Reforming Public Procurement by OECD

Author:OECD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: governance
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2019-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Some of the areas mentioned by respondents, such as online catalogues, are actively being pursued in different countries as ways of opening up opportunities for both the public sector and suppliers to build in efficiencies stemming from greater transparency and competition. There is an increasing shift towards new commissioning approaches “…where the public sector is required to embrace more agile techniques, involving providers and stakeholders earlier in the commissioning process and iteratively throughout delivery, in order to better understand user needs and context, and potential benefits and barriers, and to adjust constantly to in order to develop more agile solutions to realise benefits” (OECD, 2018[14]).

Publishing information benefits both the public and the private sector. For the public sector, it enables diverse stakeholders to scrutinise public procurement spending. It also helps to hold government officials accountable for their decisions. While taking into consideration concerns for sensitive information related to trade secrets and privacy, respondents have embraced this trend, making more public procurement information available to the public. In Australia for example, the Dynamic Sourcing for Panels (DS4P) system was launched in late 2016. It is a new functionality in AusTender (the country’s e-procurement system) that provides government buyers with a standard and streamlined approach to sourcing their goods and services from panels. DS4P allows buyers to identify panels that match their requirements; search for and shortlist relevant suppliers; access panel documents and templates; and run requests for quote.

E-procurement tools have the potential to dramatically increase efficiency by eliminating wasteful and duplicative paper-based processes. There are some processes that e-procurement systems enable that are simply impossible to replicate without advanced digital technologies.

As demonstrated by Figure ‎3.6, post-contract information is published less often, with the exception of the contract notice. Governments need to strike a balance between ensuring accountability and competition on the one hand, and on the other protecting trade secrets and respecting the confidentiality of information that can be used by interested suppliers to distort competition, in current or future procurement processes. Information on bidders and bids during the procurement procedure is more sensitive than information published some time after the contract has been concluded. Namely, information on bids released at early stages of the tender procedure may facilitate bid rigging by enabling transparency among competitors, the monitoring of collusive agreements, and ultimately the adoption of retaliation measures to punish bidders that deviate from the terms of the bid-rigging agreement (OECD, 2012[15]; 2018[16]).

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