The Tunisian Experience in public procurement reform

The Tunisian Experience in public procurement reform

Intervention plan

IntroductionI.Self assessment of the national public procurement system

1. The methodology used: Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems 2. Implementation of the self assessment: the CFNC3. The results achieved

II.The implementation of the reform:1. Action plan: axiss of intervention2. The modalities of implementing the action plan: the missions3. Lessons learned of the assessment: difficulties and recommendations

Introduction

↗ Public procurement as leverage of the national economy: more than 18% of the gross domestic product

↗ Public procurement as instrument of implementing the fiscal policy of the country: almost 50% of the country budget is dedicated for procurement.

↗ Public procurement as one of pillars of regional and local development: opening up the localities, infrastructures achievements…

Introduction (1)

↗Despite its crucial role, public procurement discipline suffers from many gaps:

Regulatory gaps: heavy procedures, vague modalities of use of certain procedures, lack of transparency and involvement of the civil society…

Technical gaps: lack of databases, archiving and statistic compilation system, lack of integration of new technologies in the procurement process…

Introduction (2)

↗ Given these facts, the administration has chosen a global reform to modernise the public procurement procedures.

↗ This reform was focused on:

1. Achieving a diagnostic: self assessment of the public procurement national system

2. Designing an action plan.3. Implementing the reform according to the axiss of intervention

↗ This project has been initiated and is being followed with the collaboration of the World Bank and the African Development Bank

I. Self assessment of the public procurement national system

Genesis of the self assessment

↗ The budgetary crisis following the revolution of 14th January 2011.↗ Obtaining financial support within an emergency program providing

general support to the Country budget: Social Inclusion and Transition Support Program ( SITSP) with an amount of 1409 millions USD

↗ Convergence of actions approved for financing by the World Bank and the African Development Bank on the level of the necessity of reviewing the legal framework regulating public procurement in Tunisia

Genesis of the self assessment

↗ The issuance of the decree no. 2011-623 of 23 May 2011 with specific provisions on the regulations of public procurement.

↗ This legislation made the procurement process faster, amended and replaced various articles of the previous legislation to bring more transparency and efficiency.

↗ Issuance of the decree no. 2012-515 of 2 June 2012 modifying the decree 2002-3158 of 17 December 2002 and the decree 2011-623 of 23 May 2011

1. The methodology used

Principle of the methodology

↗ Tool chosen from the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness to carry out the reinforcement of public procurement national systems.

↗ This method involves evaluating the system on the basis of four components or pillars. Each pillar is composed of indicators which are sub-categorised into subsidiary indicators.

↗ The assessment consist of scoring each sub- criteria from 0 to 3.

↗ The average of the scores of each pillar reflect the detected performance level.

The assessment pillars: pillar 1

↗ Pillar 1 entitled “ legal and regulatory framework” involves << legal and regulatory instruments of the highest level (national law, legal act, regulation, decree, etc.) until detailed regulations, procedures and officially used bidding documents>> as well as << the existence, availability and quality of enforcement regulations, operational procedures, manuals, examples of bidding documents and conditions of standard contracts>>

↗ This pillar is composed of 2 indicators and 14 subsidiary indicators


↗ Pillar 2 entitled “ Institutional framework and management capacity” << examine, in practice, the way the public procurement system works as defined by the current legal and institutional framework in the country, through bodies and management systems who are stakeholders on the general governance of public sector in the country>>



↗ Pillar 3 entitled “Acquisition activities and procurement practice” << examine the efficiency and operational utility of public procurement system on the level of the execution entity responsible for taking the different acquisition actions. It is interested in procurement as a mean to assess the quality and efficiency of the system when the acquisition procedures are put into practice>>.



↗ Pillar 4 entitled “ Integrity and transparency of public procurement system” involves according to the methodology << four indicators considered necessary for providing guaranty of a system functioning with integrity, insuring appropriate controls promoting its functioning in accordance with the legal and regulatory framework and which has the measure to fight any risk of corruption within the system. It deals as well with important aspects of the public procurement system apart of the whole control system. This pillar focuses on aspect of the public procurement system and the governance framework and tries to ensure that they are defined and structured in way that contributes to the integrity and transparency of the system.>>


The implementation of the self assessmentthe CFNC

Coordination and follow up national committee ( CFNC)

↗ The Coordination and follow up national committee (CFNC) was established by a decision of the prime minister

↗ It regroups representatives of different categories:– The big public purchasers: State, local communities, public

establishment of an administrative character, public companies– The organs of control: Court of auditors, competition council, control

of public spending, general control of public services, general control of finance.

