Use of Country Systems for Procurement

October 13, 2011

 

Welcome to the World Bank's website on the Use of Country Systems for procurement.

What is Use of Country Procurement Systems (UCS)?

Use of Country Procurement Systems (UCS) is an initiative led by the OECD with the cooperation of international financial institutions (IFIs), donors and recipient countries to use the country procurement systems to the extent possible under donor financed projects.

 

The objective of this initiative is to reduce the load on recipient countries of having to deal with multiple donor procurement rules in parallel with their own. If donors could harmonize around country systems, countries could reduce their transaction costs by using their own system to administer procurement under donor funded projects. However this harmonization can only happen if borrowers and donors commit to strengthening country systems to a level that is considered acceptable by all. 

 

In an effort to move the agenda forward, IFIs, donors and recipient countries committed to work together towards improving national procurement systems with the view to increasing reliance on those systems by donors in donor funded projects, as part of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005. This initiative led to the adoption of an international benchmarking tool now known as the Methodology for Assessment of National Procurement Systems (MAPS).

 

World Bank UCS Piloting Program

In 2008, the World Bank launched a Piloting Program for Use of Country Procurement Systems for International Competitive Bidding as described in the Board paper entitled Use of Country Systems in Bank-Supported Operations: Proposed Piloting Program which was approved by the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors.

 

The piloting program aims at identifying pilot projects and countries where the procurement systems would have been assessed by the Bank and found to be in conformity with the minimum requirements as defined in the above paper. These requirements are assessed in 3 stages:

 

-  Stage 1: selection of a pool of potential countries for piloting UCS in procurement, and assessment of the overall quality of each country’s public procurement system, public financial management and governance systems, using diagnostic tools such as Country Procurement Assessment Reports (CPAR), MAPS and any other relevant documentation;

-  Stage 2: assessment of the consistency and equivalence of the country’s procurement policies and procedures with the principles of the Bank’s procurement policies,

-  Stage 3: assessment of compliance, performance, capacity and fiduciary risks at the sector/executing agency level.

 

Progress and Results in the UCS Piloting Program

 

Of the 20 countries that expressed interest in participating in the piloting program, significant progress has been made in the following 14 countries:

o  Africa Region:  Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal;

o  East Asia and Pacific Region: Philippines;

o  Europe and Central Asia Region: Poland, Macedonia;

o  Latin America and Caribbean Region: Brazil-Sao Paolo, Colombia, Panama;

o  Middle East and North Africa Region: Morocco;

o  South Asia Region: Bhutan, India Power Grid.

 

These countries have all initiated a number of public procurement reforms that are underway. The UCS Piloting Program has played a major role in triggering those reforms.

 

Four countries, Rwanda, Senegal, Mauritius and Brazil (State of Sao Paulo) have been selected by the Bank to participate in the piloting program. Countries that are willing to continue the piloting program should propose potential projects for Bank’s assessment. 

 

For more details on the piloting program, please refer to First and Second Progress Reports.

 

This site serves as public information for the UCS Piloting Program. It includes links to documents and reports. 

 

Questions and/or comments are welcome via email to procurementcs@worldbank.org.