Well-functioning public procurement systems are essential for effective project implementation, good governance and efficient service delivery to the citizens. The initiation of the Procurement, Integrity, Management and Openness (PRIMO) Forum (previously called Public Procurement Knowledge Exchange Forum) by the World Bank in 2005 was an important innovative milestone towards sharing knowledge and experience in public procurement reform. It also provided peer to peer capacity building to participating countries.
More than a decade since the representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan first met to develop a common platform to learn from one another, this initiative has grown into an annual Platform and has spurred the creation of an influential community of practice spanning more than 24 countries throughout Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) and beyond.
Objectives and Theme of 2016 PRIMO Forum
The 2016 marks the 12th year for this Forum. The event provides an opportunity for public procurement agencies and other agencies mandated for procurement professionalization of participating countries to learn and share their experiences and practices in public procurement reforms, with a special focus on “Professionalization of Procurement Function”.
The main objectives of the Forum are to:
- Provide an opportunity to public procurement institutions and other stakeholders who have the mandate for procurement professionalization from participating countries to share their experiences and practices in public procurement reforms, with a special focus on professionalization of procurement function;
- Promote and foster regional and cross regional cooperation in public procurement, and good governance. Give the participants the opportunity to explore and strengthen networking in the area and to seek active involvement and support of international and bilateral donors to further improve service delivery to the citizen through efficient procurement implementation.
Expected Results
At the end of the Forum, each country will present procurement related actions that are to be monitored throughout the year. This is considered to be the main output of the Forum. Learning from their peers, each team formulates an action plan, upload it on the shared website and monitored by Governments, IFI’s and other procurement experts.
