ADB Procurement Forum

Invitation for PPF Proposals

sirbutch3 — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:33:29 +0000

We are pleased to announce that the Procurement Partnership Facility (PPF), a key feature of the Asia Pacific Procurement Partnership Initiative (PPI), is now online. Complete guidance can be accessed through the appropriate menu sub-tabs under “Procurement Partnership Facility” on this website.

Over the next three (3) years, PPF will fund country-driven procurement-related projects proposed by ADB developing member countries (DMCs), the exact number and value of projects financed will depend on the relative merits of the project proposals submitted. The progress in implementation of PPF funded projects and outputs from analytical and research studies and reports will be reviewed at sub-regional and regional conferences and posted in this site at the same time.

In 2010, the PPF will award up to 3 grants of up to US$ 150,000 each, depending on the number and quality of proposals and their associated budgets. These grants are to be used specifically to implement the proposed national procurement reforms. Following are the PPF timelines for 2010:

20 August – 20 November, 2010: Call for proposals

All proposals for PPF 2010 should be submitted online, or through email, or through hard copy to the ADB Resident Missions (RMs), using the format/template provided in this site.

20 November – 20 December, 2010: Review of proposals

Proposals will be assessed according to the established criteria.

20 December, 2010: Announcement of the PPF proposals selected

Approved proposals are expected to be implemented within 6 months starting from January 2011.

HOW TO APPLY

Proposals must be submitted in English and preferably through this website. The online proposal template, which includes a downloadable/printable comprehensive procedure for preparing a PPF proposal, is posted on the site. If you are unable to access these sections of the website, please e-mail: marcianodelacruz.consultant@adb.org. Proposals must be received not later than 6 p.m. Manila time (3:00 p.m GMT) on November 20, 2010.

PPI Start-Up Meeting – July 2010

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:44:58 +0000

The Asia Pacific Procurement Partnership Initiative (PPI) is holding a Meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 28-30 July 2010.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently approved the PPI, a regional capacity development technical assistance which aims to develop a platform for exchange of best practices in procurement among public officials, procurement practitioners (both public and private sector), and civil society. The PPI is an outcome of the Asia Pacific Procurement Forum Consultative Meeting held at ADB Headquarters last Aug 2009 where a total of 68 delegates from 24 of ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs) and other donor partners and civil society organizations actively deliberated on future procurement reform priorities.

The objective of the July 2010 PPI meeting is to develop a work plan and define the outputs of the PPI. A copy of the tentative Agenda can be accessed through this link. The initial themes identified for this working session (indicated as priorities in the PPI web survey undertaken earlier this year) include electronic government procurement (e-GP); capacity building for more effective procurement monitoring and execution by public procurement agencies (PPAs); and ways in which to promote increased PPA independence. Also planned is a half-day session on the role of civil society and non-government organizations in promoting better public procurement.

Participants are senior PPA and ministry officials from some of ADB’s DMCs. Among other issues to be addressed will be formation of ‘core’ PPI sub-regional and regional working groups (e.g. for South Asia, South East Asia, Central Asia, Pacific, etc). Participants in the meeting are expected to set out concrete steps to establish such regional/sub-regional working groups to promote and maintain inter (and intra) country dialogue, cooperation, and collaboration within their respective regions/sub-regions within the next 2-3 years.

The countries attending include Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam. In addition, organizations such as Procurement Watch, Transparency International, and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) will be represented.

Developments from this meeting will be posted on this site.

e-Procurement Across Borders

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:48:01 +0000

The Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) has recently announced that a new version of Open e-PRIOR, the open-source version of the e-PRIOR (electronic PRocurement, Invoicing and Ordering) platform has been published on the Open Source Observatory and Repository for European public administrations (OSOR.eu).

Based on the success and the positive response received on the technical sneak preview published in November 2009, the Open e-PRIOR team has been working on adding the functionality foreseen under the IDABC (Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Business and Citizens) programme, as well as taking on feedback received by different parties.

The new version of Open e-PRIOR delivers an embedded PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) Access Point, which provides a great opportunity for Customers wishing to participate in the PEPPOL pilot that will commence in May 2010. Through the use of this Access Point, Customers will be able to connect to their Suppliers by exchanging Invoices over the PEPPOL network. For this purpose a PEPPOL test client is also being provided in the package together with a detailed Software Architecture Document.

