Summary Of Breakout Discussions Final

Asia Pacific Procurement Forum 1st CONSULTATIVE MEETING

Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines August 24 to 25, 2009

Summary of Breakout Discussions Discussion Topics 1.Assessing Procurement Systems and Evaluating Performance

Challenges/Issues

Responses/Possible Solutions

Forum Intervention/Actions

1. Limited guideline (standardized) to do CPI; assessment gets difficult when officers do not have a background of dealing with this technical topic.

1. Everyone is familiar with the Baseline Indicators (BLI) system and likes it. It is an accepted "gold -standard" for assessing procurement systems. Most interest was shown in the Compliance Performance Indicators (CPI)

1. it was suggested the forum could assist with providing assistance (guidelines, training, etc) for countries using the CPI

2. Responsibility for assessment; lack 2. There is a desire for countries and 2. perhaps the forum could assist in of integration of public procurement donors to work together on assessing facilitating joint work planning with PFM System procurement systems (procurement plan); Donor/Country acceptance of assessment tool and results of it; lack of procurement plan mechanism 3. difficulty in data collection

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3. The issue of data collection was 3. It was suggested that the forum, noted as critically important to with donor support, might act as an assessment, yet difficult to do properly, "honest broker" for data collection. especially as some data is commercially sensitive.

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Discussion Topics 2. Developing Procurement Reform Strategies

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Challenges/Issues

Responses/Possible Solutions

Forum Intervention/Actions

1. lack of political support

1. MDB loans/grants linked to reform strategy; use CSOs/NGOs

1. a sharing of experiences (eg. success stories) was suggested through the Forum

2. corruption

2. Eliminate/lessen discretionary actions to address corruption.

2. Learn from other countries; access to online tools; all possible through a common website.

3. ownership

3. find champions or agents for change

3. organize seminars on procurement auditing

4. procurement legislation

4. technical assistance / funding support

4. legislative strategy (legislation part of PFM?)

5. harmonization

5. develop expertise

5. international institute for generally accepted principles

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Discussion Topics 3. Strengthening Procurement Management

Challenges/Issues

Responses/Possible Solutions

1.Framing public procurement policy 1. On the matter of "best practice" authority there was general agreement that there is no "one size fits all" definition 2.Implementation/ enforcement and it should be accepted that there procurement policy will have to be different practices to meet country-specific circumstances. 3. Defining role of NGO/ public private The objective should be to work sector towards a framework of commonly accepted principles within which 4. Capacity building countries may adopt varying approaches. 5. E-procurement 2. Sharing of experiences was again emphasised as an important role for the forum.

Forum Intervention/Actions 1. The forum could assist with studies and shared experiences so that countries can learn from each other what works and what does not in different circumstances. 2. The forum could assist with roadmaps and benchmarking examples (this links back to the BLI/CPI topics of group 1. 3. The forum could assist with guidance on the role of NGOs and other civil society participants.

3. On the role of civil society, there was extensive discussion on the line between government responsibility and the extent to which civil society might become involved in public procurement, although there is consensus that civil society has a positive role to play.

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Discussion Topics 4. Improving Procurement Execution

Challenges/Issues

Responses/Possible Solutions

1. developing e-Procurement – IT side, 1. review current system / explore e-standards, integration of e- changes and develop MIS/business Procurement and traditional methods process re-engineering; step-by-step approach; suppliers training 2. increasing access to information; transparency in procurement process 2. develop rules and procedures to adopt MIS for public procurement 3. improving procurement MIS 3. develop expertise, new rules, 4. retaining the right people procedures, templates 5. handling specialized areas eg. PPPs, new procurement methods

Forum Intervention/Actions 1. sharing good practices and lessons learned 2. networking; procurement commonalities of practice (COPs) 3. lending and non-lending assistance to support e-Procurement 4. identify and share knowledge/templates/procedures and processes; disseminate information on successful PPP projects

6. development partners should be more serious about country systems use 5. Performance Monitoring & Oversight

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1. Are monitoring Agencies truly 1. Everyone knows and accepts the independent, properly empowered and concept of the "independent adequately resourced? procurement agency", an agency responsible for policy and oversight, but which does not conduct procurement itself.

1. The forum could assist with supporting the establishment an operations of such agencies through sharing of experiences in (i) legislation to establish such agencies, (ii) staffing, particularly independent senior staff, and (iii) funding.

2. Sustaining civil society participation 2. The role of civil society in in procurement processes (supply vs performance monitoring and oversight demand) is another area the forum could assist with.

2. As also noted in group 3, the forum could provide guidance, or sharing of experiences on the exact role of NGOs and others, and address issues such as funding, legal arrangements, etc.

3. Effectiveness of procurement audit

3. Assistance to "professionalize" the procurement audit function, and to build capacity were two noted areas of support.

3. Procurement audit was identified as an area that the forum could tackle.

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Discussion Topics 6. Building Procurement Capacity

Challenges/Issues 1. funding and sustainability capacity building efforts

Responses/Possible Solutions of 1. university courses (eg. SCM)

2. finding right approach to training and incentives to participate (eg. Quality, curriculum, certification, and for assessment)

Forum Intervention/Actions 1. share experiences and good practices advocacy by Forum to allocate resources for capacity building

2. undertake needs assessment and 2. set up core working group; develop tailor-make approach depending on performance indicators for needs; performance-based monitoring procurement training evaluation (outcome-based)

3. lack of career path and incentives 3. civil service reform for procurement professionals 7. Forum Management and Deliverables

1. The forum should have a simple and a) A Secretariat housed in ADB provides technical and administrative support to effective structure and ensure the the Forum; coordinates the meetings and communication of member countries, ownership of member countries working groups and other stakeholders including the involvement of resource persons, academics and professionals in the various meetings. b) An Advisory Group of donors/IFIs/CSOs/NGOs coordinates and mobilizes the professional and financial support to the Forum utilizing the existing or available regional/sectoral arrangements/resources of procurement assistance.

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Discussion Topics

Challenges/Issues 2. The forum should have realistic objectives and deliverables with efficient reporting mechanism to review the progress

Responses/Possible Solutions

Forum Intervention/Actions

a) The Forum defines a Forum Agenda, a common platform for public procurement policy makers and professionals, sets out the goals and standards for sustainable public procurement systems, and agrees on a set of Forum activities and an implementation mechanism to achieve such standards. b) The Forum will run a dynamic interactive website for providing newsletters and advisory notes/policy recommendations, for networking and sharing knowledge and experiences in country procurement reforms and collecting/disseminating information on Forum management and implementation issues. c) The policy dialogue, experience sharing and research/pilot activities to be explored by the thematic area of interest corresponding to the 6 procurement topics/core challenges will be organized based on the member countries need and partnership on country-specific relevance to such topics. d) Regional and sub-regional conferences to be organized will capture such technical discussions while also agreeing on the achievements and new activities of the Forum Agenda e) A reporting mechanism established through simple on-line surveys or questionnaires will start with a self-assessment on the procurement reform and the achievements/lessons learned over a given year.

3. The forum should be sustainable, a) Forum funding will come from the ADB RETA and from other flexible and responsive donor/development partners (by exploring linkages with existing regional groupings committed to the development reforms in Asia. b) Forum will utilize the existing efforts in the area of public procurement and create a joint work with more partnership toward a practical impact on member countries procurement systems.

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