1 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context TOPIC Context of Public Procurement in East Africa and Objectives of this Forum ******* By Mbuba Mbungu Senior Procurement Specialist World Bank

2 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 Procurement Context Three Reminders (i) Public Procurement is about acquisition of goods, works and services (issues of stores, real property, stocks etc. belong to other areas of public sector management) (ii) Key considerations of an efficient public procurement system are Economy, Efficiency, Transparency, and Equal opportunity to suppliers, contractors and consultants. Be Realistic

3 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context (iii)A system via which huge amounts of public procurement are spent: about 12 % GDP, representing almost half of government spending Estimated public procurement expenditures Uganda, US$ 1050 million Tanzania US$ 1440 million Kenya US$ 2280 million (Source: World Development Indicators 2007).

4 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context All EA Countries have enacted Public Procurement Laws whose main objectives are (among other things) to streamline public procurement to ensure it is carried out in a non-discretionary manner in order to: –achieve value for money –enhance efficiency in budget execution and service delivery, –reduce corruption in procurement, and –promote the private sector

5 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context CURRENT OBSERVATIONS.. In each country the implementation of the law is not fully achieving the objectives due to a combination of factors (some are): Weak enforcement of compliance Low capacity of the public sector (inadequate technical skills in procuring entities to support procurement) Weak and/or uniformed private sector; including civil society

6 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context CURRENT OBSERVATIONS (cont ’ d) Poor Governance (including weak roles of Competent Authorities) that allows corruption in public procurement Unclear provisions in the laws Unclear and/or conflicting mechanisms for dealing with Appeals and Complaints Weak roles of Development Partners and Civil Society Poor internal financial controls Limited progress on aligning Government and Donor procedures

7 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context CURRENT OBSERVATIONS (cont ’ d) Corruption in procurement is most lucrative (to the corrupt) Public procurement has been in the spotlight recently.

8 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context CURRENT OBSERVATIONS (cont ’ d) These factors are in varying degrees from country to country. Some countries are strong in some cases and weak in others.

9 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 – Procurement Context The Forum will focus on three key areas make the procurement laws effective by: Enforcing compliance Improving procurement capacity Having effective operating systems, e.g. - Appeals are complaints - Information insemination - Debarments - Raising the red flags - Monitoring and measuring procurement efficiency - etc

10 EAST AFRICAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – FORUM JUNE 2008 Procurement Context This Forum is an opportune event for participants to: (i) Learn about what works well and what does work well, and (ii) Develop ideas on how stakeholders can support and contribute to an effective public procurement system.

11 FINALLY The event is about learning from each other. A possible first of such annual EA Procurement Forums. “ No Country should expect to develop if it does not take care of its resources … money ”. THANK YOU