./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/WGTGP/W/20/Add.7
2 October 1998
(98-3821)
Working Group on Transparency
in Government ProcurementOriginal:  English
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:  INFORMATION FROM
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)
Addendum
At its meeting of 22 June 1998, the Working Group agreed to request the Secretariat to provide
information on the technical cooperation programmes of international and regional intergovernmental
organizations in the area of government procurement, so as to enable the Group to have as complete a
picture as possible of the availability of technical assistance in this field.
In consequence, the Secretariat wrote to relevant international and regional intergovernmental
organizations requesting them to provide such information.  The present document reproduces the
information which has been received in response from the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) by means of a communication, dated 28 September 1998.
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Since the early 1990s, but increasingly over the past two to thr ee years, UNDP has been
changing its execution modality for technical cooperation projects from execution/implementation with
the assistance of specialized UN agencies to a new concept of national execution through and by
recipient governments.  Accordingly, the responsibility for project procurement is being shifted towards
the governments, which become fully responsible for managing all project inputs while still remaining
accountable to the Administrator of UNDP for matching project objectives.  In light of thisdevelopment, UNDP recognizes that its overall responsibility for the most efficient and transparent use
of its funds goes much beyond its fiduciary obligations and must increasingly focus on the development
function of procurement and on enhancing government accountability.
In this context, UNDP has jo ined the ongoing efforts by the International Financing Institutions
towards the same objectives, and has become an active member of their Working Group onHarmonization of Policies and Procurement Documentation.  Within UNDP, major projects under this
agenda will be the development of comprehensive guidelines that will govern all procurement funded
by UNDP, with special emphasis on transparency and accountability issues, as well as the development
and maintenance of standard documentation for solicitation, evaluation and contracting.  UNDP's
Programme for Accountability and Transparency is presently supporting work on:  (1) the developmentof CONTACT guidelines (Country Assessments in Accountability and Transparency) as a tool for
reviewing and analysing financial management and accountability systems in the public sector.  The
guidelines will include a specific component on procurement systems, as CONTACT is expanded to
other areas of political and administrative accountability and transparency;  and (2) the joint
UNDP/OECD Comparative Case Study on Anti-corrupti on Reform (covering six countries) which aims
to document, assess and synthesize best practices in anti-corruption.  The current guidelines for research
include specific components on procurement systems, as one of the areas vulnerable to corruption.WT/WGTGP/W/20/Add.7
Page 2
Country Offices of UNDP render assistance to the governments, on a transitional basis, to build
up the necessary local capacities at government ministry level to sustain good management of public
procurement.  The above-mentioned efforts are suppo rted and accompanied by a programme of training
courses on transparent public procurement organized by IAPSO, for procurement personnel at UNDP
country offices and their government counterparts, both on the national and regional level.
UNDP will also a ssume a visible role in the forthcoming "African Public Procurement Reform
Conference" scheduled 30 November to 4 December 1998 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.  The International
Trade Centre.  African Development Bank, World Bank and UNDP are jointly holding the Conference
to build awareness of to the strategic value of publ ic procurement, develop reform plans, and provide
means for its sustainability and support.
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