Reforming Public Procurement in Emerging Market ... - KDID Portal

Reforming Public Procurement -- Syquia
4. Inadequate competition, creating opportunities for collusion;
5. Lack of transparency; and
6. Inadequate procurement audit and control.
In Vietnam, the decision to develop a new omnibus procurement law was seen as an important step
toward eliminating this legal confusion. x The justification for reforming the legal framework was
similar in the Philippines. xi
4.3 Guidelines for a Good Omnibus Procurement Law
An omnibus public procurement law should be enacted by the highest law-making body of the State,
such as its National Assembly or Congress, and should be supported by implementing regulations
issued at the appropriate level. Some of the more important elements of an omnibus law are that it:
1. Provides for open, competitive bidding as the preferred mode of procurement;
2. Requires publication of bid opportunities and awards in media that are easily and
nationally accessible;
3. Provides appropriate procedures for special types of procurements and situations,
such as highly specialized or technical projects;
4. Provides for the minimum content of the tender documents, requires that the content
be relevant and sufficient for bidders to be able to respond to the requirement, and
requires the development of standard bidding documents and a procurement manual;
5. Provides participants with the right to have decisions in a procurement process
reviewed, has provisions to respond to a request for review at the procuring entity
level, with administrative review by another body independent from the procuring
entity that has the authority to grant remedies, including the right for judicial review;
6. Institutes a regular planning exercise that starts with the preparation of multiyear
plans for government agencies, from which annual operating plans are derived,
followed by annual procurement plans and estimation of the associated expenditures,
and culminates in the annual budget formulation;
7. Establishes a normative, regulatory or oversight body at an adequate level in
government and secures it in terms of financing, or at least provides functions that are
clearly assigned to various units within the government, without gaps or overlaps;
8. Establishes an integrated information system that provides, at a minimum, up-to-date
information on procurement plans, specific advertisements or notices of procurement
opportunities, publication of contract awards, and rules/regulations on procurement,
and is easily accessible to all interested parties at no or minimum cost – supported by
a requirement for agencies to create sufficient records management systems;
9. Provides for public monitoring of the procurement process and the implementation of
awarded contracts, guaranteeing that these contracts are awarded pursuant to the
provisions of the law, and that they are performed strictly according to specifications;
10. Requires the development of a training and capacity building strategy that provides
substantive permanent training programs for the needs of the procurement system;
11. Has clearly defined procedures for contract administration responsibilities, including
inspection and acceptance procedures, quality control procedures, and procedures for
Fiscal Reform and Economic Governance Project 7