Public Procurement Reforms In Africa

Institutional reforms and their contribution to development and growth have been a source of renewed interest as well as of many challenges over the last two decades. Identifying the forces that push towards reform and the conditions that determine the success or failure of reforms, building organizational arrangements needed to make modifications to the rules of the game sustainable, and understanding the limits to the transfer of reforms and to the help that international organizations and foreign institutions can provide to support change, raise intellectually difficult and politically highly sensitive issues. This book attempts to address these issues from an economic perspective. Combining knowledge and field experience, it develops an analysis of institutional changes and organizational transformations based on the experience of the public procurement reforms carried out in sub-Saharan Africa. This highlights the economic significance of procurement and the formidable obstacles that institutional changes face. Using an original dataset, it explores the gap between the expectations and what has been achieved. It develops a framework that intends to capture the complex interaction between the different components of reform and aims to provide useful insights for researchers and policy makers.

This book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the governance of public procurement reform in Africa. Through a bottom-up approach to case studies and comparative analyses, scholars, practitioners, and social activists write about the organizational mechanisms and implementation gaps in public procurement governance in light of the general premises of national reform. Reforming the ways in which government purchases works, goods, and services from the private sector is one of the most sweeping policy reform undertaken in Africa in the past decade. Despite the transnational scope of policy change, very little is known about the mechanisms of public procurement governance at the subnational level. The argument in this volume is that policy reforms that mitigate contractual hazards along the three-dimensional “law-politics-business matrix” are more likely to bring about meaningful institutional transformation and broader social accountability. Key to substantive transformation of public procurement is the revitalization and professionalization of the public sector to meet the opportunities and challenges of development by contract.

This book examines the regulatory rules on public procurement in selected African countries and provides a comparative analysis of key regulatory issues.

Since the 1990s, government at all levels is under increasing pressure to do more with less. However, despite the U.S. government spending about 15 to 20 percent of its GDP on contracts for goods and services, there is a paucity of reference books for public procurement officials and very few textbooks for courses on the subject. Filling this void, the International Handbook of Public Procurement provides the knowledge necessary to understand how procurement works and how to improve the cost-effectiveness of procurement systems. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book focuses on the managerial, economic, political, and legal aspects of this topic. It begins with a conceptual framework and highlights various reforms occurring in certain countries. By examining these improvements, readers are able to apply this knowledge to their own strategies. The next section presents selected cases that illustrate the public procurement process, examining systems in various nations including Germany, China, South Africa, Cambodia, Uganda, and Estonia. The book also discusses the rise of electronic procurement systems (E-procurement) and reviews the benefits of these efficient systems. Other topics presented in this comprehensive volume include practical discussions on contract negotiations, bidding, price strategies and cost analysis, and an insightful chapter on the market’s response to contract award announcements. A virtual encyclopedia from numerous international experts, this book was assembled by Khi V. Thai, Professor at Florida Atlantic University and Editor of the Journal of Public Procurement. Dr. Thai has provided technical assistance in the area of public procurement to governments across the world. Empowering those on all sides of the issue, this volume dispenses advice valuable to government officials and contractors, as well as providing a comprehensive text for public administration students.

The 2015 Supply Chain Management Review lays out a sound agenda for procurement reform. The ongoing work on a new procurement bill and regulations are an important opportunity to spearhead procurement reform and step-up implementation. Several important reform aspects worth prioritizing are the simplification and standardization of aprocurement procedures, the standardization of transparency requirements through the adoption of the Open Contracting Data Standards, transitioning to a new e-procurement system that is linked to the government’s integrated financial management information system (IFMIS) and other systems, making preferential procurement more cost effective and goal oriented, and strengthening staff capacity to carry out procurement. Opportunities to centralize procurement should be further explored to leverage and develop limited capacity.

This book establishes a nexus between corruption in public procurement and the prevailing crisis of governance in Africa. The African continent is characterised by the growing concern for the deteriorating human security. In the midst of these woes, African political leaders are known for their stupendous wealth and riches through expropriation of national resources for personal benefits. This growing inequality in the continent has become a major driver for a series of violent and criminal activities, which have added to the worsening governance crisis. Thus, the abuse of public power for advancing private gain constitutes an impediment to effective public service delivery, thereby engendering a crisis of governance. The consequence of this is not limited to the socio-economic growth and welfare of citizens, but it often also jeopardizes the democratic credentials and objectives of the state.

"Public procurement law governs the acquisition of the goods and services that a state needs to fulfil its public functions. This area of law has seen tremendous development globally in recent years, and Africa is no exception.In many African countries there have been sweeping reforms in the regulatory regimes that govern public procurement. This trend shows no signs of slowing down.On the African continent, public procurement law is closely tied to pressing policy issues: from development plans to donor aid and international lending, to anti-corruption agendas and capacity challenges, to public finance management, enforceable remedies under the rule of law, and human rights. This book investigates a number of these themes to foster an understanding of public procurement law in the context of contemporary Africa."--Back cover.

This edited collection fills a significant gap in the literature by gathering contributions from the most prominent academics and practitioners of aid and procurement. It explores the economic, political and legal relationship between procurement and aid effectiveness in developing countries, and takes stock of current debates in the field. More specifically, the contributions analyse the failures and successes of current initiatives to foster effectiveness and streamline the aid procurement process, and address current themes emerging in the literature related to development, procurement and aid success. A pivotal and timely publication, Public Procurement and Aid Effectiveness will be of interest to a varied and multicultural international audience and a wide range of actors working on aid effectiveness, development, procurement and good governance initiatives in both donor and beneficiary countries.