Other Procurement Study

2021-06, World Bank

Procurement of commonly used items is a challenge for government agencies. If the items are repeatedly purchased in one-off fashion, so that the total volume is significant, there may be potential problems like loss of economy of scale, loss of efficiency, lower competition, and no long-term partnership with suppliers. Framework agreements (FAs) have emerged as a potential solution for the issues. Many countries (particularly in Americas and Europe) have used FAs successfully, though the use of FAs by countries outside these regions is still very low. Hence there is tremendous potential for scaling-up the use of FAs in developing countries. This study uses public procurement data from Brazil and Colombia, two major users of FAs. The subsequent chapters will describe the data used for the analysis, the methodology, and the findings. The country contexts, designs of FAs, available data and research questions vary across Brazil and Colombia, and therefore the empirical findings are not comparable between these two countries. For each country case, the analysis provides insights on the benefits and costs of using FAs and useful lessons that can be informative for other countries that are considering adopting or strengthening the use of FAs with similar design. Chapter one gives introduction. Chapters two and three cover data analytics from Brazil and Colombia respectively. Additionally, following annexures are part of this report: annexure-A: a brief introduction to regression analysis; annexure-B: supporting data and information - Brazil; and annexure-C: supporting data and information - Colombia.

2018-06, Turkewitz, Joel, Nozadze, Sandro, Davenport, Stephen R., Sjoberg, Fredrik, Mellon, Jonathan, Brough, Mark, La Cascia, Hunt, Agar, Mediha, La Cascia, Joseph Huntington

The document provides a brief overview of the size and composition of public procurement. It then examines performance in relation to two key outcome variables – the success rate of competitive tenders, and the level of competition in open procedures. The nature of the performance issues in these two areas are explored, and specific recommendations are developed for improving performance in the short to medium term. A different perspective on performance is then provided through examining the degree to which small and medium firms participate in procurement tenders and are awarded contracts. A final section provides a limited number of recommendations on steps to establish a continuous process of data analysis and performance evaluation.

2018, World Bank

A joint Government of Honduras and World Bank team conducted a study in Honduras between January and June 2017, using the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Disclosure Diagnostic template recommended by the World Bank Framework for Disclosure of Information in PPPs. This study has been consolidated in the form of a PPP Disclosure Diagnostic Report for Honduras. The Diagnostic Report examines the political, legal, and institutional environment for disclosure in PPPs. Based on a gap assessment exercise with key political, legal, institutional, and process findings benchmarked against the World Bank Framework, the Diagnostic Report makes specific recommendations to improve disclosure. The recommendations include a customized framework for disclosure of PPPs in Honduras.

2017-06, World Bank

The report is organized as follows: the first chapter presents the status quo and diagnoses the reasons for continued corruption in Romania. It examines the perception of corruption by citizens and business along with the consequences. The chapter also proposes a ‘theory of change’ that can support Romania’s anti-corruption agenda in an integrated manner. The second chapter presents a brief analysis of the institutional and legislative framework for anti-corruption initiatives in Romania, highlighting the main achievements from the past years and remaining challenges ahead. The third chapter building on the framework proposed in the previous sections, this chapter proposes policy options to reduce the incentives for corruption, increase the chances of getting caught and enforce sanctions on the corrupt, while implementing measures to change social norms. The first section on reducing corruption proposes the introduction of a meritocratic civil service to make a shift from nepotism and politicization to performance and professionalization of the civil service. At the same time, increasing the transparency of government reduces the incentive for corruption because the decision-making and budget allocation is under scrutiny from citizens and civil society. A transparent government is also an enabling condition for accountable public institutions. Introducing a functioning feedback mechanism and inviting public participation will increase the chances that corrupt public servants, politicians and business people will be caught. At the same time, improving public procurement in accordance with the principles of competition, transparency and integrity, reduces the risks of corruption. The authors intend to use the framework contained in this report for broader engagement and to develop more in-depth sectorial analysis with relevant sector representatives. This could also include some of the priority areas, as proposed in the NAS, such as public procurement, healthcare, education, or management of EU Funds. In each of these areas, the report outlines the next steps that the current administration could take to make progress on anti-corruption in the coming years. The authors intend to partner with interested government institutions and international partners interested in making progress on this agenda to implement the report’s findings.

2020-06-24, World Bank

Between December 2017 and April 2018, a joint Government of Uganda and World Bank team conducted a study on public-private partnership (PPP) disclosure in Uganda, using the PPP Disclosure Diagnostic template recommended by the World Bank Framework for Disclosure of Information in PPPs. This study has been consolidated in the form of a PPP Disclosure Diagnostic Report (hereinafter Diagnostic Report) for Uganda. The Diagnostic Report examines the political, legal, and institutional environment for disclosure in PPPs. Based on a gap assessment exercise with key political, legal, institutional, and process findings benchmarked against the World Bank’s framework, the Diagnostic Report makes specific recommendations to improve disclosure, including recommended customized guidelines for PPP disclosure in Uganda. The findings suggest that there has been movement toward greater transparency and openness in all areas of government in Uganda, with several new initiatives having been launched in recent years. The 1995 Constitution of Uganda created new obligations on public bodies to promote more transparent governance structures. This was enhanced substantially with the enactment of the Access to Information Act 2005 (as well as the issuing of Access to Information Regulations in 2011), which, among other things, promotes proactive disclosure of information held by public authorities. Uganda has taken other progressive steps, such as signing the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. In 2010, Uganda formulated its National e-Government Policy, which, among others, formed the basis for the establishment of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. The policy identifies several services and processes that are being progressively rolled out on Internet-based platforms for greater efficiency and transparency. These include government-to-government services, such as implementing financial management information systems; government-to-citizen, services, such as provision of passports and other certification services; and government-to-business services, such as e-procurement for government tenders.

