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South Asia Procurement Innovations Awards, 2016

South Asia Procurement Innovations Awards, 2016
A K Kalesh Kumar
Capacity Building Coordinator
Solutions and Innovations in Procurement, Governance Global Practice, The World Bank

A path breaking reform initiated by Civil Services Commission to establish a Procurement cadre based on National Employment Competency Framework in Bhutan; an e-Marketplace portal following private e-commerce process making the procurement paperless, faceless and cashless in India and a beneficiary centered Community Procurement Model helping alleviate poverty in Pakistan are among the country wise winners of the First South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards 2016. Use of ICT in procurement management in Afghanistan, Citizen engagement in procurement monitoring in Bangladesh, advantages accrued from use of e-Procurement in Nepal and use of preferential procurement as a tool for regional development in Sri Lanka are the other country winners from South Asian countries.

World Bank launched South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards 2016 in partnership with South Asia Regional Public Procurement Network (SAPPN), Asian Development Bank and Procurement iNET. The key objective of the Awards is to enhance learning and knowledge sharing from innovative approaches adapted by Procurement entities and systems across the region. Awards were launched in November 2016 and participants had the opportunity to make online submissions through Procurement iNET, World Bank’s knowledge and networking platform for public procurement. Procurement iNET offers Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as certificate programs in public procurement and contract management in several languages, along with access to international consulting and job opportunities in public procurement, a monthly news feed, and an online procurement professional directory, among other features.

Promoted by all member countries of SAPPN, an overwhelming response of 84 entries were received from Government and public sector procurement organizations, entities, universities, research institutions, NGOs/CBOs etc. An Awards Secretariat evaluated the submissions based on three criteria (i) Level of Innovations (ii) Replicability of the solution and (iii) Scalability and Sustainability.

Seven winning entries from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be felicitated during the South Asia Procurement Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka in February 2017. More details about the South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards and winners can be accessed at:
https://www.procurementinet.org/south-asia-procurement-innovation-awards-winners/