Global Procurement Partnership Multi-Donor Trust Fund

Window 1 focuses on the development of global public goods and tools to support the reform of legal and regulatory instruments and enhance the modernization of public procurement systems through greater use of disruptive technology. There are 11 projects under Window 1: 

Active Projects:

• The (Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems) MAPS Global Tool Revision and Delivery project has been the sustainability and capacity building of the MAPS tool to date. MAPS is an instrument that allows a country, regardless of its income or development level, to assess the functionality of their public procurement system. The objective of MAPS is to support countries in their efforts to implement modern, efficient, sustainable, and more inclusive public procurement systems, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, the World Bank has been conducting face-to-face training on the MAPS tool and has developed an online training course to ensure high-quality support for its clients. The e-course will be launched soon. 
• The Performance-Based Contracting aims to support value-for-money procurement approaches in Investment Project Financing (IPF) operations through piloting performance-based contracting in relevant sectors. A pilot project is ongoing in Ghana under the Ghana Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project in collaboration with the Dutch government.

• The Global Procurement Partnership Body project aims to establish a global platform to promote the strategic use of public procurement as a critical economic planning and development tool. A stock-taking report on the state of public procurement has been produced and published.
  Outputs: Synthesis Report | Blog: The hidden $1 trillion: Halting waste in public procurement | Launch event recording & Presentation | Summary of Report Release | Presentation at the Public Procurement Conference, University of Nottingham

• The Professionalization of Public Procurement in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) States project aims to create a global methodology for designing professionalization standards, based on a pilot experience in the fragile state of Guinea Bissau.

• The Citizen Engagement in Procurement for Better Service Delivery in Mali, Philippines, and Indonesia project aims to generate globally applicable best practices on citizen engagement informed by pilots in the three countries. The project team is currently working on preparing the activities and grant initiations.
  
• The Evidence and Policy Recommendations on Public Procurement and Firm Survival During and Post-Emergencies project hopes to use data analytics to a) contribute to enhancing effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and accountability during and post-emergencies and b) build knowledge and evidence on the link between public procurement and firms during and post-emergencies. The project team is currently preparing the project’s activities.

Concluded Projects:

• The Open Contracting Data Toolkit concluded in June 2021 with the development of a primer and a report that outlines how to best identify suitable and well-documented open-source tools for procurement transparency. These tools, co-developed in close collaboration with the Open Contracting Partnership, have a demonstrated impact and are designed to facilitate adaptation and reuse by other interested stakeholders around the world.
  Outputs: Tool re-use in open contracting: A Primer | Evaluation Matrix | Guidance for tool authors and support providers | Key findings and research methodology (.pdf version)

• The Global Public Procurement Database (GPPD) concluded in June 2020. The GPPD captures data on country procurement and e-Government Procurement (e-GP) systems at a global level. The platform’s main goal is to promote procurement reform and innovation through improved transparency and knowledge-sharing, by providing a one-stop publicly available online database of global public procurement information. 
  Outputs: Link to database | Blog: "Five reasons why you should check out this procurement database" | Press Release | Feature Story: "Global Public Procurement Database: Share, Compare, Improve!" | Launch Event

• The Administrative Remedies Against Corruption project aimed to create a global transparency tool with global access to lists of sanctioned firms imposed by national or international authorities for corrupt behavior. The project completed in 2020 and contributed to the emergence of another project on using Artificial Intelligence to identify procurement risks - the Global Procurement Anticorruption and Transparency Tool (ProACT).

• The Global Procurement Anticorruption and Transparency Tool - ProACT - prototype was launched in July 2021 and enables enhanced management of procurement risks and mitigation of the corrosive effects of corruption using innovative big data analytics. 
  Outputs: ProACT Website | How to use ProACT (tutorial) | Research Paper (.pdf version)| Blog: "New Global Anticorruption and Transparency Platform (ProACT) empowers stakeholders to use data to have an impact on integrity in public procurement"

• The Framework Agreements project developed research on the use of Framework Agreements to strengthen value-for-money of public expenditure and service delivery performance in client countries. The project concluded in June 2021 and resulted in a guidebook on setting up and operating Framework Agreements and impact assessments, which provide important global findings.
  Outputs: Guidebook for Setting-up and Operating Framework Agreements (.pdf version) | Guidebook in French (.pdf version) | Blog: "How framework agreements are useful for emergency and pandemic response" | Econometric Analysis of Framework Agreements in Brazil and Colombia (.pdf version)

Last Updated: Aug 08, 2022

Window 2 comprises a significant part of the GPP MDTF portfolio and has two sub-windows (2.1. and 2.2, please see below). Window 2 funds the implementation of MAPS assessments in client countries and differs from Window 1 MAPS, which refers to the development of the MAPS tool and its supplementary modules. 

Window 2.1 - Implementation of Country Assessments and Diagnostics: The World Bank is leading 21 MAPS assessments worldwide, of which 14 are being supported with financing from the GPP MDTF. These MAPS assessments highlight where reforms are most needed and indicate how they can best be implemented. Regarding the 14 MDTF MAPS assessments:

• Six assessments have been certified and published on the MAPS Initiative Website - Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, Moldova, Mozambique, and Rwanda MAPS.
• Assessments were also concluded for Bangladesh, China, Djibouti, Gabon, India, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, and Zambia. The majority of them are undergoing quality assurance before publication.
• Early examples of the most desirable achievements are emerging. For instance, in Bangladesh, the government has already taken the initiative to implement several key recommendations from the MAPS assessment report.

