PLATFORM APPROACH TO IMPROVING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS IN FRAGILE STATES Serge N’GUESSAN, Ph.D. GOVERNANCE, ECONOMIC

1. PLATFORM APPROACH TO IMPROVINGPUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEMSIN FRAGILE STATES Serge N’GUESSAN, Ph.D. GOVERNANCE, ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK HIGH LEVEL FORUM

2. DEFINITION OF FRAGILE STATES How to measure, categorize, or rank fragility vary, but three main characteristics stand out: a witches’ brew of ineffective government, poverty, and conflict. “A defining characteristic of fragile states is the unavailability or extremely poor delivery of public services - health, education, water supply and sanitation, judiciary, security, etc.” (Margaret Kilo , Head of Fragile States Unit, AfDB) This definition includes post-crisis and transitional countries. Other definitions: CSRC: State significantly susceptible to crisis in one or more subsystems DfiD: Government cannot or will not deliver core functions to the population

3. Failure to protect people and their property, Failure to deliver basic services, Decreasing livelihood security, Weak public financial management. List of fragile States in Africa (BY AfDB) The Bank classifies countries as fragile if they have a composite averaged AfDB and World Bank’s country policy and institutional assessment (CPIA) score of 3.2 or below. Over the 2007/08 year twenty (20) regional member countries were classified as fragile using the CPIA definition: Angola, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo and Zimbabwe. .In fact, there is a diversity of situations but all African States are fragile in some respects and States move in and out of fragility CHARACTERISTICS OF FRAGILE STATES Fragility does not just mean low growth but failure in the normal growth process

4. PROCUREMENT SPECIFIC ISSUES HIGH DEMAND AND COSTS OF RECONSTRUCTION OR RECOVERY OPERATIONS (varying in average from 0.5 to 2 billion USD/country) LACK OF RESOURCES Deficient Institutions Very limited financial resources from national budget Very low procurement budget Very limited services providers (inexistent or unorganized private sector) Lack of human resources, no trained procurement staff. DONORS DEPENDENCE Obligation to use donors’ procurement system Outsourcing of procurement expertise IS PROCUREMENT REFORM NEEDED IN FRAGILE STATES?

5. The ability of the African Fragile States to use procurement to support their reconstruction and development is currently constrained by: conflicting interests amongst donors and beneficiary government The failure of international agencies to balance objectives and Lack of knowledge among procurement officials, who should be aware of their country social and economic development needs Need to explore opportunities to deliver more positive development outcomes, while still observing fairness, transparency, economy and efficiency in procurement. Procurement is often still seen as administrative function in which compliance with regulations is the most valued performance criteria PROCUREMENT SPECIFIC ISSUES PROCUREMENT SPECIFIC ISSUES

6. THE CURRENT APPROACH A UNIVERSAL PACKAGECONCERNING THE 4 OECD/DAC PILLARS: Legislative framework, Institutional and Management Capacity, Integrity and Transparency, Procurement Operations and market ORGANIZATION OF THE REVIEW: System evaluation (CPAR), elaboration of Action Plan, evaluation of the resultsMAIN CONSTRAINTS: Limited prioritization of the different actions (short, medium or long term)Obligation to act simultaneously in the four pillars. Resistance to change remaining a daunting change MARGINAL PROGRESS AND OVERALLUNSATISFACTORY RESULTS “Those who have struggled with this problem on the ground are no doubt correct when they caution that -no one size fits all-” Robert B. Zoellick’s, President of the World Bank, speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. September 12, 2008

7. AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH: THE “PLATFORM” APPROACH • Definition: • An approach step (platform) by step according to the country’s possibilities • Each platform or level is defined in terms of improved outcomes • The number and definition of platforms depend on the local context • The key characteristics are: • facilitating a change management process to enable genuine government leadership (he decides its priorities) • Introducing a politically acceptable pace of sequenced reforms • Each platform increases competence over a manageable timeframe • Main Steps • the Government is defining exactly what it wants to achieve over a long-term timeframe, its vision (procurement and development) • Defining its priorities and obtaining agreement of donors • Focusing on what is done (internal control), • Enabling more accountability for performance management (for example: merit-based pay initiatives)

8. R D CCOMPARISON RESULTS OBTAINED AND POSSIBILITIES • ALTERNATIVE APPROACH • 2001-2002 : Defining the long term vision • 2002-2003 : Defining priorities according to existing means (financial, material and human) • : Adoption of the first platform including Indicators • -2008 : Adoption of the 2 platforms • 2009 : Some Positive Results achieved CURRENT APPROACH 2001 : creation of the Central Coordination Bureau (BCECO) 2003 : the Bceco in charge of projects financed by RDC funds, 2005-03 : Public Procurement Reform Commission installed 2006-02: working group on harmonization 2008-12 : a New Public Procurement Code is to be prepared 2009: What is the situation?

9. SIERRA LEONECOMPARISON RESULTS OBTAINED AND POSSIBILITIES CURRENT APPROACH 2002-01: Request for assistance 2003-03: Procurement Reform Steering Committee established 2004-03: Interim Rules 2004-12: National Public Procurement Bill approved by the Cabinet 2006-08: Approval by Parliament, Manual and Regulations edited 2006-12: Sierra Leone selected for being tested by OECD/WB 2007-03: Procurement plans for 18 benchmarks established 2009 How is the situation? • ALTERNATIVE APPROACH • 2002-2003: Defining the long term vision • 2003-2004: Defining priorities according to existing means (financial, material and human) • 2004 : Adoption of the first platform including indicators • : Adoption of the 2 platforms • 2009 : Some Positive Results obtained

10. ALTERNATIVE APPROACH CHALLENGES NEEDS GOOD SEQUENCING A bad choice will create inappropriate and inefficient means LIMITED FINANCIAL SUPPORT Support must be obtained for limited actions GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT NECESSITY OF COORDINATION: The different elements are led by different development agencies The set of measures don't provide a basis for long-term development PLATFORM REALISATION TIME MAY BE LONG “Development is a marathon, not a sprint”

11. REAL COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF REFORM PROCESS CLEAR VISION OF EXPECTED RESULTS THE PROGRAM IS MADE BY THE COUNTRY ACCORDING TO ITS REAL FINANCIAL POSSIBILITIES WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS APPROACH? IS THE PLATFORM FEASIBLE IN OUR FRAGILE STATES CONCLUSION