– The Private Sector: representative of the TUICH (Tunisian union of industry commerce and handicrafts)

– Civil Society and academics: Associations for the rationalization of public finances like the ACIAF (Association of control, inspection and audit frameworks within Tunisian public structures)

The CNFC powers

• The mandate given to the committee is to:– Validate the assessments and the recommendations of the

different working groups.– Validate the action plan resulting from the

recommendations– Monitor the implementation of the measures chosen by

the committee and endorsed by the government

Work of the CNFC

1. Applying the assessment criteria, pillar by pillar, to the public procurement national system and identify the degree of compliance to this international standard.

2. Giving a score from 0 to 3 to each of the 55 subsidiary indicators while justifying each score.

3. Making recommendations to overcome weaknesses identified and to consolidate strength points.

4. Designing a plan that regroups all the system reform stages.5. Validating the final report of the self assessment6. Following up with the implementation of the action plan.

CNFC organization

• This committee was organised in four working groups, one group per assessment pillar.

• The composition of each working group was determined according to the specifications of each designated pillar.

• Each working group is composed of:– A president– Two rapporteurs– Members

• CNFC has a presidency and a secretariat. The latter one is composed of :– General rapporteur– Independent consultant

Functioning of the CNFC

• The organisation of the assessment work is done as follows:1. The working groups are responsible of assessing the public procurement

national system according to the approach of the pillar designated to each one of them.

2. Reunion between the rapporteurs of each working group and the general rapporteur to discuss the scoring, the justification, the recommendations and the actions to be taken

3. Reunion of CNFC presidency and secretariat will consolidate and summarize the results obtained as well as enable the preparation of the reports to be submitted in the plenary session.

4. The results of the work are presented and debated pillar by pillar during the scoring phase and action by action during the phase of the designing of the action plan, during the CNFC plenary sessions.

CNFC working modalities

The plenary sessions

• Gather all the CNCF members, rapporteurs, secretariat and management.

• Work is facilitated by the presence of experts from the World Bank and the African Development Bank and a permanent expert proposed by the AfDB

• Plenary sessions were organised as follows:– 22 March 2012: presentation of the methodology to the members– 16, 17 and 18 April 2012: Validation of the scores given by the working

groups– 31 May and 1st June 2012: Validation of the action plan– 26 June 2012: Validation of the final version of the self assessment

report

The results achieved

Summary of scores achieved

Pillars Number of indicators

Number of subsidiary indicators

Overall score Average Score

1 2 14 18/42 1.29/3

2 3 12 18/36 1.5/3

3 3 11 22/33 2/3

4 4 18 17/54 0.95/3

Total 12 55 Cumulative score of 75/165

Analysis of the results: Pillar 1

• Pillar “ legal and regulatory framework” to consolidate by bringing to the legislative framework provisions that promote the transparency of the procedures and reinforce and define the powers of the institutions that manage and control all public procurement phases in Tunisia

Analysis of the results: pillar 2

• Pillar “ Institutional framework and management capacity” to be reinforced by organising the standard functions of management and control and by reviewing the competences of the different institutions involved in the procurement process.


• Pillar “Acquisition activities and procurement practice’’ can be more improved by the reorganisation of the management of the human and material resources in charge of the management and control of public procurement and by bringing more flexibility and transparency to the management mechanisms of disputes between the administration and the bidders.


• Pillar “ Integrity and transparency of public procurement system” to be completely reviewing by reorganising the competence and intervention modalities of the different monitoring bodies, reviewing the remedies in case of conflict, improving the transparency and by adopting anticorruption legal provisions.

II. The implementation of the reform

The report of the self-assessment

• The work of the CNFC was consolidated within a report split into two essentials parts:1. The results of the assessment and the recommendations

of the working groups.2. The action plan that contains the recommended

interventions to reform the Tunisian public procurement system.

• As a result of the assessment, the component of the action plan were implemented as validated by the CNFC in the plenary session of 26 June 2012 et as approved by a ministerial council held 24 August 2012

1. The action plan

axes of the action plan

• The action plan is built around 5 axes:• These axes represent the priority areas of intervention in

relation with the management and control of public procurement, procedures, information, efficiency and human resources.

• The axes are entitles as follows:– axis I: Governance– axis II: Rationalisation of the legal framework– axis III: Transparency– axis IV: Performance– axis v: Professionalism

Axis 1: Governance

• This axis is dedicated to the measures to be undertaken in order to consolidate the control bodies, remedies and the confidentiality provisions in the public procurement system.

