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Elements of transparency (transparency throughout the procurement process and especiallyfocused on non-competitive procurement).Elements of management (ensuring funds are used as intended and professionalisingprocurement through common knowledge, skills and ethical standards).Elements of corruption resistance (risk maps, close collaboration with the private sectorregarding integrity and quality and providing mechanisms for monitoring, detection andprosecution)Elements of accountability and control (establishing a clear chain of responsibility, resolvingcomplaints in a fair and timely manner and enabling stakeholders to scrutinise the process).Country experiencesWith respect to audits covering procurement, the national systems are still at an early stage. Even ifinternal and external audit institutions exist and generally function well, usually they lack specialisedprocurement audit manuals, procedures and knowledge. Another weak point is the timely follow-up onaudit recommendations and sanctions. In general, as elaborated earlier, poor record keeping limits theeffectiveness of a national audit system.Table 6 illustrates some of the challenges faced by partner countries conducting audits of procurementtransactions and lists capacity development strategies recommended or implemented according to thecountry reports.Table 6. Audits of procurement: Challenges and approaches (country examples)MongoliaProcedures as defined Weaknesses Capacity Developmentgoals/activitiesThere are internal and externalaudits. The State InspectionAgency is responsible for internalcontrol and is adequately staffed.External audit is carried out by theNational Audit Office. It isanswerable to parliament and plansits audits based on its own plansand under the direction of aparliamentary standing committee.Sierra LeoneAdequate general auditmechanisms exist and audits areconducted by the Office of theAuditor General.Tendency of both State InspectionAgency and National Audit Office toconfuse compliance, efficiency andperformance audits with the resultthat they often appear to besecond-guessing the decisions ofthe evaluation committees. There isa tendency to confuse various typesof audits with the result that noneappears to be carried out properly.The report with the AuditorGeneral’s findings and subsequentremedial decisions are oftendelayed with the result that theAuditor General’s recommendationsare rarely followed up, leading toineffective enforcement of the auditlaws.Specialised procurement audits (asdistinct from financial audits) are yetto be established as a discipline bythe Office of the Auditor General.Specialised workshops/seminarsand manuals on procurementmonitoring and audit for externalmonitoring agencies including theNational Audit Office, the StateInspection Department, the AntiCorruption Agency and civil societyorganisationsThe enforcement of theProcurement law at all levels in theMDAs and an audit system put inplace to assist the properfunctioning of procurement.It is envisaged that specificprocurement audits will be carriedout by the Office of the AuditorGeneral in conjunction with theNational Public ProcurementAuthority once the requisite trainingof staff has been carried out.COMPENDIUM OF COUNTRY EXAMPLES AND LESSONS LEARNED […] - OECD 2008 57
Transparency and integrity are crosscutting issues and it is of particular importance that reforminitiatives in the domain of public procurement are synchronised with governance programmes at thenational level if they are to be fully effective. The following are country examples of weaknessesidentified in the planned capacity development strategies (Table 7).Table 7. Transparency and Integrity: Challenges and approaches (country examples)Procedures as defined Weaknesses Capacity Developmentgoals/activitiesThe PhilippinesOne of the responsibilities ofobservers in the bidding process isto prepare a procurementmonitoring report, which shallindicate their observations includingirregularities or anomalies in theprocess, if any.ZambiaThere are no norms for the safekeeping of records. The appealsmechanism is inadequate.ParaguayThe Public ProcurementInformation System (SICP) is thebasic public procurement supporttool, both for the GeneralDirectorate for Public Procurementand for suppliers, contractors andconsultants. According to the Law,its objective is to make publiclyavailable, through mass electroniccommunications media, informationon calls for tender, bases andconditions, the contracting process,awards, cancellations,amendments, and any other relatedinformation, including contractsawarded, regardless of the methodor type of procurement used. TheSICP has a procurement websiteNot all observers submit theirprocurement monitoring report,which limits the reliability of thesystem. Compliance with thesubmission of the reports andenforcement of follow-up activitiesare weak and are not monitored.56% of all tenders were submittedwith incomplete documentation.Assessors had to approachvarious departments to trace theprocess of a particularprocurement.77% of tenders were rejected.Bidders normally do not know whythey fail in the evaluation oftenders.Paraguay has one of the lowestInternet penetrations rates in theworld, at only 1,36% of thepopulation.Moreover, the cost of Internetservices is among the highest inthe region.Development of mechanism forutilisation/optimisation of theobservers’ report.The Public Procurement ReformProgramme is carried out under thePublic Expenditure Management andFinancial Accountability (PEMFA)programme The goal of theprocurement reform is “to promoteand institutionalise a transparent,accountable and efficient publicprocurement system in order toimprove expenditure management.”The main outputs are:Revised legal and regulatoryframework; enhanced procurementprocedures and practices;decentralised procurement system;Zambia National Tender Boardtransformed into a more effective andtransparent oversight body;independent procurement appealstribunal established; and sensitisationof stakeholders.A project has been launched to installInternet “procurement booths” in themunicipalities and in other institutionswhere people without Internet canaccess the website without charge. Inthese premises, training is alsooffered.Website communications areexpected to increase significantly asInternet use spreads more widely andconnection costs decline.To bring greater transparency,publicity and security to publicprocurement, the government is alsoimplementing a series of projects toenhance the use of e-commerce,including the development of a58 COMPENDIUM OF COUNTRYEXAMPLES AND LESSONS LEARNED […] - © OECD 2008
Page 1 and 2:
Compendium of Country Examplesand L
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ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERAT
Page 8 and 9: ForewordIn 2002, the OECD-DAC and t
Page 10 and 11: Background and Purpose of this Pape
Page 12 and 13: The Procurement Assessment Methodol
Page 14 and 15: The Process of Preparing and Planni
Page 16 and 17: Box 1. High-level political support
Page 18 and 19: Table 2. Potential stakeholders in
Page 20 and 21: Based on the assessment reports pro
Page 22 and 23: willing to participate in the asses
Page 24 and 25: Implementing a Procurement Assessme
Page 26 and 27: 1 = areas where substantive work is
Page 28 and 29: Country experiencesMost of the pilo
Page 30 and 31: Indicator 4: Normative and regulato
Page 32 and 33: “Considerations for assessment”
Page 34 and 35: Lao, for example, reports that nati
Page 36 and 37: Figure 4. Possible negative impact
Page 38 and 39: Country experiencesThe usefulness o
Page 40 and 41: They identify and correct mistakes
Page 42 and 43: Box 8. Validation process in Zambia
Page 44 and 45: Making Use of the Assessment Result
Page 46 and 47: Procurement Capacity Development: I
Page 48: StakeholdersThe GPP argues that as
Page 51 and 52: Table 4. Compliance and Performance
Page 53 and 54: Engage banks in a dialogue to secur
Page 56 and 57: Linkages with Public Financial Mana
Page 60 and 61: which serves as the externalinforma
Page 62 and 63: Next StepsThe Joint Venture on Proc
Page 64 and 65: CountryLatestprogressreportAssessme
Page 70 and 71: Country Sampling for CPI Stakeholde
Page 80: Country Sampling for CPI Stakeholde
Page 83 and 84: Procurementprocess (30%)10. Method
Page 85 and 86: 4. Member countries should ensure t
Page 88 and 89: Annex DList of Referenced Resources
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