AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
AMERICAS
Our Senegalese chapter, Forum Civil, achieved a partial victory in its effort to convince the government not to water down procurement rules. The government sought to significantly weaken the rules in 2010 to reduce oversight and make it easier to make discretionary and no-bid contracts. Following advocacy efforts from the chapter, the government removed most of the contracting exemptions and agreed to maintain balanced oversight committees, with three representatives each from government, civil society and the private sector. However, the government has not yet clearly defined ‘state secret’ projects that are not subject to bidding or public oversight.
Our chapter in Argentina conducted research into establishing a transparent, accountable and efficient electronic contracting and procurement system. In order to lay the groundwork, Poder Ciudadano analysed e-procurement systems in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the Argentine cities of Buenos Aires and Morón. They also held educational workshops attended by government, business and civil society leaders, drafted an implementation plan, and shared their research findings with government officials.
With a large percentage of government spending subject to procurement processes, TI Sierra Leone released a handbook to demystify the country’s procurement rules. The chapter worked with federal officials to write Public Procurement Made Simple. They held a two-day training session on procurement and budget processes for civil society groups, community organisations, and youth and women’s groups. The chapter also formed monitoring teams to watch over procurement processes and revenue collection.
More than 40 per cent of government agencies in the Dominican Republic do not comply with public procurement laws, according to research by our chapter Participación Ciudadana. To improve the situation, the chapter is advising procurement officials, private contractors, and business and civil society groups. Four government agencies have asked the chapter to review their contracting systems. According to chapter research, transparency and public accountability is improving in 12 of 21 key government institutions. Marking the first time that a TI chapter has monitored a UN conference, Transparencia Mexicana signed an agreement with the Mexican government and UN agencies to review all administrative and procurement procedures for the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún in 2010. The costs of the Cancún summit were held to US $100 million. A 2010 survey by our chapter the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute reports that corruption is endemic in the country’s construction industry. More than one quarter of respondents said corruption costs them about €100,000 per year. A government commission has acknowledged many of the chapter’s proposals as being important to reforming the industry. Questions have been raised regarding the government’s ‘prestige’ projects, overseas consultants, fraudulent invoices, project fast-tracking, and weak governance and procurement procedures.
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Transparency International Annual Report 2010