HIGH LEVEL FORUM PLATFORM APPROACH TO IMPROVING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS IN FRAGILE STATES Serge N’GUESSAN, Ph. D. GOVERNANCE, ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
DEFINITION OF FRAGILE STATES How to measure, categorize, or rank fragility vary, but three main characteristics stand out: a witches’ brew of ineffective government, poverty, and conflict. “A defining characteristic of fragile states is the unavailability or extremely poor delivery of public services - health, education, water supply and sanitation, judiciary, security, etc. ” (Margaret Kilo , Head of Fragile States Unit, Af. DB) This definition includes post-crisis and transitional countries. Other definitions: Other definitions CSRC: State significantly susceptible to crisis in one or more subsystems Dfi. D: Government cannot or will not deliver core functions to the population
CHARACTERISTICS OF FRAGILE STATES Fragility does not just mean low growth but failure in the normal growth process • • Failure to protect people and their property, Failure to deliver basic services, Decreasing livelihood security, Weak public financial management. List of fragile States in Africa (BY Af. DB) The Bank classifies countries as fragile if they have a composite averaged Af. DB and World Bank’s country policy and institutional assessment (CPIA) score of 3. 2 or below. Over the 2007/08 year twenty (20) regional member countries were classified as fragile using the CPIA definition: Angola, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo and Zimbabwe. . In fact, there is a diversity of situations but all African States are fragile in some respects and States move in and out of fragility
PROCUREMENT SPECIFIC ISSUES HIGH DEMAND COSTS OF RECONSTRUCTION OR RECOVERY OPERATIONS (varying in average from 0. 5 to 2 billion USD/country) LACK OF RESOURCES Deficient Institutions Very limited financial resources from national budget Very low procurement budget Very limited services providers (inexistent or unorganized private sector) Lack of human resources, no trained procurement staff. DONORS DEPENDENCE Obligation to use donors’ procurement system Outsourcing of procurement expertise IS PROCUREMENT REFORM NEEDED IN FRAGILE STATES?
PROCUREMENT SPECIFIC ISSUES The ability of the African Fragile States to use procurement to support their reconstruction and development is currently constrained by: Ø conflicting interests amongst donors and beneficiary government Ø The failure of international agencies to balance objectives and Ø Lack of knowledge among procurement officials, who should be aware of their country social and economic development needs Ø Need to explore opportunities to deliver more positive development outcomes, while still observing fairness, transparency, economy and efficiency in procurement. Procurement is often still seen as administrative function in which compliance with regulations is the most valued performance criteria
THE CURRENT APPROACH A UNIVERSAL PACKAGE CONCERNING THE 4 OECD/DAC PILLARS: Legislative framework, Institutional and Management Capacity, Integrity and Transparency, Procurement Operations and market ORGANIZATION OF THE REVIEW: System evaluation (CPAR), elaboration of Action Plan, evaluation of the results MAIN CONSTRAINTS: Limited prioritization of the different actions (short, medium or long term) Obligation to act simultaneously in the four pillars. Resistance to change remaining a daunting change MARGINAL PROGRESS AND OVERALL UNSATISFACTORY RESULTS “Those who have struggled with this problem on the ground are no doubt correct when they caution that -no one size fits all-” Robert B. Zoellick’s, President of the World Bank, speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. September 12, 2008
AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH: THE “PLATFORM” APPROACH Definition: An approach step (platform) by step according to the country’s possibilities Each platform or level is defined in terms of improved outcomes The number and definition of platforms depend on the local context The key characteristics are: facilitating a change management process to enable genuine government leadership (he decides its priorities) Introducing a politically acceptable pace of sequenced reforms Each platform increases competence over a manageable timeframe Main Steps 1. the Government is defining exactly what it wants to achieve over a long-term timeframe, its vision (procurement and development) 2. Defining its priorities and obtaining agreement of donors 3. Focusing on what is done (internal control), 4. Enabling more accountability for performance management (for example: merit-based pay initiatives)
R D C COMPARISON RESULTS OBTAINED AND POSSIBILITIES CURRENT APPROACH 2001 : creation of the Central Coordination Bureau (BCECO) 2003 : the Bceco in charge of projects financed by RDC funds, 2005 -03 : Public Procurement Reform Commission installed 2006 -02: working group on harmonization 2008 -12 : a New Public Procurement Code is to be prepared 2009: What is the situation? ALTERNATIVE APPROACH 2001 -2002 : Defining the long term vision 2002 -2003 : Defining priorities according to existing means (financial, material and human) 2004 : Adoption of the first platform including Indicators 2005 -2008 : Adoption of the 2 platforms 2009 : Some Positive Results achieved
SIERRA LEONE COMPARISON RESULTS OBTAINED AND POSSIBILITIES ALTERNATIVE APPROACH CURRENT APPROACH 2002 -01: Request for assistance 2003 -03: Procurement Reform Steering Committee established 2002 -2003: Defining the long term vision 2004 -03: Interim Rules 2003 -2004: Defining priorities according to existing means (financial, material and human) 2004 -12: National Public Procurement Bill approved by the Cabinet 2006 -08: Approval by Parliament, Manual and Regulations edited 2006 -12: Sierra Leone selected for being tested by OECD/WB 2007 -03: Procurement plans for 18 benchmarks established 2009 How is the situation? 2004 : Adoption of the first platform including indicators 2008: Adoption of the 2 platforms 2009 : Some Positive Results obtained
ALTERNATIVE APPROACH CHALLENGES NEEDS GOOD SEQUENCING A bad choice will create inappropriate and inefficient means LIMITED FINANCIAL SUPPORT Support must be obtained for limited actions GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT NECESSITY OF COORDINATION: The different elements are led by different development agencies The set of measures don't provide a basis for long-term development PLATFORM REALISATION TIME MAY BE LONG “Development is a marathon, not a sprint”
CONCLUSION • REAL COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF REFORM PROCESS • CLEAR VISION OF EXPECTED RESULTS • THE PROGRAM IS MADE BY THE COUNTRY ACCORDING TO ITS REAL FINANCIAL POSSIBILITIES WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS APPROACH? IS THE PLATFORM FEASIBLE IN OUR FRAGILE STATES
Скачать презентацию HIGH LEVEL FORUM PLATFORM APPROACH TO IMPROVING PUBLIC
c2a18594f36d16ee83fbd4e63e98925a.ppt