Public Procurement plays a vital role in shaping the development journey of a country and the efficacy of government spend. According to World Bank report, in year 2019, Government procurement spending reached US$13 trillion worldwide, or around 15 percent of global gross domestic product(GDP). On the one hand, public procurement ensures that scarce public resources are spent with due care towards efficiency, transparency, integrity, and value for money. On the other hand, public procurement acts as a vehicle of choice for promoting small and medium enterprises, women-owned business, and environmentally friendly products/solutions, thereby ensuring a sustainable development outcome. In recent years, public procurement function has also embraced an increased use of technology leading to improved process efficiency, transparency, and data analytics.
Public Procurement Framework in India at the central and state government are different though the basic tenets are same. At federal level, public procurement is governed through General Financial Rules (GFR) and procurement manuals issued by GoI. At state level, governments have either defined procurement rules as part of the state financial rules akin to GFR (GoI) or enacted specific laws to govern public procurement in respective states. World Bank in its recently published Assessment of public procurement systems of Government of India has estimated the size of public procurement to the tune of 18-20 percent of the country’s GDP. The report has further concluded that there is need for modernizing public procurement in India, which is also signaled by GoI and state governments in their recent reform initiatives taken by them. However much more remains to be done to support India’s ambition to become a developed country by 2050.
As part of its mandate in India, the World Bank is actively supporting procurement reform initiatives taken by federal government ministries/departments and various state governments by way of financing and technical support. However, these reforms are limited to a few entities, which presents an opportunity to bring together all the stakeholders under one roof for sharing knowledge about these reforms and lessons learnt. Hence, this Community of Practice for “Modernizing Public Procurement in India” is conceptualized.
Membership is primarily based on invitation. However, interested individuals can express their interest by way of filling up the Registration form. Existing members can login through this page.