The Sixth South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference will be held in Thimphu, Bhutan, from April 22-24, 2018. The Conference will be hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan and will be organized by the Procurement Policy Department (PPPD) of the Ministry of Finance of Bhutan. It will be co-sponsored by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
This is the sixth in row Conference following the conferences in Kathmandu (2011), Islamabad (2014), Dhaka (2015), Colombo/Kandy (2017), and New Delhi (2018). The regional conferences are an important feature of the evolving South Asia Region Public Procurement Network (SARPPN). The Sixth Conference will continue providing a mutual learning and networking platform for the heads of public procurement (HoPP), other government officials, procurement professionals and key stakeholders in South Asia, to meet and share experience, knowledge, innovations and ideas for making their public procurement systems more effective in utilization of public resources.
The SAR HoPP realize the importance and necessity of taking some further steps in improving the efficiency of their respective country public procurement systems through further increasing the capacity and the professionalism of the public procurement practitioners. Therefore, the theme of the Sixth Conference is: “Professionalization of Public Procurement for Better Performance
An important part of the past conferences is South Asia Procurement Innovation Award (SAPIA) ceremony. The main objective of SAPIA is sharing innovative approaches and best practices adopted by the procuring entities, which may be replicated across the region. The winning applicants will participate in the conference. The third SAPIA 2018 award ceremony and presentation of the awarded innovations and best practices will be held during the conference. Details are available at: https://www.procurementinet.org/sapia .
The event will be attended by about 100 participants. In addition to the heads of public procurement, participants will include high‐level government officials responsible for public procurement policymaking; oversight agencies; heads of the public procurement institutes in SAR and representatives from co-sponsors other international agencies active in SAR.
Sixth South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference on “Professionalization of Public Procurement for Better Performance” - April 22-24, 2019, Thimphu, Bhutan
By Plamen Kirov, Sr. Procurement Specialist, GGP-SIP, World Bank
The Sixth South Asia Region (SAR) Public Procurement Conference held in Thimphu, Bhutan, from April 22 – 24, 2019, brought together more than 100 participants, including SAR Heads of Public Procurement (HoPP), Secretary General and directors of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), representatives of the co-sponsors (the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), heads of procurement capacity building institutes from the eight SAR countries, high government officials, public procurement practitioners and policy makers. The regional conferences are an important feature of the evolving South Asia Region Public Procurement Network (SARPPN) and important part of the regional cooperation between public procurement officials from all SAR countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).
Hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan this was the sixth in row Conference, following the conferences in Kathmandu (2011), Islamabad (2014), Dhaka (2015), Colombo/Kandy (2017), and New Delhi (2018). All conferences were strongly supported by the governments of the SAR countries and the WB and other development partners.
Realizing the importance and necessity of increasing the capacity and the professionalism of the public procurement practitioners, all SAR HoPP unanimously agreed on the theme of the Sixth Conference: “Professionalization of Public Procurement for Better Performance”. The enhancement of the role of public procurement in promoting regional integration was also broadly discussed.
The Conference was inaugurated by Mr. Lyonpo Namgay Tshering, Finance Minister of Bhutan, who emphasized the importance of public procurement for efficient service delivery and sustainable growth. The SAARC Secretary General, Mr. Amjad Hussain B. Sial, praised the regional cooperation in public procurement among the eight countries and apprised the participants of the different SAARC initiatives for regional integration. The representatives of the co-sponsors stated that professionalization of public procurement both in terms of a career path and competencies building is essential for efficient procurement and for the achievement of value for money. They also praised Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh for taking concrete initiatives in this direction and encouraged the other SAR countries to follow them.
Experienced resource persons from U.K., USA, Indonesia, EU and Bhutan shared their experiences in professionalization of procurement. A representative of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (WAEMU) informed the participants about the positive role that public procurement has been playing in promoting regional integration amount the eight WAEMU member states. All countries made presentations, followed by discussions, on the status of the implementation of the reforms and modernizing their public procurement including on the introduction and operationalization of their electronic Government Procurement systems (one of the themes of the pervious Conferences).
In conclusion, the HoPP formulated a number of recommendations mainly addressing the professionalization of public procurement. These, among others, included: preparation of a model procurement competency framework for adoption by SAR countries; use of the South Asia University in Delhi as a hub for procurement capacity building in collaboration with the other existing SAR governmental procurement capacity building institutes. HoPP also agreed that Bhutan, as the current chair of the Conference, shall officially approach the SAARC Secretariat for including public procurement in the regional cooperation agenda.
The third South Asia Procurement Innovation Award 2018 ceremony was also held during the conference.
All winners received their trophies and their procurement innovations and best practices were presented during the ceremony. Details are available at: https://www.procurementinet.org/sapia.
