The U.K. Department for International Development released a new code of conduct for suppliers on Friday (Jan. 18), the latest in what promises to be a series of guidelines resulting from an internal spending review launched in September.
The two-page document lays out DfID’s “expectations” for its suppliers in somewhat vague terms - to “improve value for money,” for instance, act accountably and pursue DfID’s stated international development goals. A department spokesperson told Devex that the two-pager serves as the full guideline and no other document would supplement it.
Suppliers are expected to put into writing how they plan to deliver on their commitments. And if they don’t follow through, “the payment they receive will reflect that,” the spokesperson said.
DfID has been pushing its top suppliers to render their support for the new guideline, and several of them have already done so, the spokesperson added without naming exactly which ones. The list of top suppliers that DfID is negotiating with includes Mott MacDonald, PwC, Atos, DAI, Coffey, ASI, Options, GRM, HTSPE, KPMG, Crown Agents and Maxwell Stamp.
“They can choose really on whether to sign up to it,” the DfID spokesperson told Devex. “But if they don’t, that could be something taken into consideration when we’re in the pre-qualification part of the tendering process, when we’re considering into doing business with them in the future.”
DfID plans to also share the new rule to its other suppliers in the coming weeks. Looking at the first shortlist of 12, it appears as if the agency is pursuing partners that provide a variety of goods, works and technical assistance services.
The guideline is one of a series of actions the department plans to take after launching an internal spending review in September. That spending review is now complete, the DfID spokesperson told Devex.
Among the announcements DfID plans to make in the coming days is a guide to circumstances that warrant in-house work versus the use of external suppliers.
Read more:
Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
