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NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY 2020 Association of Chartered Certified Accountants November 2020 About ACCA ACCA is the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Were a thriving global community of 227,000 members and 544,000 future members based in 176 countries that upholds the highest professional and ethical values. We believe that accountancy is a cornerstone profession of society that supports both public and private sectors. Thats why were committed to the development of a strong global accountancy profession and the many benefits that this brings to society and individuals. Since 1904 being a force for public good has been embedded in our purpose. And because were a not-for-profit organisation, we build a sustainable global profession by re-investing our surplus to deliver member value and develop the profession for the next generation. Through our world leading ACCA Qualification, we offer everyone everywhere the opportunity to experience a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management. And using our respected research, we lead the profession by answering todays questions and preparing us for tomorrow. Find out more about us at NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY Effective policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic must take account of both the health and economic implications of the current crisis. Reforming public procurement is one such area where new models of policy and practice can achieve both. By improving and transforming how public procurement is managed, governments can generate significant financial savings while delivering high-quality goods and services to meet urgent demand. If done well, public procurement also has the potential to meet the wider social and environmental goals that are too often left behind. Rachel Bleetman Research and Policy Manager (Public Sector), ACCA AUTHORS Alex Metcalfe Global Head of Public Sector, ACCA Public procurement, normally a sleepy compliance backwater, has been front and centre of the worlds response to COVID-19 as governments have scrambled to procure protective masks, gloves and medical equipment. But emergency procurement comes with a price. Traditional checks and balances have taken a back seat to ensure a fast response. Around the world, governments needing to respond quickly and efficiently to the emergency often struggled under archaic and ineffective, paper-based systems. In the early days of the pandemic, we saw a hunger games as different parts of government tried to secure supplies, with little coordination and different parts of the same government bidding against each other. Direct awards used in emergency procurement mean less oversight and substantially increase the risk for overpricing, mismanagement, and favoritism. Weve all read the horror stories from raspberry farms to vodka distilleries to organised crime associates claiming they can provide ICU ventilators or other vital equipment. As the balance of power has shifted from buyer to supplier, a lack of coordination, data, and transparency have put many levels of government at a disadvantage. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said earlier this year, spend but keep the receipts. We dont want accountability and transparency to take a back seat in this crisis. All pandemic spending needs to be public and it needs to be accounted for. Yet there is hope, as this new exciting report shows. New and better ways to do procurement are coming through and theyve proved themselves during the pandemic. At the Open Contracting Partnership, we have been working with over 50 governments both in the OECD and non-OECD to open up and transform public procurement as a smart, user-centred digital service with standardized open data to enable automated data gathering and the opportunity to track and analyze the process, in real time. Those countries that have done this properly, who have invested in rethinking their procurement processes to make it more user-centred, more inclusive, driven by open data, who have made an effort to engage businesses beyond the usual suspects have been much more resilient during the pandemic. And as the report also makes clear, this really matters for all of us. One in every three dollars spent by government is on a contract with a company. Public procurement is central to delivering the goods, works and services on which we all depend. The figures herein clearly show a major gap in the perception of the value being delivered through procurement. It is telling that the private sector thinks the government could be doing a better job with its spending better data and moving the culture of procurement to being more innovative and performance- based would make a big difference. So, lets use this report and its lessons to build back better. Engaging and responding to businesses and citizens leads to better planning, contracting and contract management processes, engineering feedback loops into public contracting encourages competition, fair play and better performance. Change is hard, especially in the risk adverse world of procurement but it is clearly possible and its working. During a challenging three months weve seen three-to- five years worth of innovation. Governments are enabling electronic processes, accelerating and expanding data coverage to include information on products and product codes (including tagging contracts with COVID-19), increasing data analytics and dashboards and linking up information on project planning to public contracts via standardised open data. Weve also witnessed a jump to more innovation partnerships with the private sector. It is vital to count on the expertise and insight by the ACCA and its members. Its not just about the rules, but about the outcomes: Fairer competition and a level playing field for business, especially smaller firms, higher-quality goods, works, and services for citizens, increased integrity and preventing corruption and fraud, and finally, better solutions for public problems. So read on and then act. Open Contracting Partnership and the ACCA are here to help and this report is packed with actionable ideas to get you started. Foreword Dr Gavin Hayman Executive Director, Open Contracting Partnership 4 Contents Executive summary 7 1. Introduction 10 Methodology 13 Public procurement: Objectives and challenges 13 2. Eliminating bribery and corruption 16 3. Improving the buyersupplier relationship and promoting competition 23 4. Modernising and refocusing procurement to meet the challenges of a post-COVID-19 world 29 5. Public procurement as a tool in the COVID-19 recovery 37 Conclusion 43 References 44 Acknowledgements: ACCA would like to thank our Public Sector Global Forum members for their review and comments and the Open Contracting Partnership for their insights, graphics and commentary. 