistakes, there was need for careful planning, identification of needs and more adequate preparation in the future.

The Organization had incurred costs due to the lack of a strategy or meaningful plan during important phases of the project, he said. Was the Organization now really capable of system implementation support and maintenance activities, and did it have proper allocation of resources for related training? he asked. His delegation attached particular importance to the Oversight Office's recommendation 3, which advised improving efficiency by streamlining existing work flows and processes by securing a strong commitment to IMIS by all user departments.

JOHN ORR (Canada) said the United Nations failings on the project were similar to those of other large organizations and were due to rapidly changing technology and user requirements. Those who had studied the report of the independent expert would note that the Government of Canada had experienced similar problems. Many similar programmes had cost far more than the budget for IMIS, and few had cost less. The costs were reasonable, given the size and complexity of the United Nations.

If the Assembly approved additional funds, would the Organization be fully prepared for the Year 2000 computer problem? he asked. Once the project had been implemented in all its phases, there would be requirements for ongoing maintenance and upgrading. How did the United Nations plan to fund those aspects? he asked.

DJAMEL MOKTEFI (Algeria) said IMIS was notable for its complexity, recurring problems and the extra costs that had been borne by the Organization for almost 17 years since the contract had first been signed.

The Oversight Office had highlighted the problem of insufficient participation of the main user departments, he said. Those users were the main beneficiaries of the system, yet they had not been involved from the outset. The problem was likely to recur with the remaining Releases. What practical steps were envisioned to definitively resolve the situation? he asked.

What amount of extra costs fell to the contractors in terms of cost overruns and what proportion of responsibility lay with the Secretariat? he further asked. Had the responsibility for the various parties been quantified? When and at what cost would the project be finalized?

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Mr. CONNOR, Under-Secretary-General for Management, responding to delegates' questions, said the ninth progress report indicated the cost of development and implementation as opposed to maintenance. The cost of maintaining a building was not included in the construction of the building. That distinction had been maintained consistently.

Comments regarding a lack of involvement by users required further elaboration, he said. Users had been consulted periodically and appropriately throughout the development stage. Sometimes their needs changed, sometimes they were not well thought out. More communication would be of use, but it should be remembered that several hundred users used the system's output on a daily basis.

The ongoing costs of maintaining and operating the system would appear in future budgets, he said. In the last such submission, the Secretariat had requested conversion of 29 posts to be the central core for upgrading the system periodically and maintenance.

The IMIS was Y2K compliant, he said. The software had been tested and certified as such. Beyond the walls of the Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and perhaps others in the future depended on IMIS for avoiding the Y2K situation. Thought and attention had been devoted to the issue.

However, there were many stand-alone systems in the Organization which were not connected to IMIS, he said. Meetings were being held to address the situation and consider issues such as how much cash to have on hand on 20 December, or what logistical arrangements should be made if the Security Council could not meet.

The hardest question to answer was whether the project could be completed on schedule, he said. He thought that would be the case; however, both the system itself and the data were involved. The major delays had to do with the quality of the data related to personnel and to finance. That data had had to be "cleaned", a process which took months. The key element now was "going live" with the payroll.

As to questions about penalty costs, he said they had been paid several years ago, and commented on by the Fifth Committee on numerous occasions. Those penalties should have been avoided. The United Nations had indeed taken over the maintenance of IMIS, and there was no further reliance in that regard. The implementation contract would come to an end next year. Projections as to timing and cost were on target.

Ms. SILOT BRAVO (Cuba) asked for written information on the percentage of the contingency fund already used in the 1998-1999 budget. As to future

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costs, she reiterated concern about the lack of guarantees that there would be no recurrence of past problems when it came to new Releases. Her delegation would like to see information about additional costs over and above what was requested at the present time. She asked for more information about the Oversight Office's finding that additional resources would not be needed to finish the project, an assurance given previously yet not even remotely implemented.

She expressed concern about the relationship between the system and the Organization's real needs. Many United Nations projects lacked funds, and activities were postponed for lack of resources, while other projects, such as IMIS, seemed to have excessive costs.

Mr. CONNOR said that while he would not and could not provide a guarantee, he could offer delegations the best professional judgement that, based on what needed to be done, the work force available and the signs given, the project could be completed in the year 2000 at the estimated cost. As for the contingency fund, information would be provided.

The IMIS project had been the most demanding professional challenge he had ever experienced, he said. He commended those who had worked long hours and weekends for years -- all on general temporary assistance contracts without any promise of anything in the future. They had done a fantastic job and the system worked. Gratitude and appreciation was owed to them.

Other Matters

NAZARETH INCERA (Costa Rica) wanted to respond to the reply given to her questions by the Assistant Secretary-General for Central Support Services, Toshiyuki Niwa, at the last meeting of the Committee. She did that on the basis of the press release that she had obtained. She was happy to learn that security would be restored on the second floor, and she hoped the guard at the President of the General Assembly's door would similarly be returned.

Regarding the escalators, she said that last December new escalators had been installed. They had never worked. Every day one was out of order. She wished to know what company had the contract for the escalators, and whether that contract included maintenance. She thought new escalators should function for a long time without difficulties. The old escalators worked better.

