The State Comptroller: The Ministry of Economy and Industry degenerated the National Physics Laboratory on its own accord

The National Laboratory of Physics (NLP) is supposed to provide calibration services to industrial plants and laboratories and to maintain the country's benchmarks in seven fields. In the last 25 years, the turnover of the NLP has decreased to negligible volumes * In 2012, the Ministry of Economy joined the plan to build new buildings intended, among other things, for MEL "F. The cost of the special adjustments to the building for the MLA was about 13 million NIS. At the time of approving the program for the building, the Ministry had not yet decided on the continuation of the MLA's activities

Background

The National Physics Laboratory (NLP) is supposed to provide calibration services to industrial plants and laboratories and maintain the country's benchmarks in seven fields. In the last 25 years, the NLP's turnover has decreased to negligible volumes. This is according to the State Comptroller's report published last night (22/10).

The laboratory operates in the field of metrology - the science of measurement. Measurements are essential in almost all aspects of human activity, including production control, measuring the quality of the environment, health and safety tests, assessing the suitability of products with reference to information published to the public for consumer protection and ensuring commercial fairness. Accurate measurement is built on a hierarchy of measurements between the final product and a more accurate calibration system.

In 1985, the Minister of Industry and Trade at the time issued an internal directive, according to which the National Laboratory of Physics (hereinafter - the National Laboratory for Physics), which is a unit of the Ministry of Economy and Industry (hereinafter - the Ministry or the Ministry of Economy^[2]), to provide calibration services to industrial plants and laboratories and to maintain the country's benchmarks in seven fields. In the 25 years that have passed since the previous audit by the State Comptroller's Office in 1993, the MLA's turnover has decreased to negligible volumes. The MLA is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University located in Jerusalem and at the time of the end of the audit employed three professional employees, an administrative worker and an acting administrative manager partially. The MLA is subordinate to the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Economy.

audit operations

In the last decade, the State Comptroller's Office examined four small entities related to the Ministry of Economy and the units of the Ministry that were established more than a year ago. These audits examined whether the Ministry of Economy took the necessary actions to help these bodies meet their goals. The current audit of the MLP continues this process, and was carried out in the months of April-July 2017 at the Ministry of Economy. Completion inspections were done in the months of August-November 2017.

The main shortcomings

A steep decline in the activity of the MLP

Since 2009, the Ministry of Economy has not recruited new professional employees to replace employees who retired from the MLP. From 2009 to 2017, the personnel status at the MLP decreased from 17 employees to only four employees, and all but one of the laboratory's departments were closed or stopped providing service. In doing so, the MALP ceased to fulfill most of the duties set for it in the decision of the Minister of Economy at the time, and this without a decision being made to do so; the certification it received from the international body that accredits national laboratories was canceled, and the recognition of the calibration certificates that the MALP issues for the industry was stopped by the national body that accredits laboratories the local

Construction of a new building for closed departments

In 2012, the Ministry of Economy joined the plan to build new buildings intended for the laboratories of the Geological Survey of Israel and the Ministry of Economy (the unit for weights and measures and the MLP). The building, which should be completed in the third quarter of 2018, was built near the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at a cost of approx. -373 million NIS. The Ministry of Economy received 12% of the area of ​​the building and participated in the amount of approximately NIS 13 million in financing the expenses necessary to adapt the building to the needs of the physics laboratory. When the program for the building was approved in 2013, the MLP was allocated 14 rooms in the new building, even though the ministry has not yet decided on the continuation of its activities of the MALP and its organizational structure. Half of the rooms allocated for the use of the MALP were intended for departments that at that time had already been closed. Therefore, part of the Ministry of Economy's investment in the building, which was built in accordance with the requirements of the MLA, may go down the drain if the MLA stops operating at the new site.

Non-utilization of purchased equipment

Since the Ministry of Economy did not recruit employees for the MAL departments whose employees retired, the departments were closed, and equipment worth about 40% of the total equipment (about NIS 3.2 million) has not been used for several years. When measuring equipment is not used, is not regularly maintained and is not properly calibrated, doubt arises as to whether it is usable. If the Ministry of Economy decides to restart the laboratories, it will have to recalibrate the equipment at a high cost and this will take a long time.

Use of outdated equipment

In November 2017, the National Atomic Energy Agency had two old atomic clocks (8.5 years old), which had exceeded the average lifespan of this type of clock, and two modern atomic clocks. The Ministry of Economy has not yet decided whether to purchase new clocks to replace the old ones. Most of the countries participating in the international measurement program The time established by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (hereinafter - BIPM) uses at least four standard clocks. It therefore turns out that the BIPM operates at a lower level of technology than is accepted in laboratories around the world regarding time and frequency measurement.

Non-participation in international advisory committees

Over the years, the MLA stopped participating in comparison tests except for measuring time and frequency, therefore there is no information about the MLA in an international comparison key, except in one area (time and frequency). Israel participates in only one international advisory committee out of the ten committees on metrology that are open to it by virtue of its membership in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

In 2009, the BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures) ceased its recognition of calibration certificates issued by MALP due to many deficiencies found in its functioning, and in 2010 the Laboratory Accreditation Authority revoked its recognition of calibration certificates issued by MALP. As a condition to receive the PA's certification, laboratories are required to calibrate their instruments using devices with a higher level of accuracy, such as those owned by the MAL. The interruption in the provision of the MAL's service in Israel presented the following difficulties to about 130 MAL's customers: Expenses for transporting instruments abroad for performing calibration tests; Paying a higher price than the MALAP rate for the service; extending the time required to receive the service from abroad compared to receiving it in Israel; Need to keep replacement equipment that will be used when sending the equipment for calibration abroad; difficulties for the defense industry in calibrating sensitive devices. Sometimes, for information security reasons, factories were forced to purchase expensive equipment for self-calibration purposes.