Open e-PRIOR is the first eProcurement implementation which enables the exchange of electronic business documents using the data models of CEN/ISSS WS/BII.

Those willing to know more about Open e-PRIOR can:

* download the new version of Open e-PRIOR from OSOR.eu at http://forge.osor.eu/frs/?group_id=188
* join the Open e-PRIOR community in order to learn more about the project, contribute with their feedback and participate in the making of this platform through http://www.osor.eu/projects/openeprior
* read documentation about Open e-PRIOR, including a guide on how to get Open e-PRIOR running and to understand the Software Architecture through http://forge.osor.eu/docman/?group_id=188

Interested parties can contact the dedicated team who is ready to share knowledge, experiences and to provide support, by e-mail DIGIT-EPRIOR-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu or through OSOR at https://forge.osor.eu/forum/forum.php?forum_id=508.

Background Information:

Open e-PRIOR is developed and deployed by the European Commission to allow the exchange of structured eProcurement documents between the Commission and its suppliers. It is being developed under the IDABC programme and was initiated by Directorate-General for Internal Market (DG-MARKT) and Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) of the European Commission.

Open e-PRIOR provides an opportunity for reusability of an open-source solution that has already been implemented at the Commission and which provides a secure platform for document exchange. This is an opportunity for sharing practical experiences and lessons learnt with the aim of accelerating uptake of eProcurement across EU Member States.

Further Information:

* Original news article – OSOR.EU
* PEPPOL project
* New version of Open e-PRIOR for download – OSOR.EU
* Open e-PRIOR community – OSOR.EU
* User’s Manual for Open e-PRIOR and its Software Architecture – OSOR.EU

Your Voice — Results of the PPI Online Needs Survey

sirbutch3 — Fri, 21 May 2010 03:12:37 +0000

You may recall that the Procurement Partnership Initiative (PPI) Online Needs Survey was launched on 29 January 2010 and remained online until 10 March 2010.

We appreciate receiving your thoughts, opinions and expectations about the PPI and the contemplated functionality of its website and facility. These have been synthesized into a report that is now accessible through this link.

Once again, thank you for your contributed ideas which could help in developing a useful and responsive platform for knowledge exchange in a host of procurement topics. We look forward to further interaction.

The PPI Team

Public Procurement Network

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:08:40 +0000

Where do European companies who after taking part in public procurement abroad and suspect of being discriminated against some unfair barriers complain? Among others, the barriers can either be illegal requirements in tender documentation or being disadvantaged in favour of national suppliers, intentionally or otherwise. Also barriers can arise over simple misunderstandings in relation to the tender documentation, the forms required, or over the specifics of national regulation.

To address these types of concerns, an informal system has been established to clarify misunderstandings and suspicions of infringements to the public procurement rules in the early stages of procurement procedures. This is a network of central government procurement policy officials and procurement experts in 30 European countries called the PPN (Public Procurement Network). Members from all EU Member States, EU candidate countries, EEA Members and Switzerland have agreed to common rules on how to informally pursue suspicions of irregularities before contracts are signed thereby saving legal fees.

The PPN aims to: (a) promote problem solving in cross-border cases relating to public procurement; and (b) strengthen the application of the EU procurement rules through a mutual exchange of experience and benchmarking. The European Commission, European Investment Bank, OECD strongly support the PPN and is present in the network as observers. You can visit their site here. You may also find a more detailed description in the Danish Competition Authority link.

6th Central Asia Regional Public Procurement Forum, Istanbul

sirbutch3 — Thu, 13 May 2010 07:13:23 +0000

The 6th Central Asia Regional Public Procurement Forum was held in Istanbul, Turkey last 26-29 April 2010, co-sponsored by the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. This Forum, as with previous ones, aims to continue to strengthen the capacity of participating countries to improve country procurement systems.

Ms. Yang Dan, Director-COS1, Asian Development Bank (seen at extreme right in photo), chaired panel discussions at this event on the last day.

Meeting documentation and output continue to be updated, and can be accessed through this weblink.

