WASHINGTON — The World Bank’s public procurement reforms have already helped countries including Kenya and Ghana save hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to speakers at a panel event Friday.
However, other speakers at the event, which scrutinized the early impacts of the reforms during the World Bank Spring Meetings, warned the new approach must be combined with capacity building for governments and harmonized across multilateral banks to work effectively as a “tool for development.”
The World Bank reformed its procurement framework, which governs the way countries spend the institution’s annual $20 billion in investments, in 2015. The new approach puts greater emphasis on value for money, sustainability, innovation, and risk management, rather than the old model of selecting bids based on the lowest price.