2018-04, World Bank

Procuring Infrastructure PPPs 2018 assesses the regulatory frameworks and recognized good practices that govern PPP procurement across 135 economies, with the aim of helping countries improve the governance and quality of PPP projects. It also helps fill the private sector’s need for high-quality information to become a partner in a PPP project and finance infrastructure. Procuring Infrastructure PPPs 2018 builds on the success of the previous edition, Benchmarking PPP Procurement 2017, refining the methodology and scope based on guidance from experts around the world, as well as expanding its geographical coverage.

2017-06-30, World Bank

Montenegro is currently in the process of modernizing and restructuring its public procurement system, not only with a view to bringing its procurement system in line with international best practices and complete its accession requirements to enter the EU, but also to constructing more efficient and competitive public procurement, that will enable optimization of results. In order to guarantee that significant improvements are built into the procurement system, the Government of Montenegro has taken several steps to tackle its shortcomings, namely by devising strategies for the development of the procurement system along with action plans that establish specific measures and goals and respective timeframes for completion and tracking the implementation of such measures. The assessments conducted by external entities to the Government of Montenegro have shown that such strategies have been productive in addressing issues in the public procurement system of Montenegro and showcase a steady evolution towards better procurement practices. The analyses introduced by this methodology will most definitely concentrate on performance compliance indicators. These will allow for a more quantitative-based approach to monitoring of the public procurement practices in Montenegro, introducing a less formal concept of monitoring, which is currently restricted to legal and regulatory compliance and emphasizes formal and administrative aspects of procurement. Analyzing and improving the system of procurement is entirely dependent on data available and the analysis of the data for gathering business intelligence and increase productivity of all entities in the system. To this end, guidelines and key performance indicators (KPIs) on how to improve the monitoring, auditing and reporting mechanisms will be introduced. This analysis will also include the benchmarking of the 2015 annual report by the PPA, where monitoring will be assessed in terms of compliance with proposed targets and changes verified up to this point.

2020, World Bank Group Sanctions Board

This edition of the Law Digest for the World Bank Group's Sanctions Board presents structured summaries of the Sanctions Board's precedent as set out through more than 100 decisions issued since 2007. The Law Digest also includes key data relating to the work of the Sanctions Board and the World Bank Group's larger sanctions system. Themes covered in this digest include the scope of the Sanctions Board's authority, various types of procedural and evidentiary questions in sanctions proceedings, and the Sanctions Board's overall analysis of the allegations of fraud, corruption, collusion, and obstruction in projects supported by the World Bank Group that form the core of individual sanctions cases.

2018-03-30, World Bank

Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are gaining momentum globally as a means for delivering infrastructure. Government capabilities to prepare, procure, and manage such projects are important to ensure that the expected efficiency gains are achieved. No systematic data currently exist to measure those capabilities in governments. Benchmarking PPP Procurement 2017 is the first attempt to collect and present comparable and actionable data on PPP procurement on a large scale, by providing an assessment of the regulatory frameworks and recognized practices that govern PPP procurement across 82 economies. Benchmarking PPP Procurement 2017 presents an analysis of targeted elements aggregated into four areas that cover the main stages of the PPP project cycle:preparation, procurement, and contract management of PPPs, and management of unsolicited proposals (USPs). Using a highway transport project as a case study to ensure cross-comparability, it analyzes the national regulatory frameworks and presents a picture of the procurement landscape at the end of March 2016. The average performance in each area varies across regions and income levels. Figure ES.1 shows that the higher the income level of the group, the higher the performance in the four areas. The data also show that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) high income and Latin American and Caribbean regions perform at or above average. Benchmarking PPP Procurement 2017 shows that across the four areas measured, mosteconomies fall short of good practice. In particular, a significant number of economies have low scores in two areas: project preparation and contract management. Consequently, there is room for improvement specially in regulating the activities to be undertaken before launching the PPP procurement process as well as in preparing for those that will follow after the signature of the PPP contract.

2017-06-30, World Bank

The sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (hereinafter SMEs) represent an increasingly important segment of Montenegrin economy and have been key drivers of its economic growth and employment for the past several years. With foreign direct investment, this sector could be an important lever of economic development and the main creator of new jobs in the future. In order to survive and develop in the market, these enterprises have to constantly build new competitive benefits. The same can be built within the enterprises themselves through their strengthening and development, but also through mutual cooperation and linking. Because SMEs have an important role in the economic development of each country, it is necessary to encourage and facilitate their participation in public procurement procedures. Taking into account the fact that procurements merge at all levels (national and local), special attention should be paid to get SMEs more closely involved in the procurement procedures with contracting authorities, subject to the application of the LPP. Montenegro has recognized in its agenda through the strategy for the development of the public procurement system for the period 2016-2020 the necessity of active relationship between the state and local self-government on the development and encouragement of SMEs. Based on research carried out in direct communication with the representatives of these entities and their associations, with the aim to assess the readiness of SMEs to adapt to future activities in the field of public procurement, it is evident that they are planning new investments and expansion of business. They are ready to invest in human resources, technical, technological and other facilities necessary for successful business, in order to be competitive in the market. To that end, they expect more support from the state of Montenegro and the local community. In accordance with the orientation and expectations of SMEs this guide is intended to encourage the participation of SMEs at all levels in the area of public procurement.