OECD-DAC Task Force on Procurement Meeting

sirbutch3 — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:40:47 +0000

The OECD-DAC Task force on Procurement meeting conducted on 3-5 May 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together more than 100 participants from public procurement authorities around the world as well as procurement experts from development partner organizations such as the Asian Development Bank.

Documentation relating to the meeting as well as future updates on meeting summaries can be accessed from the United Nations Procurement Capacity Development Centre webpage through this link.

PPRA Measures in Pakistan

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 05:56:24 +0000

We got the recent Newsletter of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) outlining some of their most recent activities. It includes:

(a) the regular bi-weekly capacity building training program on “Public Procurement Rules & Procedures” was held on April 20-21, 2010 at National Institute of Procurement (NIP).

(b) a special training programme for National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) held in Islamabad last March 15, 2010 and April 19, 2010 which included a procurement module imparted jointly by PPRA and NRSP.

(c) Procurement for National Maternal,Newborn and Child Health Programme (MNCH) programme were imparted customized training last 28th and 29th April 2010.

(d) The Pakistan Procurement Code is being updated with the addition of policy guidelines, issued by PPRA from time to time, and frequently asked questions to facilitate the stakeholders, readers and researchers.

(e) Project Implementation and Administration (PIA) Course in collaboration with the ADB held last 12-16 April 2010. PIA seminar brings together staff from Executing Agencies (EA) who have responsibility for administering ADB Loan Projects in Pakistan. The aim is to provide participants with an overview of ADB Procurement Policies and Procedures, using case studies and interactive approaches (role playing etc.,), and to discuss problems which EAs encounter as implementers of ADB projects. The seminar is normally implemented over one week and is sub-divided into three components: (i) procurement of consulting services, (ii) procurement of goods and works and (iii) loan disbursement. An important part of the seminar is the presentation of national procurement policies and procedures and to understand how these differ from ADB’s Policies and Procedures. In this context, both PEC and PPRA made presentations at the PIA seminar held in Islamabad.Another PIA will be implemented in September (dates to be finalized) in Lahore.

Aid Effectiveness:2010 Progress Report

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:59:10 +0000

Every year since 2003, the Commission has been reviewing the EU’s efforts to implement the commitments established in the Monterrey Consensus, and subsequently on commitments on aid effectiveness established by the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action. As part of this process, this paper attempts to analyse the information received from this year’s Monterrey questionnaire and to draw some operational conclusions on how the EU can improve its performance.

Efforts will need to be stepped up dramatically if the aid effectiveness targets embedded in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action are to be achieved. In 2011, the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will be held in Seoul, and the EU will be expected to present results which are in line with the declared EU level of ambition.

In broad terms, achieving aid effectiveness from an EU perspective is still a work in progress. On the positive side, the EU has established clear policy aims and is a leading player on aid effectiveness at the global level. The EU has worked steadfastly towards finding practical ways of working together to implement aid effectiveness commitments.

EU donors are gradually, but unmistakably, moving forward in terms of making the necessary adjustments in their development programs. Furthermore, the responses to this year’s Monterrey questionnaire show that these changes are beginning to have an impact. However, the results from this year’s survey indicate that the EU is still in an early stage in implementing the Paris and Accra commitments, and that continued focus and consistency will be required to achieve the desired results. You can view or download the full document here.

Source: Relief Web

Check Out the “Members’ Contributions” WebPage

sirbutch3 — Wed, 05 May 2010 03:22:34 +0000

A newly posted resource material, “Improving the PFI Tendering Process” – a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General | HC 149 Session 2006-2007 | 8 March 2007 | The National Audit Office, U.K. – is being shared by the Asian Development Bank’s Sarah Louise Cotgreave, Senior Procurement Specialist (Capacity Building and New Initiatives), who said: “I thought you might be interested in this UK National Audit Office report which takes the lessons learned from PPP projects in the UK and makes recommendations on how tendering can be improved.”

This report, as well as future procurement-related resource material contributions from the Procurement Partnership Initiative (PPI) website’s subscribers, can be accessed regularly through the “Resources” drop-down menu located above, under the “Members’ Contributions” sub-tab. We hope to be able to develop, with your help, a repository of knowledge products in the field of public procurement.

We, therefore, welcome your sharing of procurement-related publications already in the public domain that could be of benefit to the PPI website’s readership.