Axis 2: Rationalisation of the legal framework

• This axis is oriented towards the reform of the legal framework which governs public procurement in Tunisia: more coherence and hierarchy between texts, consolidation with other texts with the same vocation, updating and adopting general documents and procedures manuals…

Axis 3: Transparency

• This axis of intervention contains the actions that aim to generalize the publication of tenders and the decisions awarding the contracts, the spread of control and audit reports, the archiving and online consultation of the different documents created and used during procurement as well as the consolidation of the partnership between the administration and the civil society, private sector and universities within the public purchase process.

Axis 4: Performance

• The improvement of the performance of the public procurement system requires a better use of the new information and communication technologies, adopting the culture of results-based management and the quality assurance, a degree of intervention and interaction more refined on the level of information systems and databases …

Axis 5: Professionalism

• This intervention axis relates to the consolidation of the capacities in term of human resources dedicated to the management and control of public procurement

• The professionalism is through the evaluation and the satisfaction of the real training needs of the public purchasers, controllers and auditors of public procurement (continuous training program, degree training both in the level of universities and schools…) as well as through implementing a real occupation of public purchaser in the level of public administration with all that comes in terms of specific career path, remuneration,…

Implementation modalities

Adopting an action plan

• The report of the self-assessment of the Tunisian public procurement system as well as the action plan designed for it were adopted during the ministerial council of 24 August 2012.

• This same ministerial council has put the CNFC in charge of driving the implementation of the different components of the action plan

Implementation modalities

• The choices made with regard to the implementation of the different axes of the action plan consist of:1. Using the services of independent consultants of the

administration for the implementation of the action plan2. Counting on the support of the World Bank et African

Development Bank who have financed and supported all the phases of the assessment and the conception of the action plan.

3. Exploring the technical and financial assistance of the other partners of Tunisia

The missions to be carried out

• Legal Mission: which incorporates the reform of the governance and the legal framework regulating public procurement.

• information system mission: regarding the modernisation of the information system and electronic management of public procurement. This incorporates the generalisation of the national electronic public procurement system (TUNEPS)

• Quality mission: establishing a quality assurance system in the level of public procurement process and its management

• Human resources mission: interested in the management of the careers of public procurement stakeholders and in the implementation of a national procurement training strategy

Legal MissionNo. Title of the action Description Estimations Comments

I-1 Writing a new regulatory framework

• Implementing a legal framework• Insuring the efficiency of the authorities

of governance• Implementing flexible procedures and

insuring the accountability of the public purchasers

57,000$ End of June 2013

To be assumed by the World Bank

I-2 Taking into consideration the achievements made within the e-procurement project

• Integrating regulatory provisions needed for the implementation of the e-procurement in Tunisia

- End of June 2013

Without financial implication

I-2 bis Financing a communication campaign around the reform

• Hiring an agency specialized in institutional communication

• Preparing a communication campaign

40,000$ March 2014

I-3 Reviewing and enriching the GCC and SCS

• Reviewing , updating and enriching The General Conditions of Contract

• Reviewing the special contract specification and enriching them by others

50,000$ January 2014

Total 147,000 $ 57.000$ financed90.000 non financed

Information system missionNo. Title of the action Description Estimation Comments

II-1 Securing electronic support

• Centralising all the information related to tenders

• Spreading this information without excessive costs

- January 2014

II-2 Reinforcing the information system

• Developing a national information system capable of:

─ Collecting all the different information from the different information modules in relation with public procurement

─ Giving access to the different stakeholders─ Insuring the compilation and the processing

of the data collected ─ Bringing the treated information to the

service of users

42,000$ January 2014

Assumed by the World Bank

II-3 Implementation of statistics collection and compiling systems

II-4 Creation of information systems interconnection modules

II-5 Updating the archiving of documents

Implementing a national electronic archiving system of all official s documents edited and used for public procurement purposes

150,000 $ December 2013Estimations that cover 24 governorates and 21 ministries + high committee of public procurement

Information system mission (1)No. Title of the action Description Estimations Comments

II-7 Granting public enterprises with an assistance system for the budgetary management of expenses incurred for public procurement enforcement

Two alternatives:•Creating systems of budgetary management ( within the model systems ERP)Or•Creating a specific module for public enterprises at the enforcement level ADEB

100,000$ February 2014

II-8 Establishing an authority responsible for receiving public procurement denunciations

• Reinforcing integrity and fighting against distortions of public procurement principles by putting in place a body or authority that receives, analyses and judges the validity of the denunciations within public procurement

35,000$ February 2014

II-9 Financing a communication campaign regarding the function and missions of the High Committee of Public Procurement

• Creating a campaign to educate the public about the function of the authorities charged with public procurement governance

• Clarifying the interconnections existing between all operators and the High Committee of Public Procurement

