3. The environment affecting the handling of procurement in a Bank supported operation can vary significantly from one country to another. The environment is dependent on the nature of the fragility and at what stage of recovery the country has reached in its transition towards stability. The following provides examples of the broad spectrum of country scenarios that may be encountered: Countries that have neither an institutional capacity nor legislative framework to handle procurement. The private sector and civil society have limited capacity or functionality. Countries that have some institutional capacity and a regulatory framework in place but have both a weak governance and lack capacity to undertake the procurement. A functioning private sector may exist but with a limited capacity to provide the goods, works or services required for a project. Representation of civil society may exist but is very limited. The country is well on the road to building institutional capacity and capability but the country still remains in a fragile or weak state. The private sector has some capacity to deliver project requirements. Civil society organizations are still in the process of evolving but are emerging as voice that is listened to by Government 4. Challenges that may impact on the procurement environment under the above scenarios include: Weak public sector governance; Widespread corruption and/or favoritism based on nepotism or ethnic influences; High and low level political intervention in procurement decisions; Limited or no public procurement administrative structure; A weak legislative and regulatory regime leading to confusion on application of laws (e.g. taxes and customs); Lack of complaints and remedies system; Lack of local expertise in procurement and contract supervision leading to poor contract administration; Lack of access to goods due to economic siege imposed on country; Restriction of movement due to security situation; Contracting in a poor financial management environment with a weak banking system often leading to payment issues; Lack of currency stability; Collusive bidding practices;
3. The environment affecting the handling of procurement in a Bank supported operation can vary significantly from one country to another. The environment is dependent on the nature of the fragility and at what stage of recovery the country has reached in its transition towards stability. The following provides examples of the broad spectrum of country scenarios that may be encountered: Countries that have neither an institutional capacity nor legislative framework to handle procurement. The private sector and civil society have limited capacity or functionality. Countries that have some institutional capacity and a regulatory framework in place but have both a weak governance and lack capacity to undertake the procurement. A functioning private sector may exist but with a limited capacity to provide the goods, works or services required for a project. Representation of civil society may exist but is very limited. The country is well on the road to building institutional capacity and capability but the country still remains in a fragile or weak state. The private sector has some capacity to deliver project requirements. Civil society organizations are still in the process of evolving but are emerging as voice that is listened to by Government 4. Challenges that may impact on the procurement environment under the above scenarios include: Weak public sector governance; Widespread corruption and/or favoritism based on nepotism or ethnic influences; High and low level political intervention in procurement decisions; Limited or no public procurement administrative structure; A weak legislative and regulatory regime leading to confusion on application of laws (e.g. taxes and customs); Lack of complaints and remedies system; Lack of local expertise in procurement and contract supervision leading to poor contract administration; Lack of access to goods due to economic siege imposed on country; Restriction of movement due to security situation; Contracting in a poor financial management environment with a weak banking system often leading to payment issues; Lack of currency stability; Collusive bidding practices;
FCS_ProcurementPositionPaper-v2.docx