Doing business with IDB: A procurement process guide

A year after being elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank in 2005, Luis Alberto Moreno introduced reforms to recalibrate the bank’s programming and streamline its operations. Resulting in significant changes in IDB management and staffing, the reforms had four main objectives: ▪ Develop sectoral expertise. ▪ Enhance country focus. ▪ Bolster risk- and results-based management capacity. ▪ Improve institutional efficiency. These reforms came at a time when IDB is battling the perception that it has lost its relevance in Latin America and the Caribbean, its main region of focus. The realignment was implemented to help the bank respond more efficiently to the region’s development challenges, stay competitive amid the rise of new development finance sources and sharpen its focus on results. Eight years after the realignment, IDB’s Office of Oversight and Evaluations noted that while the reforms succeeded in deepening sectoral and country focus, it was not able to achieve all of its objectives. The realignment was unable to yield improvements in managing project cycles. Further, the reforms actually caused delays in procurement. IDB-financed projects are administered by borrower countries and their designated executing agencies. IDB approves the project’s budget and related components, but it is the executing agency that prepares tenders and determines the appropriate procurement method. The infographic below provides a basic guide to IDB’s procurement process. Check out more practical business and development advice online, and subscribe to Money Matters to receive the latest contract award and shortlist announcements, and procurement and fundraising news.