Developing methodologies for implementation of a broad training program to train hundreds of trainees of all levels of government;
Conducting a survey to identify a future procurement training centre for the country.
Risks within Capacity-building Approach by PACBP and PRP
Efficient Selection of Consultants
Since it is a priority for reconstruction that the Afghan PA be reestablished, the Bank projects focus on building basic procurement capacity. The PACBP provides training to a limited number of key staff while the PRP includes a broad program for hundreds of trainees from all levels of government. However, due to PACBP’s limited outreach and PRP’s broad focus training will only concentrate on basic subjects. In particular, PA staff will not receive training on consultant selection tasks such as preparing ToR and assessing the quality of proposals. While specialized capacity building may be too much to expect at this stage, many parties interviewed expressed concerns about the credibility of the selection process given current deficiencies in the performance of these tasks. These concerns relate to three stages of consultant selection in particular:
Preparing the ToR and the RFP: According to TTLs interviewed LM staff lack experience in designing projects along with the capacity to deliver and define the technical inputs necessary for the preparation of ToRs. Most ToRs are drafted by technical advisors funded by donors.
Compiling shortlists: According to the interviews many Evaluation Committees (EC) lack the capacity to adequately examine EoIs, assess the experience and capacities of candidates and compile shortlists.
Evaluating submitted proposals: International consultants and donor representatives specifically question the capacity of local evaluators to adequately evaluate the quality of complex proposals. The stakeholders interviewed also raise doubts about the outcome of the evaluations of standard assignments since many EC seem to lack specialists in the disciplines of these assignments. The same PA officials who have trouble drafting ToR are then later responsible for evaluating the proposals.
These concerns are a key challenge to attracting qualified international firms and achieving value for money in the selection of consultants. Combined with concerns about a poor command of English and corruption, the lack of trust in the qualifications of evaluators discourages qualified consultants from seeking assignments in Afghanistan (see para. 65 for participation rates).
Development of National Consultants
The PRP includes only basic training courses for local firms that which will focus on (1) creating awareness about the new Public Procurement Law; and (2) training on procurement procedures for goods, works and consulting services. The Bank program does not provide assistance on revising the rules of procedure on procurement although a tailor-made solution is needed to address the weakness of the local consulting firms (see paras. 22 no 3 and 83 for details and recommendations).
Moreover, neither PA nor donors have adequate information on the available local expertise and are facing difficulty to identify the few available local resources (see paras 82 ff).
According to the interviews the collaboration between expatriates and local procurement personnel often fails and training turns out to be fruitless because of insurmountable communication barriers. International consultants frequently reported that international and national procurement personnel have serious problems interacting effectively. The work of local translators, generally domestic PA staff members who are not fully qualified translators, sometimes creates more confusion and misunderstanding instead of facilitating communication. In addition, expatriates reported that the level of IT skills of their local counterparts is very low and that they are forced to allocate extensive periods of time to simple on-the-job IT training.
Based on the numerous interviews conducted in the course of the mission, four constraints could hamper the current capacity-building strategy and the shift of responsibilities to the local counterpart procurement personnel:
Lack of effective interaction between international and national procurement staff due to language barriers;
Lack of qualified translators to facilitate effective communication between expatriates and local counterparts;
Lack of correct translations of procurement documents originally prepared in English; and
Very weak IT capacity of national procurement staff.
In addition, the training program could be compromised by the limited availability of local staff trainable in complex procurement processes as required by the Bank or the GoA. Experienced PA staff is often poached by donor agencies and NGOs and the lack of qualified counterpart personnel in the Afghan PA often renders on the job training impossible. When counterpart staff is available low motivation due to low pay and limited opportunity for merit based promotion undermine the knowledge transfer.
Recommendations
While most issues are already addressed by the upcoming PRP, the GoA and the Bank may consider the following approaches to address remaining risks within the capacity-building approach of the PACBP and PRP.
Professional evaluations of proposals are fundamental for achieving value for money and attracting qualified international consultants. The GoA (with support from the Bank) should therefore consider assigning reputable consulting firms with strong procurement expertise in the field of the specific projects to the task of conducting proposal evaluations under major Bank-funded projects in close cooperation with the PA. The same consultants could also be entrusted with the quality and administrative control of the contracts and building capacity. In particular, Bank-funded projects that cannot rely on the support of internationally staffed Project Management Units (PMUs) or Technical Support Units (TSUs) should benefit from this approach.
For Bank-funded projects that are too small to justify the use of international consulting firms to handle proposal evaluation and contract management, the Bank should encourage Bank staff to actively support counterpart agencies at defining the technical input for ToR. Bank specialists in the required areas of expertise should extensively review and also provide input to draft ToR regarding objectives, components, activities, milestones, and evaluation indicators. Common weaknesses in TA projects such as the fragmentation into small assignments of short duration, inadequate monitoring or the disregard of local circumstances should be avoided by better procurement planning and effective supervision. Furthermore, consultants with expertise in the required fields should be assigned to Evaluation Committees.
The GoA (with support from the Bank) may wish to consider addressing the lack of qualified translators by designing and implementing a training program at a selected training institute for future translators.
In addition, the GoA may consider developing and implementing training modules for the procurement staff in the area of English, IT and computer skills.
Recommendations for the development of the local consulting sector are provided in para. 83.
