3. Contracting out and capacity development pdg
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Table 3.1. Typical roles for assessing the enabling environment Role
Responsibility
Procurement policy or ad hoc team
Technical: The assessment would typically be conducted for the whole of government. Often this is led by a procurement policy team (if it exists), which would be located in a central government ministry (e.g. Ministry of Finance). If there is no procurement policy function, an ad hoc team could be established to perform the initial assessment with technical assistance. The team should include a legal adviser. The analysis should include an assessment of the procurement capacity of different entities in government.
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Partnership for Democratic Governance
Institutional: The assessment would typically be conducted for the whole of government. An ad hoc team could be established or alternatively linked with a civil service or public sector review process if one has already been initiated. Often external technical assistance is used to help develop the review framework and conduct the reviews. Government, cabinet and/ or council of ministers
Political: There should be political endorsement of the assessment and agreement on steps to address identified constraints, such as popular resistance to the idea of contracted services. Reviews of leadership capacity are likely to be politically sensitive, and therefore may need to be conducted internally.
Preferably, assessment should be government-wide (Table 3.1) because this is more cost-effective than launching an in-depth analysis each time procurement is contemplated. However, in an urgent situation an assessment can be done for a specific procurement. Until procurement practices are firmly established and mature, some degree of assessment will be required each time a new procurement process is proposed. For the non-state sector, service suppliers need the following capacities: • Ability to supply goods and services on the scale required. • Management systems that meet contract law requirements. • Ability to prepare tenders and engage in contractual negotiations with government. Urgent requirements in fragile situations often cannot wait until all of the organisational and environmental weaknesses have been addressed, particularly as good technical capacity is required for most if not all significant contracting out processes. The Afghanistan experience (Case Study 6)
and Section 3.4 below demonstrate how contracting out for additional procurement capacity can provide a short-term solution to this problem, allowing critical contracting requirements to be addressed whilst capacity-building is underway.
Assessing individual capacity At the individual level, two types of capacity are required: (1) political and leadership capabilities; and (2) technical skills and experience. In the political and leadership category, a government needs champions who can provide vision, anticipate and address obstacles, and build support for contracting out (Box 3.3). Such capacities can be a critical component in building incentives, creating effective organisational capacities and contributing to a positive enabling environment. Where contracts are large, highly visible or possibly controversial, political champions have proven to be critical to gaining support for contracting out. In fragile settings confidence and trust in government is often low. Convincing citizens and potential suppliers that the state is committed to quality service delivery and efficient and honest contract management can be an important step in rebuilding a functioning government and positive state-society relations.
OECD PDG HANDBOOK ON CONTRACTING OUT GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES IN POST-CONFLICT AND FRAGILE SITUATIONS © OECD 2010