Afghanistans Public

Procurement Racks Up
Victories Against Corruption
Email

Print

Tweet
Share
Share

Because of timeliness, quality, and effectiveness of teams, the 2016 Annual Performance Assessment
Report named National Procurement Authority as the top performer among 19 directorate generals and
63 teams, covering the Ministry of Finance.

Photo Credit: Rumi Consultancy/ World Bank

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The National Procurement Authority has topped an annual performance

assessment of institutions managing public finances.

The Authority is at the forefront of the fight against corruption in

Afghanistan and was instrumental in developing a transparent
procurement system.

A vibrant professional team is the force behind the authoritys reforms to

ensure a fair national procurement system that is free of corruption.

KABUL Afghanistan is making vast inroads to root out corruption, improve

the management of its public finance, and make its procurement system more
transparent, finds the 2016 Annual Performance Assessment Report, which
evaluates the timeliness and quality of services provided by government
personnel.

The report named the National Procurement Authority (NPA) the top
performer among 19 directorate generals and 63 teams, covering the Ministry
of Finance (MoF) and two agencies, NPA and Afghanistan Extractives
Industries Transparency (AEITI). The assessment pointed to the culture of
performance emerging in NPA.

There is a good spirit in the workplace and all NPA teams work for a common
vision to make the national procurement sector free of corruption, says
Mohamad Sohail Kaakar, Director for strategic communication and integrity at
NPA. NPA has an energetic team with experience in working with many
national and international organizations. This background has enabled them
to establish a professional environment inside the authority.
As Deputy Finance Minister Khalid Payenda says that most NPA employees
are experienced and highly educated young people. They have good
coordination with each other, resulting in a professional environment and
great teamwork. He believes the NPA team is made up of valuable
professionals working toward the governments vision to improve public
procurement and combat corruption.

Our focus is on results, says Sohail Kaakar, and as we have traveled a long
way to reach where we are now, it keeps us motivated and gives us the
diligence to work to institutionalize reforms.

The 2016 Annual Performance Assessment Report was conducted in two

phases.

First, teams conducted a self-assessment against 2016 activities from their

Five-Year Fiscal Performance Improvement Plan, which supports the
government in reaching its goals of sustainable government finances and self-
reliance.

Then, the self-assessments were validated by a team from the Performance

Management and Public Expenditure Reforms Unit, formerly PM&PER, which
operates under the MoF and works with MoF teams and agencies to develop
five-year rolling plans that reflect international benchmarks.

"Our focus is on results, and as we have traveled a

long way to reach where we are now, it keeps us
motivated and gives us the diligence to work to
institutionalize reforms."
 Mohamad Sohail Kaakar

Director for strategic communication and integrity, National Procurement Authority

Through the National Procurement Authority website, everyone including general public, civil society
organizations and media can now access information about different cycles of procurement processes.

Photo Credit: Rumi Consultancy/ World Bank

Effective Monitoring Has Helped Save $270 million

NPA receives funding support from the Public Financial Management

Reform (PFMR) project that aims to improve the performance of Afghanistans
public finance systems. Implemented by the Ministry of Finance, PFMR is
supported by the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and is
scheduled to operate through 2017.

In 2016, NPA created a comprehensive online Contract Progress Monitoring

Mechanism and an online tracking mechanism for projects under procurement
review to give the public and media free access to public information.

The early data and information on procurement processes is accessible to all

on the NPA website. Robust oversight and monitoring have helped the
government save about $270 million.

Moreover, the Authority registers companies and their owners, thus

preventing them from giving false information in future biddings. It has also set
up a system to blacklist companies that present false information in
procurement biddings. To date, NPA has blacklisted 90 companies and sent
their information to the Attorney General for follow-up. The NPA team has
improved the quality of the procurement system, says Humayoun Kamal,
director of Access Group, a company working in engineering, construction,
and transportation of goods in Afghanistan. They have made a fair
environment for all eligible bidders so that they can bid without corruption
concerns.

These efforts were critical in helping Afghanistan become a member of

the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which the Afghan government
committed to at the London Conference on Anti-Corruption in 2015. Thanks to
its NPA initiatives, Afghanistans score rose from 56 percent in 2015 against
the OGP eligibility criteria to 88 percent in 2016, well above the 75 percent
eligibility threshold.

Businessmen in Afghanistan, like Humayoun Kamal, are appreciative of the

reforms. NPA is a good initiative, he says. They made the procurement
structure simple so that everyone can understand it and encourage
companies to invest in Afghanistan. In the long term, this will foster economic
growth.

The National Procurement Authority organizes training sessions on procurement related issues for staff of

procurement departments from various government ministries to buildup their knowledge and through

that, improve effectiveness of procurement departments. Photo Credit: Rumi Consultancy/ World Bank

Decentralizing Procurement

According to Transparency International, Afghanistan progressed from second

most corrupt country in the world in 2015 to eighth most in 2016. However, the
country remains among the top 10 most corrupt countries in the world and
reforms are fragile, vulnerable to threats, and need more work.

Even though the procurement authority has brought transparency to the

procurement system and did a great job, there is corruption in the ministries,
says Payenda, who believes most procurement staff in ministries need more
resources and training. To that end, NPA is helping staff expand their
knowledge of procurement, and, by doing so, slowly decentralizing
procurement to relevant departments in ministries.

NPA activities have been extraordinary over the last 3 years and it is
admirable, says Deputy Minister Payenda. NPAs efforts are re-establishing
trust between the government and people and makes everyone hopeful for
the future of Afghanistan.