She had no problem with security, she said. She realized that there had been bomb threats and security was required. The questions she had asked were what company had the contract to provide the dog, had it gone though a bidding process and, if not, why not? Surely dogs could be bought that did not cost so much. Were there agencies that provided dogs to detect bombs? She could accept that the work performed by the dog had to be done, but she wished to

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know why such a huge amount was being spent on the contract. With that money, the United Nations could have two dogs. They lived for nine years. Even given the costs of dog food and of veterinarians it would be much cheaper. The question was not whether the security was required.

TAMMAM SULAIMAN (Syria) said that he agreed with the representative of Cost Rica on the issue. The question of costs should be taken seriously. A cost of $150,000 for maintaining a guard dog or one trained to detect bombs or substances was totally unexpected.

He also asked the Chairman to request that the maintenance division look into the telephones that were out of order in the corridors. Representatives constantly needed to contact their missions and relied heavily on those telephones. Many meetings were presently being held and that put pressure on representatives. He recalled that the problem had been brought to the Secretariat's attention a couple of years ago.

Regarding the United Nations Garage, he said that some places reserved for cars with diplomatic licence plates were occupied by cars without diplomatic plates. Every day he saw cars parked in those spots that did not have diplomatic plates. Was the reservation system for diplomatic-plated cars under supervision or control?

DULCE BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said she was concerned about budget performance for this biennium. She was happy about the restoration of the security guard, but she wanted to draw attention to the absence of a security officer at the Delegates' Lounge. She had also noticed that the officer who had previously covered the files area was no longer in place. Cuba wanted to know why such measures had been taken and what the vacancy rate and staffing table of the security services was. She recalled that by General Assembly resolution 52/220, allowance for 27 security officers had been made for 1998-1999. She would comment further on the matter once she had the information she sought.

She said she found the responses given to the questions raised by the representative of Costa Rica on the contracting of the dog -- that it was to avoid emergency situations related to bombs and even drugs -- strange. She would like to know the number of cases of threats that had arisen, what company was contracted and how, and what the reasons were for the absence of a bidding process. Given the budget for the biennium, she would like to know what costs were associated with the security services. She wished to know about $2,000 for printing of forms for security services, for example.

She would also like information about the schedule being used at the various entrances to the United Nations Garage, she said. The exit at

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38th Street was only open from 5 to 7 p.m.. That created difficulties, as people were obliged to use the 46th street exit, and that prevented them from going directly to their destination.

She would like responses to those questions in writing, she said. In addition, she recalled that she had requested information on the budget performance for the current biennium on Monday, and that had yet to be provided.

GARFIELD BARNWELL (Guyana) said that he wanted to take the opportunity to repeat the concern expressed by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China on Monday about timely submission of reports in accord with the relevant General Assembly resolutions. The Group felt strongly about the matter and looked forward to a response.

TOSHIYUKI NIWA, Assistant Secretary-General for Central Support Services, in response to those questions said there were specific questions about security raised, and he did not have the information with him. He had not been aware of the request for information on the escalators and he did not know the name of the company, but he would return answers to those and other questions to the Committee.

As a more general response, he had to depend on the judgement of professional people carrying out their tasks, he said, and the Security Service had professional skills in its area. On their judgement of risk exposures, it was their responsibility to take appropriate measures. He would be guided by the professional judgement of his staff.

Foremost in his mind on the issue of security was the well-being of all concerned, especially delegates, he said. He was hesitant to disclose details of security, because he wanted to ensure the safety of staff, delegations and other visitors. That was something he would have to take into account. To the extent possible, he would disclose information on security when he had it.

Ms. INCERA (Costa Rica) said she had not asked for a breakdown of security activities. She had clearly said she was aware of the security risks all were exposed to at the United Nations. While she was not an expert on security, there were some things that were matters of logic, not security -- for example, determining if something could be acquired at a lower cost. In an environment where the Organization was having to reduce staff levels and programme activities because of lack of money, she wanted to know why so much was being spent on a dog. That was her concern, not what was being done to maintain safety.

Ms. BUERGO-RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said she did not want to miss the opportunity to refer again to a matter raised by her delegation on Monday. A conference room paper listed in the report on the status of Fifth Committee

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documents as being available was not available. She had asked about that document during the discussion on the status of documentation and had been assured it was available; however, it was not available, either at the documents counter or in the Conference Room. She hoped it would be available by Tuesday.

She also noted that the document to which she was referring had an official document number, but was, in fact, a conference paper, as the General Assembly had not requested such a report. It was listed in the Committee's programme of work as something that would be formally introduced to the Committee. She sought information on the procedure, but she understood that a conference room paper did not necessarily need to be introduced officially.

MILES ARMITAGE (Australia), Committee Vice-Chairman, said he had been advised that the Secretariat would look into the question. Regarding the document's formal introduction, if the Committee did not desire to have it formally introduced, that was one less thing that needed to be done, which would be fine.

The Committee then decided the document would not be formally introduced.

Ms. BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) apologised to the Vice-Chairman for requesting the floor again, however, she just wished to ensure that, irrespective of it receiving or not receiving an official introduction, the document would still be considered. She was not asking that consideration of the issue be removed from the Committee's programme of work, just enquiring about the need for a formal introduction.

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