MEPI RESPONSIBILITIES REVISITED

UNCLAS RABAT 000985 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/PI AND NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AMGT EAID KMPI MO SUBJECT: MEPI RESPONSIBILITIES REVISITED REF: A. 05 RABAT 2154 ¶B. STATE 192576 ¶1. In ref A, post requested clarification of project officer responsibilities related to MEPI grants and information on available/appropriate training in order to carry out these duties effectively. Recently, post's project officers have received delegation of authority notices from MEPI's Regional Office in Tunis. In addition to delineating authorities, these letters contain responsibilities that our officers are not trained to perform and for which post has not received resources (while these delegations of authority are thus far for small grants, in one case, the grant is for USD 250,000). (Note: The delegation of authority notices also contain "authorities" that post interprets as not being obligations of the project officers. Embassy would appreciate confirmation of this interpretation.) Prior to receiving the delegation of authority notices, post complied completely with responsibilities as described in ref B. ¶2. Post strongly urges that resources be made available to adequately train Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) as project officers. Project officers (or GORs) require appropriate grants training to conduct the kind of monitoring and review activities outlined in the letter. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints we are unable to fund such training out of post resources. Post employees are not sufficiently trained to undertake the fiduciary oversight responsibilities requested. Up to this point, Embassy Rabat has created a locally-engaged position (funded out of our program budget) to provide administrative support and coordination, and deviated half of a mid-level reporting officer FTE to coordinate MEPI activities in Morocco. ¶3. Post requests that the MEPI program clarify the language of the delegation of authority notices to limit project officers' responsibilities to match their qualifications consistent with ref B responsibilities, or provide appropriate resources and training to enable officers to accept expanded responsibilities in new delegations of authority received from Tunis. Post welcomes the opportunity to engage in more detailed discussion. ****************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat ****************************************** Riley