Time | Topic | Resource Person |
DAY ONE – MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019 | ||
08:00-08:40 | Registration | |
Session 1 – Inauguration Session | ||
08:45 |
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08:45-09:00 |
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09:00-09:05 |
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09:05-09:15 |
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09:15-09:25 |
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09:25-09:35 |
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09:35-09:45 |
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09:45-09:55 |
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09:55-10:05 |
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10:05-10:15 |
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10:15-10:25 |
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10:25-10:40 |
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10:40-11:10 |
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11:10-11:40 | Coffee/tea break | |
11:40-12:20 | Supporting Professionalization of Public Procurement | Mr. Vinay Sharma, Director, Solutions and Innovations in Procurement, Governance, the World Bank |
12:20-13:00 | SAARC- Opportunities for Regional Cooperation and Integration in Public Procurement | Mr. Chanchal Chand Sarkar, Director, SAARC Secretariat |
13:00–14:00 | Lunch break | |
Session 2 –Professionalization of Procurement – Country Cases Moderator: Elmas Arisoy | ||
14:00-15:00 | Professionalization of Public Procurement and Capacity Building – A Country Perspective (USA) | Mr. Robert Gleason, Head of Public Procurement, Maryland |
15:00-15:30 | Coffee/tea break | |
15:30-16:30 | Procurement skills needs, approaches to skills building, testing and certification/accreditation | Mr. Malcolm Harrison, Group CEO, CIPS |
16:30–17:30 | Professionalization of Public Procurement and Capacity Building in EU member countries | Ms. Justyna Balasinska, Team Leader - Professionalization of Public Procurement, EC |
19:00 Reception by co-sponsors Venue: Banquet hall, Tshokhang
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DAY TWO – TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019 | ||
Session 3 - Procurement Relevant Topics Moderator: Jeff Taylor | ||
09:00 -10:00 | Dr. Eric Ky, Chief Public Procurement Reform Division Economic Policy Department WAEMU | |
10:00 -10:45 | Jamyang Dema Procurement Officer Government Procurement and Property Management Division Department of National Properties, Ministry of Finance, Bhutan | |
10:45 – 11:15 | Coffee/Tea break | |
11:15 – 12:30 | An example of Professionalization of Public Procurement (Indonesia) | Mr. Robin A. Suryo Deputy Chairman for Human Resources Development, National Public Procurement Agency (NPPA), Jakarta |
12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch break | |
Session 4 – Country Presentations covering status of public procurement professionalization and capacity building, e-GP, contract management, and future one-year action plan Moderator: Ian Nightingale | ||
13:30 – 13:55 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
13:55 – 14:20 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
14:20 – 14:45 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
14:45 – 15:15 | Coffee/Tea | |
15:15 – 15:40 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
15:40 – 16:05 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
16:05 – 16:30 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
16:30 – 16:55 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
16:55 – 17:20 | Head of Public Procurement/authorized person | |
18:00 Dinner by Host at Terma Linca Resort and Spa, Babesa | ||
DAY THREE – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 2019 | ||
Session 5 –Discussions on Topics of Interest Moderator: Issa Modi Ide | ||
09:00 – 10:00 | Use of e-GP for meaningful collection and analyses of public procurement data, including public procurement system performance measurement (Bangladesh) | Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Senior System Analyst, CPTU, IMED, Ministry of Planning Bangladesh |
10:00-10:45 | Topics of interest for discussions: New Innovations in electronic procurement technologies; green and sustainable procurement; | HoPP’s and resource persons |
10:45 – 11:15 | Coffee/tea break |
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11:15 - 12:30 | Topics of interest for discussions (contd.): Life-cycle costing; contract management, etc. | HoPP’s and resource persons |
12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch break | |
Session 6
| Group Work Moderator: Zafrul Islam |
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13:30-16:00 | Participants break into three groups and will be assigned the themes as follows:
Group 1 - What actions to take to support professionalization of procurement?
Group 2 – How to make effective use of available innovative tools for procurement skills development?
Group 3 What actions to take at country level to enhance the role of public procurement in promoting regional integration | Chairs explain the objective of group discussions and provide guidelines.
Participants join their respective groups a list of team members of which will be placed on the notice board and start discussions.
Each group will elaborate some practical regional actions
Each group discussion will be supported by facilitators and rapporteurs to be identified.
Each group will present 2 to 3 key actions to be included in the action plan of the Sixth Conference. |
16:00-16:30 | Coffee/tea break |
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16:30 – 18:00 | South Asia Procurement Innovation/Best Practices Awards 2018 - Distribution Ceremony | Moderator: Plamen Kirov, Coordinator SAPIA 2018 |
18:00 – 18:30 | Wrap up and way forward | Elmas Arisoy, WB; Jeff Taylor, ADB; Issa Ide, IsDB; Ian Nightingale, AIIB and Karma Wangdi, Officiating Director General |
18:30 | Closing | |
