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A case story on pathbreaking reform submitted by the Department of Public Finance of the Ministry of Finance was named the Best Country Case Story at the first South Asia Procurement Innovation Award 2016-2017, held during the 4th South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference, which concluded in Kandy.
The 4th South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference was held under the theme ‘Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) in South Asia – Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges’ in Colombo and Kandy from 20-23 February.
The conference was hosted by the Department of Public Finance of the Ministry of Finance and co-sponsored by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank. The heads of public procurement of South Asian countries, high-level Government officials responsible for public procurement policymaking, oversight agencies and representatives from several development partners active in Sri Lanka were among the conference’s participants.
The South Asia Regional Public Procurement Network (SAPPN) with the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and Procurement iNET have launched the South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards 2016-17 in partnership with the South Asia Regional Public Procurement Network (SAPPN), Asian Development Bank and Procurement iNET with the objective of enhancing learning and knowledge sharing through innovative approaches and systems adapted by procurement entities across the region.
Promoted by all member countries of SAPPN, an overwhelming response of 84 case stories were received from Government and public sector organisations, universities, research institutions, NGOs/CBOs, etc. and assessed on the basis of the level of innovation, replicability and sustainability. These entries were based on five focal themes, namely market interactions and contributions leading to innovative procurement solutions, the use of ICT for procurement management and useful management information, performance- focused procurement reforms and capacity development, innovative procurement and contract management solutions for challenging and fragile environments and citizen engagement in procurement management and oversight.
Out of 84 case stories, seven winning entries from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were picked during the technical sessions of the South Asia Procurement Conference held in Kandy, Sri Lanka on 21 February.
The innovative case story submitted under the focal theme of ‘Performance- focused procurement reforms and capacity development’ by the Department of Public Finance of the Ministry of Finance claimed the first prize. It is briefly described below.
In the past the regional development policy in Sri Lanka tended to achieve development by means of large-scale infrastructure developments by attracting inward investments where investors and contractors were from other regions or countries. Although there are a sufficient number of regional contractors who are capable of undertaking various construction and renovation projects, it has been reported that such contracts were awarded to large-scale national level contractors coming from outside the respective regions, especially, the Western Province.
Consequently, the absence of adequate comprehensive development policies and programs for subnational regions in the periphery of the country has led to the following major issues today in spatial development in Sri Lanka.
A fruitful reform initiated by the Department of Public Finance to reduce the regional disparity by maximising the opportunities of regional contractors in regional contracts, thus increasing employment activities and employment generation in the regions, is the policy basis for the country’s case story.
The case story submitted by the Department of Public Finance on the attempt to use preferential procurement as a tool for regional development, which allows regions to foster growth, received the first prize at the first South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards 2016-2017.
More details about the South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards and its winners can be viewed at www.procurementinet.org/south-asia-procurement-innovation-awards-winners.
