Transparent Contracting and Procurement

Contract Monitoring
 
The award and implementation of contracts and concessions is critical to development. Poor choices about how contracts are awarded and implemented, and resources and revenues are spent  can result in poor development outcomes. Civic engagement in procurement and contracting processes has been sporadic or limited in scope and impact to date, reflecting constraints in opportunity and capacity.

However, there is growing recognition that monitoring of procurement processes can serve an effective oversight function in controlling fraud, waste and abuse in public contracting. This is especially important in industries that have the potential to shape a country’s overall development, such as education, health, infrastructure and extractive industries. Creating a level playing field with transparent and fair processes for the award and implementation of contracts serves all sectors of society – government, private sector and citizens. 

The World Bank Institute's (WBI) Contract Monitoring Initiative brings together partners from all sectors of society to share information and work together to increase accountability and transparency in public expenditure. It helps diverse stakeholders find common ground and build coalitions to work together in monitoring contracts and making their implementation transparent.

Examples of projects supported by the initiative and implemented by country coalitions include: making roads contracts accessible for and understandable to communities in Ghana; training CSOs in Nigeria on contract monitoring approaches for the power sector; and, launching a Procurement Watch type of mechanism in Sierra Leone. 

In addition to Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, WBI is working in Liberia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia and Kenya to bring stakeholders together around promoting greater transparency and accountability in public contracts. Sector focuses include health, education, roads and extractive industries.  WBI is also supporting contract monitoring initiatives in East and South Asia.

The Contract Monitoring Initiative is a joint program of the WBI Procurement, Governance for Extractive Industries and Health programs, together with the World Bank Africa region.

Innovation in Public Procurement

Public service delivery is provided through public procurement of goods and services. Procurement accounts for one of the largest components of an economy – around 5% of GDP in developing countries – and is the primary means of budget execution. Many countries, however, retain procurement systems that are out-dated, without proper legal and regulatory authority, and/or lack clarity of oversight.  

WBI promotes a process for strengthening public procurement that draws upon innovative practices and inclusive reform implementation. This includes the use of technology to improve procurement performance via eProcurement, and strategies such as multi-stakeholder strategic action planning undertaken in diverse country settings including fragile and conflict-affected countries and small states. The focus is on identifying not only the “what” (what needs to be changed) but the “how” (how the change will happen).

This program seeks to contribute to the expanding range of innovative procurement reforms available through analytical assistance. This includes practitioner-driven knowledge based on experience and best practices, as well as better use of political economy analysis to understand how reforms are internalized and sustained.

Examples of our impact include delivering structured learning in eProcurement to five countries in the East Asia and Pacific Region, using WBI’s Global Development Learning Network (GDLN); convening a group of fragile and conflict-affected countries, with representatives of government, civil society and the private sector, to help identify and prioritize the need for reform; and developing knowledge products and using political economy to better understand the context within which successful reforms are or can be implemented and sustained.