40,000$ January 2014

II-10 Accompanying the implementation of the new e-procurement procedure

• Assessing material and equipment needs for the system proper functioning

• Assessing the need to train the operators invited to use the system• Satisfying the previously mentioned needs• Creating a communication campaign around the launch of e-

procurement for all operators categories and potential users

90,000$ + 40,000$ January 2014

Total 497,000$ • 42,000$ financed• 455,000$ non financed

Quality missionNo. Title of the action Description Estimations Comments

III-1 Producing a guide of public purchaser

Providing public purchasers with a work instrument that describe in details procurement technics and obligations

30,000$

March 2014


III-2 Reviewing/producing procedural manuals

• Implementing a standardisation of procedures inside management, control and audit authorities

• Implementing a permanent reviewing system of manuals produced

III-3 Preparing standard tender documents according to the type of procurement

• Standardising documents for recourse to competition• Preparing standard documents that cover administrative and

technical aspects

42,000$ January 2014


III-5 Producing standardised nomenclatures and sub-details/series of standard prices

• Standardising financial documents of competition tender documents

• Adopting a nomenclature of prices that will be enforced at the national level (standardisation)

30,000$ January 2014

III-6 Adopting norms and quality assurance procedures

• Implementing an quality assurance system that covers all public procurement operations

• Implementing a certification process for purchasers, control authorities, remedies authorities and all the bodies involved in public procurement

350,000$ March 2014

III-7 Accompanying the CNFC during the implementation of the action plan

• Recruiting expert (s) in procurement and following up the implementation of public procurement reform

• Making experts responsible of the mission of producing TdR, following up the results and the organisation of the CNFC functioning

90,000$ March 2014

Total 542,000$ 72,000$ financed470,000$ non financed

Human resources missionNo. Title of the action Description Estimations Comments

IV-1 Preparing a national training strategy for public procurement stakeholders

• Make a diagnosis of the situation and the training needs of public procurement practitioners.

• Creating a university studies in procurement• Train the trainers, controllers and auditors of public

procurement• Creating certifications for each type of practitioners

70,000$ December 2013

IV-3 Reviewing the means made available for the different procurement control bodies

• Identifying all the resources currently available for the different control authorities and comparing them with the requirements of their efficient action

• Implementing an improvement strategy of human, technical, and financial means made available for control authorities

- Assumed at the level of action III-6

Total 70,000 $ 70,000$ none financed

Total of the global cost of the implementation of the action plan 1,256,000 $ • 171,000$ financed

• 1,085,000$ none financed

Degree of progress of the implementation

• Tunisia has obtained the World Bank grant of 57.000$ to conduct the legal mission

• The choice of consultant who will assume the responsibilities of this mission have been made on the basis of the terms of reference and selection procedure of individual consultant.

• The completion of the mission is anticipated by end of June 2013 at the latest

Degree of progress of the implementation (1)

• Tunisia has obtained a grant of 70,000$ from the World Bank to conduct the training actions within the human resources mission.

• These actions cover the training of the trainers and the training of the members of the procurement committee in the public procurement field.

Degree of progress of the implementation (2)

• This conference is an occasion to present to you the results obtained within the framework of this self-assessment as well as the components of the action plan.

• The involvement of the different donors for the implementation of the components of the action plan is open for all our partners interested in taking part in the success of this experience.

3. Lessons learned from the assessment: difficulties and recommendations

The management of the diversity of profiles and the resistance to change

• The diversity of profiles of the members composing the CNFC is a source of richness: each member bring his knowledge and experience of its own field (judges, senior officials, competition specialists, representative of bidders…)

• Affiliation of members may make them resist to the ideas of change. For example, the Governance axis was the most debated as it touches the prerogatives of the others, especially when it comes to control.

Composition of the working groups

• A special necessity should be given to the composition of each working group in regard with the object of its pillar.

• Certain profiles have to be involved in each working group.• The rapporteurs have to be available entirely to the CNFC: it is

a full time job with a total availability

Importance of financial and technical support for the work of the CNFC

• Mastering the subtleties of the methodology was possible thanks to the involvement of the CNFC members and to the support of the World Bank and African Development bank experts.

• The organisation of the plenary sessions as well as the availability of the permanent consultant were possible thanks to the financial support of the mentioned above partners

Political support• The political support was and continue to be essential for the

culmination of the CNFC work.• The designation of the members by decree as well as the

approval of the final report by the ministerial council permitted:

• Giving more credibility to the work and the results• Promoting the involvement of technical and financial partners• Extending the mandate of the CNFC in order to insure the

monitoring of the implementation• Authorising the research of new support for the

implementation of the components of the action plan.

Thank you

The Tunisian Experience in public procurement reform

Documents

public procurement procedures

public procurement discipline

world bank

self assessmentthe issuance

national economy

action plan

lack of transparency

country budget