2012 SEMED
Public Procurement Sector
Assessment
Eliza Niewiadomska, EBRD Legal Transition Programme
EBRD SEMED Public Procurement Assessment Concept
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First EBRD assessment of the public procurement sector
in the SEMED region covering presently Egypt, Jordan,
Morocco and Tunisia
National legislation and local procurement practice
benchmarked against specially designed benchmarks
Core Principles benchmark based on international best
practice and Legal Efficiency benchmark reflecting critical
elements of the public procurement process
Data collected in June 2012 through online interviews with
local lawyers and local contracting entities in the
government and the utilities sector
Comparative analysis focused on transparency
safeguards and efficiency instruments
SEMED Region in the 2012 EBRD SEMED
Public Procurement Sector Assessment
Assessment benchmarks:
EBRD Core Principles
• Selected from recognised
international public
procurement standards
•The primary role of a
public procurement law is to
facilitate the business
process of contracting in a
public governance context
• Core Principles apply to
the entire procurement
process :
pre-tendering
tendering
post-tendering phase
Accountability
Integrity
Stability
Enforceability
Transparency
Core Principles
for Public
Procurement
Reasonable
exemptions
Legal Framework
Proportionality
Fair
competition
Economy
Efficiency
Assessment benchmarks:
Basic Legal Function
Public procurement legislation should:
 enable sound financial management in the public sector
 protect integrity of the process
transparency safeguards
 deliver ‘value for money’
efficiency instruments
 respond to economic, social and environmental objectives, if included in the
government’s regulatory agenda
 regulate all stages of the procurement process, provide clear and consistent
eligibility rules that cannot be modified by the prejudiced decision of the
particular contracting entity and enable the efficient selection of tender type or
method based on the specifics of the purchase and contract profile
Assessment benchmarks:
The Legal Efficiency Indicators
Simplicity
Cost

 Reasonable
balance
between the
user-friendly
approach and
requirements of
the local legal
and business
Speed
culture.
 For most
aspects of the
legal process,
the less time it
takes the
more efficient
it is.
There are costs
on both sides: a
public client
conducting the
process and a
Fit-to-context
private
• Is the regulation
contractor
well adapted to
participating in
the economic,
this process.
social and legal
The higher cost
context of the
the more
market?
government
• Does it achieve
pays.
particular policy
objectives?
Certainty
 Three key
indicators are:
 predictability
 impartiality
 resistance to
corruption.
Evaluation and Rating
FOUR MAIN STAGES OF THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS
• Translating assessment benchmarks into questionnaires
for online interviews
• Data collection
• Analysis and scoring of the quality of the legislation and
local procurement practice
• Rating of the degree of compliance:
– Each research area carried same maximum scoring
potential
– No weighting between indicators and questions raised
in each core area
– Avoid subjective judgments
Scoring
Low to High Compliance
Substantial compliance.
The legal framework provides for recommended features.
Compliance with reservations. The legal framework provides for some
features which are not compliant with the benchmark.
Doubtful compliance. The legal framework provides for features which
may be non compliant with the benchmark.
No compliance. The legal framework provides for features which are not
compliant with the benchmark.
Not applicable. The legal framework does not provide for any
recommended feature
Assessment Results: law on the books
Assessment Results: law in practice
EGYPT. Summary of Assessment Findings
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Unsatisfactory transparency safeguards:
The current policy of monitoring
procurement decisions has resulted in
the achievement of medium levels of
accountability.
Insufficient efficiency instruments:
Egyptian PPL make endeavours to
achieve fair competition in public
tenders. However, in the assessment
competition instruments were assessed
as just satisfactory.
Regulatory and performance gaps: The
assessment results suggest that the
Egyptian PPL does not provide an
adequate basis for modern public
procurement practice.
EGYPT. Summary of Recommendations
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The Egyptian public procurement legal
framework requires updating.
Greater transparency safeguards need to be
adopted.
The public procurement policy review should
focus on ensuring operational ability. New
procurement policies, supported by modern ICT
tools, should be developed to ensure a level of
operational ability necessary for modern
governments.
The Egyptian legal framework should
incorporate modern procurement methods
based on electronic communication.
New legal instruments promoting sustainability
should be developed and implemented. The
government should utilise public tenders to
implement environmental and social policy
relevant for public projects.