Window 2.2 - Support to Enhancing Country Procurement Systems: This sub-window comprises four types of activities (described below). There are 13 activities under Window 2.2:

• Type 1 - Action Plan - focuses on the development of action plans for fragile and conflict-affected states and low-income countries. Type 1 has six grants: Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Moldova, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Timor-Leste. The projects in Ethiopia and Lebanon concluded in June and May 2021, respectively.

• Type 2 - Roadmaps - provides analytical support in formulating detailed roadmaps for specific MAPS recommendations. Type 2 includes one project in Djibouti, which focuses on amending legal and regulatory instruments.

• Type 3 - Actions - funds the implementation of action plan reforms. Type 3 funding was provided to five countries: Burkina Faso to modernize its public procurement system, Lebanon for digital procurement, Malawi to boost private sector participation, Rwanda to improve operational performance, and Zambia to strengthen public procurement system for economic development.

• Type 4 - MAPS Supplementary Modules - supports assessments with the use of MAPS Supplementary Modules. Type 4 grant was provided to Senegal for conducting a professionalization assessment.

Last Updated: Aug 08, 2022

Window 3 aims to generate high-value evidence on effective procurement reform approaches through the funding of systematic research and learning activities on underserved and unresearched areas such as contract management reform, data analytics, engagement of women in procurement, among others. Initial findings from Window 3 projects show that relevant research can generate important knowledge on procurement approaches. There are 11 projects under window 3:

Active Projects:

• The From Image to Accountability project aims to provide client governments and World Bank teams with a toolkit with hands-on guidance on which public works quality metrics each technology can yield, at which costs, and how to obtain such data in practice. The grant is testing the use of these technologies in the context of three ongoing engagements on public procurement in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

• Developing a Mechanism for Monitoring Contract Performance intends to streamline contract management systems and practices through a new monitoring mechanism, which will improve project implementation performance in client countries.

• Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' (SMEs) participation in public procurement aims to use Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire as focus countries to assess the level of participation of local SMEs (value and transactions), evaluate the relationship between public procurement and the labor market, and understand the constraints for enhanced access.

• Improving Access of Women-led SMEs to Government Procurement will evaluate the potential of strategic policies focus on procurement and skills enhancement training to increase the participation of women-owned SMEs in government procurement. The project is expected to conclude in January 2023.
  Outputs: Blog: "Mainstreaming gender in public procurement"

• The Implications and Factors Affecting Contract Management study will analyze the factors that affect the performance of contracts and ascertain the implications of delays on resources and service delivery.

Concluded Projects: 

• The e-Procurement Implementation Types project concluded in December 2021. It resulted in a study that focuses on three implementation models - Custom Software Solutions, COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf), and SAAS (Software as a Service) - which can help countries that are using already an e-GP system to enhance the development and update of their systems. These findings and recommendations can also be applied to countries outside the African region. The launch event took place on December 15, 2021.
  Outputs: Report: "Electronic Government Procurement Implementation Types: Options for Africa" (.pdf version) | Event Recording (English and French)

• The Brazilian Ministry of Planning Price Panel activity showed that the price panel system drove down estimated and actual awarded prices. The report was structured in a way that allows other governments to replicate the system.

• The Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Contracts (EPC) study analyzed outcomes of traditional admeasurement contracts and EPC contracts through case studies in China, India, Pakistan, Kenya, and the Philippines, and brief studies from a few other countries. The report discussed the advantages of EPC contracts for contractors and employers and looks at the road/highways sector in places with rapid upscale in the use of EPC contracts, such as China and India for evidence of effectiveness. Findings have shown that EPC contracts that experienced significantly fewer delays in implementation have performed much better in terms of cost overrun.

• Disclosing Ceiling Budgets in China and Vietnam aimed to identify advantages and disadvantages of disclosing the ceiling price in the bidding documents to serve as reference for improving procurement procedures, increasing competition and achieving value for money in the procurement of works. The findings of the study were shared in a public event. 
  Outputs: Event Flyer | Event Video Recording and Presentation

• E-Procurement Performance Measurement in India used tender level micro-data and a stakeholder survey to develop a methodology to evaluate e-procurement performance in the country and explore whether technology assimilation in the procurement procedure improves the process performance. The tool was presented in an international workshop and trainings were given to agencies in India on the tool.

• The e-Procurement Impact Evaluation in Bangladesh concluded in June 2021. The activity resulted in a paper and policy note on the retrospective impact evaluation of the e-GP rollout in Bangladesh. Preliminary results show that e-GP has increased access, efficiency, and economy of public procurement. e-Government Procurement in Bangladesh yielded direct cost savings for the government of 47 billion BDT (0.6 billion USD) during 2011-2018. It is expected that these reports and the Randomized Control Trial on electronic contract management will help influence the government’s future public procurement reform decisions.

The GPP MDTF aims to build evidence and operational knowledge on public procurement through its funding of projects, knowledge sharing, and learning activities. Different knowledge products were developed to share our work and spark a discussion about public procurement and good governance. Findings and results are also being shared through learning events. Below you will find all knowledge and learning products and activities produced for projects under each window. This page will be frequently updated with fresh materials. Stay tuned!

The Global Procurement Partnership Multi-Donor Trust Fund (GPP MDTF) is managed and supervised by the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice–Procurement Department and is supported by the European Commission, the French Development Agency, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.