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COMESA
Public Procurement Rules and Regulations Harmonised
COMESA harmonises public procurement rules and regulations
Public procurement, which refers to the way in which central governments, local governments and other governments funded bodies go about the business of buying goods, contracting for civil works and procuring consultancy services, is of major economic importance in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Across the region, it is estimated that public procurement accounts for approximately 60% of government expenditure.
Due to the importance of this sector, COMESA has established the COMESA Public Procurement Reform Project which aims to harmonise public procurement rules and regulations, as well as to build the capacity of national procurement systems in the region. Harmonisation or standardisation will allow users of the systems, both buyers and sellers to predict tender bidding processes, selection or adjudication methods and the manner in which tenders are awarded. Harmonisation will also mean having a similar interpretation on important principles such as competition, fairness, transparency, non-discrimination, accountability, professionalism, appeal rights, economy and efficiency.
In 2002, with the support of the African Development Bank, COMESA conducted a baseline survey of the procurement rules and practices of its member States. The results of thus survey were used to develop a COMESA public procurement strategy, which includes the basic requirements for reform of national public procurement laws and practices. The COMESA Secretariat has also established a Regional public procurement centre which provides capacity building for member States and includes a procurement information system with access to most procurement agencies of member States.
What are the benefits of the COMESA Public Procurement Reform Project ?
Increased regional trade amongst the Member States as suppliers in the private sector become more aware of public procurement opportunities through publicly advertised tenders for goods, works and services required by various arms of governments in the region;
The public sector will be able to obtain value-for-money (which means getting the right item at the right time and at the right price to support government activities) in meeting the needs of various government agencies for goods to support public missions;
Fair, non-discriminatory and transparent procurement procedures will make the perpetration of fraud and corruption in public administration more difficult. Given that public procurement represents a substantial component of the national budget, the quality of life for the citizens of the region is expected to improve as more government resources become available following the COMESA-wide initiative to fight improper, wasteful and corrupt practices. Whilst transparent procedure s are not sufficient in themselves to get rid of fraud and corruption, an effective public procurement system will help to protect the citizenry against breaches of public trust;
With effective purchasing systems in place there will be significant savings for governments and thus taxpayers. These savings could mean that governments have more to spend on social services such as health, education etc;
Establishing specific procedures to guarantee that procurement contracts above a certain value are awarded in a competitive, transparent and non-discriminatory manner, thus providing the necessary incentives for suppliers to actively pursue contract opportunities in markets outside their national boundaries.
Ensuring fair and open competition for public contracts, thereby allowing suppliers to derive the full benefits of the regional market and contracting authorities to choose from a more competitive and wider range of bids:
The private sector will most like emulate the public sector initiative by also publicly advertising for goods and services in the wider COMESA market given the other customs tariff benefits that will come about with the launch of the COMESA Customs Union in 2004.
How will the public be made aware of procurement opportunities?
To increase the level of awareness of procurement opportunities in the region, COMESA will use the Internet as a method of reaching the wider pool of potential suppliers in the regional market. The assumption made is that many companies, big and small, including individuals, now have access to the Internet. Under this system, interested suppliers will be able to log onto the COMESA Public Procurement Website through the main COMESA home page (<www.comesa.int>) to find out about procurement opportunities. The first tenders should start appearing on the COMESA website toward the end of 2004.