JORDAN. Summary of Assessment Findings
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Unsatisfactory transparency
safeguards: The assessment highlighted
the performance of several 'on the
books' indicators with regard to
transparency safeguards.
Insufficient efficiency instruments: In
the review of the PPL the efficiency
instruments scored poorly. Although the
competition and economy indicators
scored medium compliance the
efficiency and proportionality indicators
scored low and very low compliance
respectively.
Regulatory and performance gaps: The
assessment revealed inconsistencies
and opportunities for improvement
between the legislative framework and
local procurement practice.
JORDAN. Summary of Recommendations
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Establish a dedicated national regulatory agency
supported by a revised and updated
independent review and remedies mechanism.
Utilize ICT and the internet to promote online
submissions and electronic communication
between stakeholders.
Dedicated public procurement policies should be
used to facilitate economic development. The
introduction of simplified procedures for small
value contracts will encourage the participation
of local SMEs in public tenders.
Escalate enforceability levels. Revise the existing
public procurement law to incorporate
enforcement instruments for public sector
suppliers. Robust accountability instruments will
develop a clear chain of responsibility between
management, budget and procurement officials.
Deliver policy through procurement. The
government should utilise public tenders and the
public procurement process to implement its
environmental and social policy commitments.
MOROCCO. Summary of Assessment Findings.
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Unsatisfactory transparency safeguards:
Although the indicators for accountability
and transparency managed to just secure
medium compliance, the integrity indicator
scored very low compliance.
Insufficient efficiency instruments: In the
review the aggregate score for the
competition instruments was assessed as
only satisfactory.
Regulatory and performance gaps: The
Moroccan local procurement practice as
compared to countries in the SEMED region
highlighted that except for flexibility and
economy indicators where a good
performance was achieved, local
procurement practice scored low to medium
compliance. The assessment highlighted a
medium compliance rate regarding essential
transparency safeguards and efficiency
instruments and overall public procurement
institutional and enforcement capacity.
MOROCCO. Summary of Recommendations
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Update procurement legislation to current
standards in public procurement.
Develop dedicated public procurement policies to
facilitate economic development.
Develop and implement specific procurement
rules for public law institutions and
municipalities. The development and
implementation of procurement rules for entire
public sector will close the identified regulatory
gap and result in all public contracts covered by
public procurement laws.
Create a dedicated national regulatory agency and
an independent review and remedies mechanism.
Develop a robust system to monitor the
compliance of procurement entities. There is an
urgent need to implement stronger anti-corruption
instruments across the pre-tendering, tendering
and post-tendering phases of the public
procurement process.
TUNISIA. Summary of Assessment Findings.
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Unsatisfactory transparency safeguards: The
assessment highlighted low performance of
several indicators related to transparency
safeguards.
Insufficient efficiency instruments: In the
assessment the score for the efficiency
instruments hovered between medium and
high compliance. The review of the legislative
framework highlighted issues with regard to
insufficient economy and proportionality
instruments. This indicates problems with
accomplishing the public procurement in a
reasonable time frame.
The review of the laws , except for uniformity
and efficiency indicators where a high and
very high compliance was recorded, scored
low to medium compliance. The survey of the
local practice highlighted an average medium
compliance rate for essential transparency
safeguards, efficiency instruments and overall
public procurement institutional and
enforcement capacity.
TUNISIA. Summary of Recommendations.
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Review and update the existing public
procurement laws.
Review the current use of information and
communication technology.
Instruments should be implemented across the
procurement process to promote accountability.
The current public procurement legal framework
should be reviewed with a view of promoting and
increasing the current levels of accountability
achieved across all stages of the procurement
process, balancing public and business dimensions.
Dedicated public procurement policies should be
used to facilitate economic development. The
introduction of simplified procedures for small
value contracts will encourage the participation of
local SMEs in public tenders. This will contribute to
economic development at a sub-regional, regional
and national level.
Promote the continuous personal development of
procurement staff.
General trends in the SEMED Region
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Basic principles of public procurement in place; however
not always compliant with current best practice
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Reform efforts initiated
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Policy development authorities in place
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Progressive adoption of administrative review means
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Lack of transparency and limited access to information
on procurement opportunities
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General implementation problems
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Difficulty in ensuring fair competition and uniformity of
local procurement practice
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Insufficient enforcement and lack of remedies procedures
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Further efforts required in order to raise efficiency and
transparency of procurement decisions
Thank you so much for your attention.
Questions?