5 THE GLOBAL FINANCE PROFESSION IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER TO HELP TRANSFORM HOW THE PUBLIC SECTOR RESPONDS TO THE CRISIS. NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This timely report, New models of public procurement: A tool for sustainable recovery, uses survey data and in-depth discussion points from over 1000 ACCA members and affiliates to examine the biggest challenges facing public procurement and lay out key recommendations on how best to tackle these. The findings and recommendations fall into four main categories: n eliminating bribery and corruption n competition and the buyersupplier relationship n modernisation and sustainability n COVID-19 and the public procurement need for speed Our research is born out of a growing need to ensure that public spending during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic is not only made more efficient and cost- effective, but that it is used as an opportunity to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time, including environmental catastrophe and rising social inequalities. The role for finance professionals in helping to make, monitor and evaluate these changes is significant and, as this report demonstrates, the global finance profession is needed now more than ever to help transform how the public sector responds to the crisis. The key recommendations from the report are set out in Table 1.1. Executive summary TABLE 1.1: Key recommendations arising from ACCAs research Eliminating bribery and corruption n Governments should adopt an e-Procurement system for the efficient management of the procurement process and publish reusable data from the system for monitoring and oversight using the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS). n Governments should make it a condition of the validity of the awarded contracts that they are published in a centralised register of contracts to ensure full visibility, transparency and accountability of public authorities. n Auditors and finance professionals should engage with Red Flag analysis to use this data to identify and predict occurrences of corruption and bribery in the procurement process. n Audits should become commonplace in all public procurement procedures and they should begin as early as possible in a bid to reduce the likelihood of corruption, while ensuring that the auditors do not become part of the process. Finance professionals and auditors must play an active but independent role in the procurement process from start to finish having access to this data is vital in ensuring they can do this most effectively. 7 NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Improving the buyersupplier relationship and promoting competition n Governments should adopt an e-Procurement system and publish the subsequent data from the system by using the OCDS to improve awareness of upcoming and awarded contracts and ultimately widen the pool of potential suppliers particularly SMEs. This data will enable auditors and finance professionals to monitor procurement better and allow their role to evolve into a more advisory one in the overall process. n The digitalisation of public procurement will help simplify and streamline the process for public contracts encouraging more SMEs to participate in the process and widening the available pool of bidders. Specifically, governments should ensure that digital platforms for procurement provide SMEs with better tools for engagement such as free-of-charge training for how best to bid on contracts and they should reduce the administrative burden required for bids to encourage SME participation. Dividing up tenders into lots can make large bids more accessible for smaller suppliers. n Use the skills of auditors and finance professionals when working to improve the relationship between bidder and supplier. Employing performance-management techniques early in the process to monitor progress and providing feedback to unsuccessful bidders can help improve current commercial relationships and foster better working relationships in the future. n Governments should create a Register of Suppliers Poor Performance (see Northern Ireland example) to document suppliers who have failed to address poor performance while fulfilling a contract with the government. Modernising and refocusing procurement to meet the challenges of a post-COVID-19 World n Governments must ensure that when embarking on digitisation reforms, e-Invoicing is developed as an integrated part of e-Procurement systems. Doing so can improve the quality of public goods and services, generate financial savings and help keep SMEs in business by paying invoices on time. n Open, accessible and transparent data should be made available as a fundamental part of these reforms so auditors and finance professionals can monitor public procurement practices to assess the specific impact of late payments on SMEs and the public sector purse. n Auditors and finance professionals should play an active role in creating sustainable public procurement (SPP) action plans that set out how public procurement processes will incorporate important sustainability and social value targets when contracts are awarded. n These action plans should be accompanied by concrete evaluation guidelines and metrics to enable finance professionals and auditors to measure sustainable public procurement practices as part of national and local efforts to monitor progress towards the SDGs particularly target 12.7. Public procurement as a tool in the COVID-19 recovery n Ensure that emergency contracting procedures allow for the flexibility needed to tackle the crisis but are only used when absolutely necessary and have transparency safeguards in place to prevent corruption. n Use public procurement as an opportunity to keep businesses in particular, SMEs afloat by publishing contracts early on centralised, open databases that are accessible to all. n Maintain momentum in achieving the SDGs by purchasing from sustainable and socially minded businesses. The process for selecting suppliers must be made faster but should still include evaluation methods that account for sustainability and social values. n Centralise purchasing using central purchasing bodies to prevent government-to-government competition in the market, reduce prices and make auditing easier. n Ensure that all procurement activity is transparent and available to finance professionals and auditors in real time, so they can monitor public spending to help prevent cost inefficiencies and corruption. 8 NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9 FIGURE 1.1: Global public procurement spend How the world compares in public procurement spending (in USD) n Under $40bn n $40bn-$100bn n $100bn 1. Introduction At the national level, this represents about one-third of total government spend (Guerry and Martins 2018) The proportion of GDP spent on public procurement is largely comparable across low-income, middle-income and high-income countries, meaning this is a truly global phenomenon (Bosio and Djankov 2020) (Figure 1.1). NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT | 1. INTRODUCTION Public procurement, the process by which the public sector purchases goods, services and works from the private sector (World Bank 2020), accounts for around 8.5 trillion US dollars of annual global expenditure (Guerry and Martins 2018). As spending on public procurement is such a significant proportion of overall government expenditure for the majority of countries around the world, optimising it is critical. Public procurement often supports the delivery of vital goods and services to the public, including administering efficient and high-quality healthcare systems, distributing energy to households and building essential infrastructure. 1 Maps kindly provided to the report authors by the Open Contracting Partnership in October 2020. Source: Open Contracting Partnership 1 10 NEW MODELS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT | 1. INTRODUCTION Through conducting a survey of over 1000 ACCA members and affiliates working in both the public and
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