DevBusiness: Mapping out bilateral donor procurement

The world’s largest foreign aid donors continue to find ways to stretch their resources without sacrificing the impact and effectiveness of their development programs. For many agencies, procurement reform has been the answer. Bilateral donors, in particular, are constantly re-examining and tweaking their procurement guidelines and practices to facilitate fair competition and find the best implementing partners. And while there are some procurement similarities across donors, there are also plenty of differences and nuances which only become discernable upon cross-check and comparison of donor procurement processes. At Devex, we like to remind our members that staying on top of procurement rules and funding trends can simply make the difference between winning and losing contract bids. Moreover, understanding procurement at a tactical level holds major implications for organizations looking to work with new donors and diversify their sources of development funding. So in close collaboration and consultation with donor procurement officials and experts, Devex mapped out the competitive procurement processes of the world’s leading bilateral donor agencies: the U.S. Agency for International Development, European Commission, U.K. Department for International Development, and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We hope these procurement process guides are easily accessible and referenceable for business development professionals and proposal managers looking to gain an edge in what is an increasingly competitive international development business environment. Doing business with USAID: A procurement process guide USAID’s competitive processes are classified as either acquisition or assistance. Under acquisition, the aid agency bids out contracts and purchases goods and services that are essential to its operations. USAID assistance encompasses grants and cooperative agreements that enable program implementation through the transfer of resources to implementing partners. See what firms have been successful with USAID: Top USAID contractors for 2014 Doing business with EuropeAid: A procurement process guide While the European Commission officially untied aid in 2005, EuropeAid has not completely opened up its procurement process. In most cases, EuropeAid’s stringent eligibility criteria only allows participation from organizations that either operate in EU member states, operate within the European Economic Area, or within the contract’s country of performance. See what firms have been successful with EuropeAID: Top EuropeAid contractors for 2014 Doing business with DfID: A procurement process guide DfID has tightened its procurement processes in recent years, but remains open for business. In an effort to maximize its aid budget and achieve value for money, U.K.’s premiere aid agency has set stricter rules in screening applications, most notably by requiring all contracts worth more than 1 million pounds ($1.54 million) to be reviewed by the U.K. Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening. See what firms have been successful with DfID: Top DfID contractors for 2014 Doing business with DFAT: A procurement process guide Following the amalgamation of Australian Agency for International Development into DFAT in 2013, the aid agency established a mechanism for awarding additional financing as an incentive for its high-performing partners. DFAT’s Performance Incentive Fund will award successful projects by providing additional resources. Meanwhile, projects that fail to deliver expected results are bound to be terminated if there are no tangible improvements within the year. See what firms have been successful with DFAT: Top DFAT contractors for 2014 Found this article useful? Let us know what other donors you’d like to see mapped out. Check out more funding trends analyses online, and subscribe to Money Matters to receive the latest contract award and shortlist announcements, and procurement and fundraising news.