How to win contracts with the World Bank

How do you win a contract for a project funded by the World Bank? Devex spoke to sources at the institution itself and got answers straight from the horse’s mouth. Here are eight principles to follow. 1. Understand the relationship A World Bank contract involves both the country commissioning the work and the World Bank itself. The country is the final decision-maker, but the World Bank has a lot of influence over the process. It approves both the bidding process and the final awards, and there are significant common elements to all bids for World Bank work. Bidders need to understand who the key players are at each stage of the process, what their needs are, and where it’s necessary to engage. One of the advantages of working for the bank is that it is a very reliable customer. It will pay its debts and meet its contractual obligations. Although the bank works with host countries to deliver contracts, it sets clear standards and says that its rules supersede domestic law — an important point for bidders worried about government customers with the power to settle any dispute in their own courts. 2. Identify where to bid The World Bank is looking for expertise and knowledge about particular countries and sectors. The recommendation is to research areas of the world and particular areas of interest to the bank and its customers, such as health, infrastructure, or environment where your organization has knowledge and a track record, and to use that research to leverage a competitive advantage. A key concept is to identify the correct size of the contract. World Bank contracts vary considerably in size, depending on country and sector, so there are opportunities for companies of many different sizes. Consulting contracts, in particular, are frequently won by smaller entities. 3. Do your homework Bidding for World Bank contracts takes a significant degree of engagement and knowledge. It also rewards persistence and learning how the bank works. But this means that there is a lot to learn. The bank shares information about everything from how to complain to how it calculates value for money, to what it considers sustainable procurement practices. The more a bidder knows about procurement regulations and bidding directions, the better the chance of winning a bid. The World Bank stresses the importance of having good data on its projects, and it aims to have a high level of transparency. The bank also has a procurement app that can be used to sort contracts by region, sector, and value. The bank publishes monthly summaries containing information on its pipeline, and procurement plans are published for every project. It also publishes data on who is winning which bids. 4. Think long term The World Bank’s advice is to set a long-term strategy and anticipate that early rounds of bidding may involve getting to know the bank’s approach and understanding where your organization’s competitive advantage lies. Successful World Bank bidders tend to be those who have built an understanding of how to bid over years. Thinking long term also involves looking at country priorities. The World Bank does a lot of analytical work with individual countries to identify priorities for particular projects. So understanding each country’s strategy and likely pipeline of projects in a particular sector is key to being correctly positioned when a tender is released. 5. Ask the right questions The bank prides itself on openness and transparency during the early parts of a bidding process. So always ask, never guess, when there isn’t clarity over what’s needed in a contract. The bank’s philosophy is that it wants quality proposals and that bidders need all the information to submit those bids. Early engagement is key. The well-worn advice is that if you wait until a contract is released to tender, rather than engaging in the development stages, your organization is likely to be at a significant disadvantage, and World Bank procurement appears to follow the same processes. In some cases, embassies can help. Some embassies gather information on contracts in particular countries that their nationals may be interested in winning. Bank experts talk about market feedback and consultation with providers to develop solutions. So there may also be opportunities to feed in at this stage on how the project is designed. There is a lot of work that can be done to understand how a project was conceived and developed, and what has led to a country issuing this particular contract instead of another one — and this process is essential when trying to understand exactly what it is that the World Bank and its partners really want to see delivered. But all of this needs to take place before bids are submitted. Once the submission process begins, there is no real space for further engagement. 6. Follow the rules Although it is the borrower who makes the final decision, it is done within a framework agreed with the World Bank, and the bank monitors contracts to ensure that everything is done within the rules. The World Bank is looking for experience, good management, and sound financials, as well as organizations with strong records in areas such as human rights and the environment. It is also looking for organizations with a record of delivering on their commitments. For this reason, it’s important that organizations looking to work with the bank have a history of good conduct. Similarly, as with any contract, winning future work is about showing that your past work is good. The World Bank has mechanisms to disqualify contractors who have previously not done what was asked on other World Bank projects. More practically, following the rules involves ticking all the boxes in a bid. Companies are regularly rejected from World Bank contracts because they have failed to follow precise bidding rules. Finally, the World Bank is focused on honesty. Unsurprisingly, the advice is to be truthful in your submissions. 7. Get feedback Finally, there is a chance to learn all the way through the process. Bidders for bank contracts often find that they have limited success with the first deals they bid for, but the World Bank is open to offering feedback on why bids were judged in a particular way. This obviously offers opportunities to object if procurement rules have not been followed, but it also offers a chance to put in bids that meet the bank’s needs on future occasions. In theory, given how standardized bank procurement is, information learned on one project should be highly applicable to another. 8. Speak up if you’re not happy Feedback flows two ways. The bank also prides itself on its dispute resolution mechanisms. Where there are legitimate disagreements about a contract, the bank says that it is keen to give all parties the right to register an issue and be heard. There is a window following notification of the intent to award a contract, in which any issues can be addressed. So if you feel there have been issues with how a contract is awarded, there is a space to say so. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.