Annex 4: Assessment of 10 Bank-funded Consulting Assignments on EoI & Submission Rates

1 “Afghanistan – Managing Public Finances for Development”, Volume II: Improving Public Financial Management and Procurement, December 22, 2005, World Bank Report No. 34582-AF.

2 See Bank document “Interim Strategy Note Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the Period FY07-FY08” (February 2007), p. 6, Table 1: Macroeconomic Indicators.

3 Afghanistan is ranked 17 out of 175 countries for ease in starting a business according to the Bank’s Doing Business Report 2007.

4 The PC provided procurement services to the Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority (AACA) until the AACA was dissolved in September 2003 and the AACA unit responsible for procurement was renamed ARDS.

5 Crown Agents from UK performed the role of the Procurement Consultant (PC) from August 2002 until August 2004. The consulting service contract with their successor RITES from India was signed in September 2004.

6 Part II (p. 52 – 79, prepared by Quamrul Hasan, SARPS, and Peter Trepte, Consultant) of Volume II: “Improving Public Financial Management and Procurement”, World Bank Report No. 34582-AF: “Afghanistan – Managing Public Finances for Development (In Five Volumes)”, December 22, 2005.

7 Charles Kendell & Partners Ltd./UK in association with the International Development Law Organization/Italy (IDLO) and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/UK (CIPS).

8 “Efficient contract awards” result from the consideration of the Bank’s main policy principles defined in Art 1.4 of the 2004 Bank Guidelines when selecting consultants: (1) high-quality services; (2) economy and efficiency; (3) equal opportunities for all qualified consultants; (4) the development and use of national consultants; and (5) transparency.

9 Low-Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) cover a spectrum of fragility, including countries with deteriorating governance, those in prolonged political crisis, post-conflict transition countries and those in gradual but still fragile reform processes. See “Low-Income Countries Under Stress Update”, OPCS, World Bank, December 19, 2005. LICUS are identified by weak Country Policy and Institutional Performance Assessment (CPIA) ratings. “Severe” LICUS, as Afghanistan, score lowest within this grouping.

10 The Bank policy on rapid response to crises and emergencies policy is not intended to address economic or social impacts associated with prolonged poor performance by a country. It replaced the policy on emergency recovery assistance in March 2007. See Bank document R2007-0010 of January 17, 2007 (revised March 2007), “Toward a New Framework for Rapid Response to Crises and Emergencies”, its Supplemental Note (R2007-0010/1), and its Annex C (Draft OP/BP 8.00, “Rapid Response to Crisis and Emergencies” applicable to emergency operations submitted for approval after March 1, 2007).

11 The amendment concerns Art 104 (a) and (b) PPL. The extended timeframe for interim procurement arrangements are “three” and “five” years instead of “one“ and “two” years respectively.

12 The PPU had originally drafted regulations on public procurement. However, the Afghan Ministry of Justice decided that this document was mostly procedural in nature and did not have to be submitted to the GoA for approval. Therefore, the regulation was renamed rules of procedure, approved by the Ministry of Finance and issued by the PPU in accordance to Article 106(1) PPL.

13 See for example Articles 157 PR (Records) and 81 PR (Publication of Notices) on transparency, Article 162 PR on declarations on conflicts of interest, Article 164 PR on post-employment restrictions on public officials, Article 165 PR on avoidance of conflict of interests in consulting services, or Articles 170 ff PR on the administrative review.

14 Originally it was foreseen that the consulting firm implementing the PRP would have been responsible for drafting (to the extent required) and modifying the existing rules on procurement and assisting the GoA towards its finalization. However, amendments to the ToR for the PRP resulted in the deletion of this specific objective.

15 For example, Article 80(1) PR simply states that procuring entities shall ensure that they have complied with all relevant requirements of Chapter II while this chapter also refers to the procurement of goods and (non-consultancy) services. Furthermore, the provision listing all available methods for consultants’ selection (Article 84(2) PR) lacks a clear reference to SSS regulated in Articles 27(1), 29 and 114ff PR.

16 Article 3(7) PR only defines consultants’ services as “activities of a professional, intellectual and advisory nature that do not lead to a measurable physical output” but does not refer to different categories of consultants such as consulting firms, NGOs, auditors, UN agencies, universities, or research institutions.

17 See Article 84(2) PR.

18 See Articles 27(1), 29 and 114ff PR.

19 For details see Section 2 (Instructions to Consultants) of the May 2004 edition of the Bank Standard RFP (SRFP). According to best practice STP should be used when the following conditions are met: (a) the assignment is unlikely to have significant downstream effects; (b) the assignment is of routine nature and the ToR already define in detail the objectives, tasks, and required outputs; (c) the consultants’ previous work experience has been sufficiently evaluated during shortlisting; and (d) capacity building is not a specific component of the assignment.

20 See PA Procurement Capacity, paras. 40 ff and The Local Consulting Sector, paras. 69 ff.

21 Excluding any procurement related to police, military or paramilitary.

22 Procurement of goods, works or services of a value exceeding US$200,000 is to be handled exclusively by the PU of ARDS.

23 Prior to appointment of the current PC (RITES Ltd.), Crown Agents from UK were providing similar services to ARDS. The table presents all procured consultancy contracts facilitated by both RITES and Crown Agents.

24 It was envisaged that the PRP would concentrate on the full capacity development of 6 Line Ministries and 6 Provincial Offices. However, required linkages with the provincial procurement entities are still missing. Therefore the consultant implementing the PRP will undertake capacity development of 9 LMs.

25 See Annex A to the new PPL for details on thresholds for award authorities.

26 The Bank’s organizational capacity in Afghanistan is considerably higher than in other fragile states (13 IRS and 59 LRS in Sept. 06 compared to an average of 3 IRS and 15 LRS in other fragile states). See Bank document SecM2007-0018, “Strengthening the World Bank Rapid Response and Long-Term Engagement in Fragile States”, for details on the three-tiered approach for strengthening the Bank’s staffing and organizational support.

27 The 2005 Transparency International Corruption Index ranks Afghanistan 117^th placing it among the world’s most corrupt countries.

28 See for example Articles 157 PR (Records) and 81 PR (Publication of Notices) on transparency, Article 162 PR on declarations on conflicts of interest, Article 164 PR on post-employment restrictions on public officials, Article 165 PR on avoidance of conflict of interests in consulting services, or Articles 170 ff PR on the administrative review.

29 The data provided by ARDS mainly concerns contracts above a value of US$200,000.

30 Awarded since December 2004 and facilitated through the PC within ARDS.

31 The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), administered by the World Bank on behalf of 25 donors and managed in conjunction with ADB, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, and UNDP, remains the main mechanism for providing coordinated funding support to Afghanistan’s recurrent budget and investments in line with agreed budget priorities of the GoA. As of October 22, 2006, 25 donors had pledged US$1.66 billion to ARTF, of which US$1.45 billion have been received.

32 Contact: Mrs Shirine Bakhat-Pont, Country Director Kabul Office, Peace Divident Trust Markeplace Project; www.peacedividendmarketplace.org ; email: pont@peacedividendtrust.org

33 Contact: Mr Michael G. Goode, Director Grants & Contracts, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); www.asce.org ; email: mgoode@asce.org

34 For example, under the Afghanistan Public Administration Reform Project (P100960) the selection of a US firm for a survey on public opinion and expectations on the GoA was cleared although local capacity in the area of surveys is good.

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