Technical cooperation and assistance during COVID-19
Implementation Packages (iPacks)
The Technical Cooperation Bureau (TCB), in cooperation with the Air Navigation Bureau (ANB), the Air Transport Bureau (ATB) and the Regional Offices, developed
ICAO Implementation Packages (iPacks) to support Member States in addressing the various needs related to the movement of goods and health of passengers during the pandemic, taking into consideration public health-related measures, facilitation and aviation security, aviation safety (e.g. management of temporary regulatory alleviations), risk management, and air transport and economics.
The following iPacks were developed for deployment in 2020:
Work on the development of the following iPacks was initiated in 2020:
- Establishing a Public Health Corridor; and
- Strengthening Aviation Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Impact of COVID-19 in TCB Operations
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant and continuous impact on Technical Cooperation Programme activities. Wide-scale lockdowns, border closures and severe restrictions heavily impacting travel have led to a decrease in the deployment of field experts as well as critical delays in the procurement of aviation equipment, resulting in active and high pipeline projects being delayed, postponed and/or cancelled altogether. Shift in States’ priorities as well as lack of sufficient funds, due in part to the decrease in income across the whole air transport value chain, have also contributed to the 2020 results and will continue to have an impact on the Bureau’s project implementation activity levels for the current year and beyond.
A series of measures were adopted by TCB in order to mitigate the operational impact and ensure the continuity of implementation activities, including:
- performing all pending recruitment activities in order to guarantee an efficient deployment of experts as soon as restrictions were lifted;
- facilitating experts to carry out activities remotely, as far as practicable;
- increasing and enhancing communications with project stakeholders for effective oversight and decision-making;
- simplifying coordination with Bureaux and Offices;
- implementing digital signatures and automating paper-based workflows for improved response times; and
- establishing alternative procurement procedures for the signature of Purchase Orders and Invoice Payment as well as for simplifying Contracts Board interactions.
