Making Procurement a "Profession"

1. Making Procurement a "Profession"

2. The Challenge • To demonstrate (in < 10 minutes!) that new ways to strengthen procurement capacity can be found by comparing procurement with an established profession

3. Road map To do this we will: • examine results of recent procurement capacity building efforts • identify generic issues & weaknesses • chart how these issues are addressed in an existing profession • see if useful parallels emerge that are worth testing • brainstorm how best to move forward

4. Today’s Situation The general picture is still bleak • project audits “finger” poor procurement as a root cause of project delays, cost overruns and corruption • previous capacity building efforts in only rare cases have brought improvements, built sustainable capacity • the need for fundamental change starting to be recognized

5. Generic Issues (1) • Procurement viewed as routine, clerical • Salaries too low to attract, retain qualified staff • Procurement input not sought until too late • The range of skills needed to implement a project successfully very narrow • Impartial systems to validate these skills rare • The procurement process is highly politicized

6. Generic Issues (2) • Government attention limited primarily to bidding and award stages • TA programs share this bias and often focus only on donor procedures • The result? Skilled staff usually not mobilized at the right time, in the right numbers • Quality of strategic project planning, contract management during implementation suffers

7. Need for a New Approach • If we examine how an existing profession copes these issues, will fresh ideas, techniques arise? • Who knows? But the current piecemeal approach is clearly not viable • By focusing on the “supply” side (the lack of staff familiar with donor procedures), it neglects broad weaknesses in the function as a whole • Procurement needs to be treated more as a profession

8. Core features of the medical profession: Rigorous well-defined academic curriculum Specialization Certification A system to maintain professional standards An ethical code How does procurement compare? No standard curriculum No common specialties widely agreed Few certification systems, procurement associations No ethical code specifically targeted for procurement Medicine and Procurement

9. Possible Next Steps (1) Most agree the medical profession consistently provides a high standard of service. Let’s see if certain features can help improve procurement. Some possible steps: • Get governments to start using skilled procurement staff throughout the project cycle • Broaden procurement TA and educational development programs to start producing graduates with these skills on a long term basis

10. Possible Next Steps (2) • Develop a range of procurement specialties (with associated range of academic and experience requirements)? • Set up impartial professional certification systems to validate staff skills in these fields? • Explore role procurement associations could play over time to maintain quality, improve TA focus, motivate staff to improve skills, etc.? • Develop a procurement code of ethics?