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September 8, 2003 Procurement Reform Action Plan Is Launched With Technical Assistance From UNDP/IAPSO,Jointly Funded By UNDP And The World Bank The Honourable Vice-president, Mr. Solomon Berewa announced today at a stakeholders event held at State House, that the Government of Sierra Leone has launched an accelerated process of procurement reform, with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The World Bank. The first stage of this process consists of a 9 month Action Plan developed by UNDP/IAPSO. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, IAPSO is UNDP's specialized procurement office, providing both technical expertise in concepts and systems design and hands-on management expertise, derived from its procurement operations on behalf of the UN system. Mr. John Van de Gronden, IAPSO Director, told the assembled stakeholders of the Procurement Reform process that at the end of the first 9 months, Sierra Leone would have a restructured Central Tender Board, functioning as a supervisory and policy-setting board, with decentralized procurement offices in key line Ministries. New rules and regulations will be in place, and procurement officers and their supervisors will be trained to begin a career as professional procurement officers. The business community will receive information and orientation on the ways to benefit from a reformed system, and a draft procurement law will be ready for presentation to Parliament. Procurement Reform is at the heart of good governance and anti-corruption. Almost everything the government does for its citizens involves purchasing some commodity or service. Procurement is more than just buying. It is a profession involving proper specification of goods and services, information and interaction with suppliers, management of bidding, evaluation and award of supply contracts, and monitoring delivery to ensure quantities and quality conditions are met. Value for money is the summary test of good procurement, which involves an integrated set of management and maniacal functions. Corruption is only one of the enemies of value for money. Poor management can rob government of just as much money as corrupt practices. Mr. Alan Doss, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary General in Sierra Leone and resident representative of UNDP, noted that responding to the Government of Sierra Leone's priorities, Procurement Reform is part of UNDP's Interim Governance Program 2002-2003, designed to address critical government reform issues in the immediate period after the war, in which getting government functions revitalized is critical to Sierra Leone's long term development prospects. EXPECTED RESULTS Implementation of the Action Plan will set Sierra Leone on a strong course toward comprehensive reform. The early, tangible and quantifiable gains will enable reformers to build a cadre of committed public and private sector stakeholders to deepen the reform process. The method of quantifying gains may enable economics achieved to be linked to improvement in the conditions of service of key ministries or departments of government, thus creating a methodology for linking performance to conditions of service in the public sector. Successful and demonstrable improvement in the efficiency and probity of public procurement may enable the government to gain the confidence of donors, such that a unified procurement system may be created, to replace independent procurement and management units that proliferate among donor projects, as a result of historically poor performance and corruption. IMPLEMENTATION MODALITY The sources
of external funding for this initiative are World Bank funds from
the Transport Sector Credit Cr 2895-SL, in the amount of $450,000,
and UNDP Country Office funding from the Interim Governance Project
SIL/02/008, in the amount of $200,000. UNDP will fund an Executive
Secretariat for the Government's Procurement Reform Steering committee,
created by Cabinet on March 26, 2003, and chaired by the Vice-president. -END OF STATEMENT- |
