Press release on the conclusions of the Building Permit Digitalisation Audit

The Ministry of Regional Development (MRD) today published the findings of a legal audit under the title Building Permit Digitalisation, as prepared by a consortium of the law firms PORTOS and MT Legal. The audit report identified a number of serious findings accompanying the digitalisation process.

The auditors provided expert and legal services under a subcontract between the law firms and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MLSA), concluded on 11 December 2024, which followed on from a long-term framework agreement awarded in properly conducted open procurement procedure.

Central to the preparatory work for the legal audit was the gathering, sorting, and assessment of source materials. While the quantity of documentation was immense, several essential documents were, and remain, missing. In order to maintain objectivity, the auditors did not discuss any preliminary conclusions during the drafting of the report with either the MLSA or the auditee – the MRD.

The MRD received a version of the audit report for comment at the beginning of April 2025. Its comments were largely formal in nature and did not concern the audit’s core findings.

All comments were discussed in detail with the MRD, duly addressed, and all relevant points were incorporated into the audit report. This revised version was submitted to both ministries on 9 May 2025, with all parties agreeing that it constituted the final version.

The most serious findings include, in particular, the following:

• errors in the procurement process, also noted by the Office for the Protection of Competition and, in some cases, by the Regional Court in Brno, which reviewed the proceedings;

• consequences stemming from these procurement errors for the drawdown of funding for the digitalisation project, with certain milestones even being removed from the National Recovery Plan; the fulfilment of further milestones now hangs in the balance;

• the MRD’s shift in concept, and its disregard for the original procurement contracts, led to a situation that critically jeopardised the delivery and launch of the project;

• the resulting time pressure led to a reliance on “body shopping” for the development of certain systems, yet the MRD lacked the competent capacity to manage this approach effectively;

• lations of specific legislation, e.g. in relation to the Digital and Information Agency;

• inadequate staffing of the project, with certain key roles, required by the ministry’s own internal rules, left entirely vacant.

These quite undeniable, substantiated, and verifiable findings, in combination with frequent legislative changes, had a decisive impact on the overall outcome of the digitalisation project.

Links:

Presentation of the Building Permit Digitalisation Audit of 23 May 5. – available at mmr.gov.cz.

Key findings of the Building Permit Digitalisation Audit, with MRD comments – available at mmr.gov.cz.

Part One of the Building Permit Digitalisation Audit – available at mmr.gov.cz.