Non-participation in comparison tests

In order to test the level of accuracy of instruments in national laboratories around the world, the BIPM sends objects to the laboratories, from time to time, for testing, for example mass or weight tests (hereinafter - comparative tests). The BIPM brings the results of the test, including the result calculated by itself, to the attention of the laboratories and publishes the values ​​as a basis for comparison for the laboratories. The comparative tests allow laboratories to test the level of accuracy of their devices.

The MRA agreement from 2003 allows Israel to participate in comparison tests for the departments that the MRA operates. To maintain its certification and to add credibility to the calibration results that the MRA performs, participation in comparison tests is required. The BIPM conducts comparative tests in each field only once every few years.

It was found that over the years the MLA stopped participating in comparison tests, except in the field of time and frequency, an area in which it is still engaged. Therefore, there is no information about the MLA in an international comparison key. Furthermore, following the reduction of the professional workforce and the closing of the MAL departments, its representatives are members of only one of the ten international advisory committees for setting metrological standards of the BIPM, thus Israel misses an opportunity to influence the setting of these standards.

Failure to recruit and train professional personnel

Although most of the professional workers in the MLP retired in the last decade, the Ministry of Economy did not act to recruit experienced workers in their place or to budget and run a training program for new workers.

The State Comptroller's Office comments that it is to be regretted that for a decade the management of the Ministry of Economy did not discuss the recruitment of new employees for the MLA and did not act to carry out the necessary actions to restore the BIPM's recognition of the MLA. As a result, departments were closed and the activity of the laboratory decreased significantly. It was only in 2015, after most of the laboratory's departments were closed and most of the employees retired, that the ministry commissioned a report from an external body on the activities of the laboratory.

Non-convening of the Advisory Council

The advisory council to the Ministry of Economy, which was supposed to operate next to the MLA, met a few times after its establishment, and it has not been active for more than 30 years.

The lack of a vision for the future of the MLP

The Ministry of Economy did not recruit new employees for the MLP and thus brought about the cessation of most of its activities without a governmental decision being made to close the MLP. On the other hand, the Ministry of Medical Research injected funds into the construction of a new building, and only then carried out staff work in order to make a decision on the future of the laboratory. These ways of doing things resulted in a waste of public money.

The main recommendations

The Ministry of Economy must determine a vision for the field of metrology in Israel and decide whether it intends to continue operating a national physics laboratory worthy of its name or to close the MLP and transfer its operation to another operator.

If the Ministry of Economy decides to rehabilitate the MLA, it must assign it the required number of jobs to carry out activities appropriate to its duties, recruit new personnel with a long-term service horizon, prepare a training plan for the employees, and also prepare a recovery plan that includes expanding the areas of activity of the MLA in order to Make sure it will work as required by a national laboratory.

"The conduct of the Ministry of Economy, which led to the cessation of most of the activities of the MLA without finding an alternative, must be viewed with severity. In the last decade, the Ministry of Economy did not do enough to promote the MLA, and its activities were gradually stopped. At the time of the end of the audit, the MLA is not functioning in accordance with the tasks defined for it and the international agreements in its fields of activity. Its activity does not comply with the standards required of the industry in Israel, and in any case it does not meet international standards. Non-compliance with the standards harms the research and development of the local industry, and may also harm Israeli exports and Israel's international activities.

The lack of sufficient consideration, vision and leadership on the part of the Ministry of Economy regarding the future of the National Bank led it to a situation where its units were closed, its international accreditation was removed, most of its clients abandoned it, and despite the financial resources invested in it, its contribution to the economy is minimal. From the previous audit reports published by the State Comptroller's Office In the field of metrology and from the current audit, the impression emerges that the Ministry of Economy does not attach due importance to the issue of metrology, and therefore does not work in an orderly and structured way to set goals, objectives and work plans for bodies dealing in this field. The gap between Israel's advanced technological position in the world and the dire situation of its national physics laboratory is particularly jarring. The need of Israeli companies for laboratory services abroad is a proof of poverty for the Israeli industry.

The Ministry of Economy did not manage structured processes to determine the continuation of the MLP. On the one hand, it purchased state-of-the-art equipment and financed the construction of an innovative laboratory, and on the other hand, it did not invest in recruiting and nurturing professional personnel, resulting in a waste of public funds. To help the Israeli economy open up and continue to provide Service and products at a high level of accuracy, it is very important to provide central metrological services to the public. The State Comptroller's Office advises the Minister of the Economy and the Director General of his office, who are responsible for the MAL, by virtue of their position, that they must decide whether to operate the laboratory as a laboratory. National level worthy of its name and to allow it to fulfill the state duties assigned to it by virtue of the minister's directive from 1985 and by virtue of the international agreement signed with BIPM in 2003 - or else to close the MALP and find a suitable alternative way to provide the services required for the Israeli economy." The report concludes.