Strengthening Country Procurement Systems: Results and Opportunities

The OECD DAC Procurement Taskforce publication -  Strengthening Country Procurement Systems: Results and Opportunities, resulted in some important messages as we consider how to continue to strengthen country systems and support effective institutions.  

The authors identified the following Key Messages and Future Work:

Analysis of the case studies and the country surveys resulted in key messages on improving efficiency and effectiveness of procurement capacity development and modernization work and recommendations for future work. The Task Force on Procurement received the strong endorsement of participants to continue to provide a forum for the sharing of knowledge and experiences and the building of new tools to support the strengthening of public procurement systems.  A summary of messages and recommendations follows:

·         Technical fixes alone do not lead to sustainable transformation of procurement systems. Procurement reforms are intimately linked to broader Public Sector reforms which are deeply political.  Recognition of this will drive increased examination of political economy issues to identify approaches that link procurement reform to wider governance reforms.

·         Procurement reforms occur in stages or waves.  Most countries begin by ensuring that basic laws and institutions are created that enable a country to maintain progress and consolidate gains while moving towards initiatives that increase efficiency and contribute to implementing policy, improved service delivery and private sector development.

·         The further strengthening of country procurement systems will require continued country commitment, ownership and leadership and support of donors.

·         Building human capacity has generally lagged behind and will benefit from the continued support of donors, including through increased reliance by donors on using country systems.

·         Regional initiatives and south/south cooperation continue to grow in importance.  They provide an effective means to share knowledge; to leverage buying power and expand access to markets.  

Recommendations include: new or improved tools; facilitating new/old regional networks; developing performance monitoring indicators; and continuing to push for donor coordination at the country level.

Doeas this resonate with your experience of country system reform?

Strengthening Country Procurement Systems: Results and Opportunities

The OECD DAC Taskforce for procurement sister publication to the Practical Guide that was used as a resource to the on line guide is the publication Strengthening Country Procurement Systems: Results and Opportunities.

It presents the case material and country evidence from procurement system reform and from applying the OECD/DAC Methodology for Assessment of Procurement Systems (MAPS).
(See MAPS in French and Spanish).

It tells an interesting story of strengthening procurement systems through a series of diverse case studies including;

Afghanistan: A country still in conflict, yet new laws have been passed, human capacity is being developed and plans are underway to decentralize procurement authority to key spending ministries.

Panama:A small middle income country that is bringing private sector entrepreneurship into government by applying strategic procurement decision-making techniques to public procurement.

Rwanda:A post conflict country that pulled together following a tragic genocide to build a better public sector administration and a public procurement system based on international good practices.

Mauritius:  A smallisland state that provides a model for procurement modernization in the Africa region and is leading in professionalizing the procurement function.

Albania:A post communist country that learned the limitations and difficulties of legal reform as they amended their procurement law five times between 1995 and 2003.

Bhutan:A very small state that has customized procurement advice and assistance to the unique nature of its country and its development needs.

Philippines:A country that has effectively used civil society and "people power" as an engine for reform and to oversee achievement of results.

Indonesia:  A country built from thousands of islands and many cultures that has recently been effective in implementing a decentralization policy for procurement by employing e-procurement to bring highly decentralized units together under a common system.

The cases help share the lessons learned and inform approaches to strengthen country systems and support efective institutions.

Download the full publication on this link.

Lessons Learned from;

The OECD DAC Procurement Task Force publication:- Strengthening Country Procurement Systems: Results and Opportunities

The publication is a retrospective review of progress, especially with regard to use of tools produced by the Procurement Task Force working group and impact of work at the country level.  The publication covers a survey of countries and highlights country examples that demonstrate reform and modernization, capacity development, performance monitoring and donor support in building systems and in using procurement systems.  A final chapter identifies key messages including recommendations for improving outcomes and seeking additional results.

This is an extremely valuable resource for strengthening procurement systems. The Authors summarize the lessons learned to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of capacity development efforts in countries choosing to work towards procurement modernization, as follows:

·         The OECD/DAC benchmarking tool, MAPS, has provided more than sixty countries with useful country specific information that has helped formulate a reform strategy or kick start additional change under an on-going process.

·         Human capacity development remains a key issue as the quality of every system depends on having qualified and knowledgeable people to manage and implement.

·         Decentralization presents challenges that affect a well functioning procurement system as capacity and skills are usually less developed when moving away from the center. 

·         Effective use of technology increases transparency, contributes to efficiency and provides information to stakeholders and managers that can be used to monitor and manage performance.

·         Reforms require resources, take time and require long term government commitment in order to bring about successful change.

·         The most successful procurement reform initiatives are country led and part of a broader public administration reform process which helps to ensure integration and prioritization of reforms.

·         The role of donors is evident in supporting reform initiatives and in providing advice and knowledge to countries, but lack of donor coordination and a reluctance to use country systems can have a negative impact on reform.

·         Stakeholders from civil society and from the private sector play an important role as drivers of change and overseeing results.

Are these lessons in line with your experience?

Do you have additional lessons?