Despite trillions of dollars at stake in government contracts globally, procurement reform seems to have a public relations problem.
The World Bank has tasked its new Governance Global Practice with professionalizing procurement systems in developing countries, by partnering with national ministries willing to take on the challenge. That is in part because the bank's procurement reforms include a commitment to work increasingly through country's own procurement systems. That can only happen if ministries are equipped to handle procurement for major development projects — and if they're convinced that upgrading their processes is worth the time and effort.
One obstacle: finance ministers don’t always see procurement as ‘sexy’, as one procurement expert pointed out at this year’s World Bank spring meetings. And in turn, when it comes to setting priorities, those same finance ministers struggle to sell procurement reform to their own colleagues.
About the author
Jeff Tyson@jtyson21
Jeff is a former global development reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers multilateral affairs, U.S. aid, and international development trends. He has worked with human rights organizations in both Senegal and the U.S., and prior to joining Devex worked as a production assistant at National Public Radio. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from the University of Rochester.
