The Office of Investment Policy (OIP) monitors every project from its inception through the conclusion of OPIC support. Project monitoring is necessary and required for all OPIC-supported projects so that OPIC can (1) comply with its statutory responsibility to monitor its portfolio, and (2) capture, verify, and report data on both the development benefits and U.S. economic effects of OPIC-supported projects.
The data is used for a variety of reporting purposes, including the Annual Development Report for Congress that summarizes the developmental impact of OPIC’s work. The data also is used for internal purposes to understand the actual impact of OPIC-supported projects and to assess how OPIC best can serve its stakeholders.
All OPIC-supported projects that have been operational for at least 12 months are required to submit an annual Self-Monitoring Questionnaire (SMQ) to OIP. The information collected through the SMQ closely mirrors the information collected on the original OPIC application form. The purpose of the SMQ is to measure the actual performance of the project with regard to economic, development, environmental and worker rights impacts on an annual basis. A sample PDF of the SMQ is available online.
OPIC uses a random selection process to determine which projects the OIP staff will site-monitor. Site-monitoring is broken into three-year “cycles” that include all OPIC-supported projects from a three-year period. The three-year sampling period provides a large pool of projects, thereby establishing a high degree of statistical confidence and ensuring that the projects monitored during a given cycle accurately represent those supported during that time period.
In addition to randomly selected projects, OIP will site monitor all projects considered to be sensitive with respect to economic and environmental impact and worker rights provisions.
OIP works with the investor to schedule site visits. The site-visit includes an evaluation of the effects on the U.S. and host-country economies and employment, environmental impacts, and the project’s compliance with internationally recognized worker rights standards. Prior to the visit, OIP sends a Project Information Report (PIR) to the investor for completion. The PIR is similar in content to a SMQ, but it also incorporates information estimated in the project’s original application to allow for a side-by-side analysis of the data. The investor enters performance results from the project for the most recent year, and, in some cases, for prior years as well. On location, the site-monitoring process typically consists of meetings with management to review information supplied in the PIR, requests for additional information if needed, a tour of facilities, interviews with workers, and a final wrap-up meeting.
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