Challenges in Public Procurement - unpcdc

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10 THAIof having to deal with the foreign policy of other nations in theirprocurement decisions.Other Environmental Forces. The public procurement system is alsoinfluenced by culture and technology. In a culture where giving gifts is acommon public relation practice, it is difficult to distinguish between giftsand bribes. Moreover, rapidly advanced technology has forced publicprocurement to (a) adopt new procurement methods, such as the use of e-signature and purchase cards; and (b) be knowledgeable in many aspectsand considerations of how to procure information technology. 5Interactions of Environment ForcesVarious pressures on the public procurement system, as describedabove, are not constant variables, but they interact with each other andbecome conflicting forces that public procurement practitioners have todeal with. There are tradeoffs between the environment forces, and thesepractitioners have to seek an optimum solution. These tradeoffs in manycases are the most challenging decisions that public procurementpractitioners are facing.As mentioned earlier, each country has its own economic, social,cultural and political environment, and each country’s public procurementpractitioners face different types of challenges, or the same types ofchallenges but at different levels compared to their counterparts in othercountries. This book does not intend to cover all areas of challenges thatpublic procurement practitioners in the world are facing. Papers publishedin this book were selected, through a rigorous peer-review process, from atotal of 46 papers presented at the 2004 International Public ProcurementConference. They can be grouped under some two major themes:procurement reforms and lessons learned.Public Procurement ReformPUBLIC PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES:AN INETRNATIONAL PERSPECTIVEAccording to Arrowsmith and Trybus (2003, p. ix), “the last decade ofthe twentieth century had witnessed the start of a ‘global revolution’ in theregulation of public procurement.” Actually, challenges in procurementreforms are beyond procurement regulations to include procurementprocess, methods, procurement organizational structure, and workforce.Procurement reforms occur constantly in all countries, developed as well as
CHALLENGES IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT 11developing countries. The scope of reforms varies, from reforming thewhole procurement system if the system is completely dysfunctional such asthe on-going procurement in Sierra Leone after a long civil war (Elliott,2004) and the successful reform in Gambia (see Chapter 2), or fixing somenarrow areas in a well-developed procurement system in developedcountries.In “Challenges in Public Procurement: Comparative Views of PublicProcurement Reform in Gambia,” Wayne A. Wittig and Habib Jeng describehow procurement reform was implemented in The Gambia. Through a jointeffort of the World Bank, Government of The Gambia and the InternationalTrade Centre WTO/UNCTAD (ITC), a team of procurement expertsdeveloped a comprehensive approach to modernize the public procurementsystem of The Gambia in a model combining elements of a Central TenderBoard with a Procurement Policy Office. Local capacity is being developedin the Gambia Public Procurement Authority and in the ProcuringOrganizations to support transparent public procurement systems. Positiveand objective changes lie in the new legal, regulatory and organizationalframework as demonstrated by a survey of Procurement Organizations.Nevertheless, challenges remain in extending and sustaining the reforms.Maria Kristina Villanueva Pimentel, in “Procurement Watch, Inc.: TheRole of Civil Society in Public Procurement Reforms in the Philippines,”highlights the role of Procurement Watch Inc. (PWI), a civil societyorganization, which was at the forefront of the advocacy for the GovernmentProcurement Reform Act (GPRA). Prior to the passage of the GPRA, therewere over a hundred guidelines governing public procurement. The GPRAsought to standardize and institutionalize procurement reforms and addressthe lack of transparency and accountability that have long plagued thePhilippine government in its procurement. To steer the process of change,support from the highest levels of leadership in the government and theprivate sector were found to be essential. PWI became the cog that linkeddifferent branches of government, and garnered support from the privatesector.In “Reforming Public Procurement Sector in Turkey,” Kadir Akın Gözelprovides basic information about the public procurement reform in Turkeyand to evaluate the results of it for the last two years. Turkey underwent amajor public procurement reform two years ago. In Turkey, the governmentspends around U.S. $25 billion on purchased goods, services andconstruction works each year. It can be easily understood how vital it is tohave a transparent and competitive public procurement system for thecountry. This essay presents both a comparison of the public procurement
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