The evolution of the world bank’s procurement framework: Reform and coherence for the 21st centur
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Published date | 01 March 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-16-01-2016-B002 |
| Pages | 22-51 |
| Author | Sope Williams-Elegbe |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 16, ISSUE 1, 22-51 SPRING 2016
THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD BANK’S PROCUREMENT
FRAMEWORK: REFORM AND COHERENCE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Sope Williams-Elegbe*
ABSTRACT. In 2011, the World Bank announced its intention to conduct a
holistic review and reform of its procurement framework. This reform was
intended to ensure that its procurement system, which is the means through
which the Bank disburses developmental loans and grants is in line with
modern trends in procurement, is flexible enough to respond to unforeseen
challenges and is coherent. This paper examines both how Bank
procurement has evolved since the first formal regulations were issued in
1964 and the implications of the recent reforms for the Bank and its
borrowers. Readers will see that ongoing reforms evidence a significant
change for the Bank’s approach to procurement and its relationship with its
borrowers and will dramatically affect the way the Bank-funded
procurements are conducted.
INTRODUCTION
The World Bank is a multilateral development bank established
by virtue of the Bretton Woods agreement to provide reconstruction
finance to the countries devastated by World War II (Alecevich, 2009).
The success of the Bank in doing this meant that it soon refocused its
objectives to provide development finance to “under-developed”
countries (Morais, 2004). In response to calls for the Bank to take a
more proactive role in fighting corruption in Bank-financed projects
and doing more to entrench good governance in Bank borrowers,
(Winters, 2002), the Bank began to impose good-governance and
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* Sope Williams-Elegbe, Ph.D., is a Resear ch Fellow and the Deputy Director
of the African Public Procurement Regulation Research Unit, Faculty of Law,
Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Law,
Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her research interests lie in the
areas of public procurement reform, developing country procurement, anti -
corruption, ethics, transparency and corporate governance.
Copyright © 2016 by PrAcademics Press
EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD BANK’S PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK: REFORM AND COHERENCE 23
anti-corruption requirement s on borrower cou ntries where it provides
structural lending or finances a development project (World Bank,
2006). In addition, the Bank has for decades required that the
procurement process for funded projects be conducted according to
Bank mandated procedures and has often updated these procedures
to take into account new challenges or innovations (World Bank
Procurement Guidelines, 2011).
In many ways, the Bank (and the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) have been at the forefront of
shaping the international procurement landscape. However, one of
the challenges for the World Bank’s procurement system arises from
the need to develop a procurement system that is able to meet the
Bank’s objectives (World Bank Procurement Guidelines, 2011) and is
useful for Bank borrowers who are at very different stages of socio-
economic development (Frilet, 2009). This is especially important
where the Bank uses its procurement guidelines as a template for the
reform of developing country systems. The absence of true
harmonization in the area of public procurement in earlier decades
meant that the Bank had to develop an internationally acceptable
procurement system suitable not only for different categories of
Borrowers, but also for the different types of sectors, lending
instruments and contracts that are funded by the Bank. The Bank’s
procurement system is currently seen as a reference point and serves
as a model for procurement reform in other development banks and
in some developing countries - despite the fact that the Bank’s
context of procurement is very different from domestic procurement.
As mentioned above, the Bank procurement guidelines are often
updated to reflect new challenges or innovations in Bank-funded
procurement and the Bank’s procurement system has undergone
significant revision since the first formal procurement procedures
were issued in 1964. These revisions reflect changes in the Bank’s
approach to corruption, changes to the Bank's membership, and
changes in the field of procurement and in the Bank's own lending
products (Hunja, 1997, p. 217).
In 2012, the Bank commenced the most substantial reform of its
procurement system yet, which is part of the Bank’s broader
modernization agenda and reform of investment lending (World Bank,
2012a). This reform is intended to take into account the changing
global operating context; the diverse and evolving needs of Bank
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