Public Procurement Capacity Building The Government of Kyrgyz Republic initiated public procurement reform in 1994 and passed the first Public Procurement Law (PPL) in April 1997. Since then, the countryâ€™s legislative framework for public procurement has been under regular development. The Government enacted a new PPL in April 2004 (which took effect on May 24, 2004). This PPL reflected some Bankâ€™s recommendations and was substantially in line with international standards. The PPL spelled out the major principles of public procurement process, identified the parties to which PPL is applicable, defined the mandate and authority of the State Agency on Public Procurement and Material Reserves (SAPPMR), and outlined the stages of procurement process. However, SAPPMR, established as an independent public procurement oversight body, was abolished in October 2009 as a part of the Government reorganization. Instead, a new Department on Public Procurement Methodology has been established under MOF. In 2010 Department on Public Procurement Methodology started preparation of draft amendment to PPL and emphasized that its priority is development and implementation of Conception for Country Public Procurement System Improvement including introduction of e-procurement. Training Center under the Ministry of Finance (MoFTI) resumed providing trainings on application of PPL for governmental officials. PPL was subsequently revised on July 8, 2011. The main objectives of the amendments to the PPL are to formally introduce e-procurement, and to limit the permission power of regulatory agency to influence the process of public procurement conducted by procuring entities. 	As such, budget entities have become solely responsible for the procurement process, with no regular oversight from other government bodies.  Random external audits are conducted by the Chamber of Accounts once every two years.  This decision seriously undermines a system of checks and balances in public procurement and creates a responsibility gap for assuring the quality of public procurement, especially given that the public sector internal audit is weak. This heightens corruption risks in procurement.   The Bank conducted Kyrgyz Country Procurement Status Review (CPSR) in 2012 and the findings indicate lack of procurement capacity to carry out efficient public procurement is affecting all sectors. To improve the procurement performance and development effectiveness, there is need to have a capacity building program to produce competent procurement professionals in a sustained manner. In public sector there is no specialized public procurement training center.  Hence MoFTI was identified by PPMD to develop public procurement training. The Government is revising the Public Procurement Law and is in process of developing implementation regulations and SBDs. After achieving reasonable legal and regulatory framework in line with international best practices, the next priority is to build capacity to implement the new legal and regulatory framework. MoFTI has developed public procurement training strategy and budget for implementation. This grant, if approved, will be timely intervention to build procurement capacity to achieve development effectiveness.  PPMD will develop testing tools and provide basic public procurement e-learning module for procurement staff and other stakeholders. PPMD will develop transparent certification process for basic public procurement staff and advanced certification for public procurement professionals.  In addition, new draft PPL sets for independent complaint review commission. Once established, this commission will require substantial capacity building and revisions of the review mechanisms.