6. Insights from inside

The OA-IA still has 10 employees (9.1 full-time equivalents). Two auditors and the office manager decided to take up a new challenge and left the OA-IA at the end of the year. Their successors had been found by the end of November, and the OA-IA will once again be fully staffed during the first six months of 2022.

Many employees made use of the training opportunities available to them in 2021. Staff members took demanding qualifications such as Masters degrees and CASs⁴² in technical fields and management. The placement with Comité R in Belgium, already planned back in 2020, had to be postponed once again.

The system of working from home, as dictated by the COVID-19 restrictions, generally worked well. However, challenges are faced when classified information has to be processed. Over the weeks and months spent working from home, the lack of direct contact and discussion between colleagues began to take its toll; technical aids cannot compensate for this. The induction of new employees does not work well in such an environment and may well prolong the time necessary before they can conduct audits.

⁴² Certificate of Advanced Studies, part-time post-Master’s academic certificate

The draft revised IntelSA underwent consultation in 2021. The OA-IA was able to have an influence on the text, particularly in Chapter 6, which directly concerns the OA-IA. The DDPS has the lead in the revision project.

The OA-IA did not receive any applications for access to official documents in the year under review.

The head of the DDPS visited the OA-IA premises in September to become acquainted with its work.

The OA-IA monitors court decisions at national and international level. In the year under review, rulings by the European Court of Human Rights were analysed internally and discussed by the team. The OA-IA also received important inputs on the administration of justice at European level at the European Oversight Conference in Rome.