RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/WGTGP/W/20/Add.8
24 June 1999
(99-2576)
Working Group on Transparency
in Government ProcurementOriginal:  English
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:  INFORMATION FROM
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
WORLD BANK
Addendum
At its meeting of 22 June 1998, the Working Group agreed to request the Secretariat to
provide information on the technical cooperation programmes of international and regional
intergovernmental organizations in the area of gove rnment procurement, so as to enable the Group to
have as complete a picture as possible of the availability of technical assistance in this field.
In consequence, the Secretariat wrote to relevant international and regional intergovernmental
organizations requesting them to provide such information.  The present document reproduces the
information which has been received in response from the World Bank by means of a communication,
dated 8 June 1999.
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General
The World Bank policy unit, OCSPR, issued a new procurement directive in June 1998
revising the Country Procurement Assessment Re view (CPAR).  In FY99, approximately 20 CPARs
were initiated in the six regions of the Bank (see the attached list of countries).  Each review includesthe joint Bank/government development of an action plan to improve the public procurement system
in the country under review.  The World Bank anticipates major growth in the area of support for
procurement reform activities as the Bank continues to conduct CPARs and finance implementation
of activities in the action plans.
To date, the Bank has neither tracked nor maintained data on the implementation of
procurement technical assistance activities.  Most  of the financing is provided under financial
management or public sector development projects that are designed and managed outside the
procurement family.
Bank procurement staff are actively involved in providing procurement training, advice and
assistance in the Bank's client countries.  Procurement training is provided as part of the
implementation process for every new project.  In addition, the Bank works closely with the ILO
International Training Center in Turin, Italy and several institutions in Africa to provide procurement
training for staff from our client countries.  Most of this training is Bank-specific intended to ensureproper implementation of the Bank's procurement guidelines.  However, as the guidelines are based
on international practices, they have been a source of development of procurement skills and
knowledge.  In addition, the standard bidding documents prepared for use on Bank-financed projects
have been adapted by many countries for use in their public procurement system.WT/WGTGP/W/20/Add.8
Page 2
Specific Information by Regions
Latin America/Caribbean Region
1. Procurement Components in Bank-financed Projects
The LCR regional portfolio includes projects for public sector modernization and for financial
and fiscal management in several countries (Hondura s, Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina, Colombia,
Bolivia, etc.).  Many of these include technical assistance, either directly or indirectly, to national
procurement authorities as part of a broader programme of public sector reform.  One concrete
example of this type of work is in Jamaica.
Jamaica:  Public Sector Modernization Project:  This Bank-financed project, currently under
implementation, includes a US$2 million component to address Government Procurement,
Contracting, Internal Control and Auditing.  Amon g other activities, the component is financing the
establishment of a Procurement Policy Implementation Unit  in the Inspectorate Division of the
Ministry of Finance;  and institutional strengthening of the office of the Contractor General  and of
Procurement/Contracting Units  and Procurement Committees  in several Ministries.
New Projects under Preparation:  As you know, we intend to include similar procurement
components in new projects, as opportunities are identified through our work on CPARs (see below),
Country Assistance Strategies (CASs), and other ongoi ng dialogues with our borrowers.  In particular,
we expect to include investments in capacity-building in Public Sector Modernization projects in
Trinidad and Tobago  (e.g. through assistance to Central Tenders Board, strengthening of
procurement research and supervision capacity, and establishing a training centre) and in Guyana.
2. Country Procurement Assessment Reports (CPARs)
New format CPARs are planned for Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic,
Haiti and Uruguay in FY99.  A possible CPAR is also under discussion for Paraguay.  As you know,
one of the key purposes of the new CPAR format is to help governments to increase their capacity to
manage and monitor the procurement process.  The design of detailed action plans for institutional
improvements as part of these CPARs will constitute the delivery of technical assistance in this area.
Financing for the CPARs will be provided by th e Bank's own administrative budget, supplemented by
Strategic Compact funding.  Work is already under way on the Guyana  CPAR and a plan of action to
improve procurement processes in the country will be agreed upon with the Guyanese Government by
the end of September.
3. Procurement Training delivered by Bank Staff and Consultants
LCR regional procurement staff and consultants regularly deliver about ten "Country"
Procurement Seminars per year to government officials of  the agencies implementing Bank-financed
projects.  While these seminars focus primarily on the application of the  Bank's own Guidelines for
Procurement and for Consultants Selection in Bank-funded projects, the fact that the Bank's
guidelines are based in widely accepted international business practices makes the seminars a sort of
introduction to international procurement procedures for government agencies.
In addition, through a new training initiative in Peru, Bank staff will provide technical
assistance by leading a series of seminars as part of the Peruvian Government's efforts to establish a
national programme for procurement training of government officials (a sort of "procurement
college").  Topics covered by the seminars will include anti-corruption measures, procurement andprivatization, international trade, legal and regulatory frameworks, etc.WT/WGTGP/W/20/Add.8
Page 3
Funding for such procurement training usually comes from the Bank's own administrative
budget, although Institutional Development Fund (IDF) grants have also been used to launch
training-of-trainers programme in Brazil, and the new initiative in Peru is expected to be funded
entirely by the Government.
East Asia/Pacific Region
Technical Assistance Projects in the Philippines and China to establish ongoing procurement
training facilities through local training institutions to provide training related to implementation of
Bank-financed projects as well as improve public sector procurement.WT/WGTGP/W/20/Add.8
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ATTACHMENT
List of Country Procurement Assessment Reviews
Africa Region
Mali
Niger
Mauritania
Guinea
Benin
East Asia/Pacific Region
Viet Nam
South Asia Region
Pakistan
Europe and Central Asia Region
Croatia
Bulgaria
Romania
Latin America/Caribbean Region
Guyana
Dominican Republic
Uruguay
Haiti
GuatemalaHonduras
Trinidad and Tobago
Nicaragua
Middle East/North Africa Region
Jordan
Morocco
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