Public
procurement
Government procurement should form an
integral part of the world's trading rules. It typically accounts
for between 3 and 12% of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Effective public procurement contributes significantly to getting
better services for less. It also improves the competitiveness
of suppliers. Transparent and fair public procurement procedures
assist good government and help to combat bribery and corruption.
It
has been estimated that, when a country opens up its public procurement
to transparent competition, it can achieve savings of between
10% and 15%.
28
WTO Parties are currently signatories to the Government procurement
Agreement (GPA). These are Aruba, Canada, the European
Communities and its 15 Member States, Hong Kong China, Iceland,
Israel, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland
and the USA.
The
current plurilateral GPA, which replaced the 1979 GPA, came into
effect on 1 January 1996. It covers the procurement of supplies,
works and services by public bodies including port, airport, water,
urban transport and electricity sectors. The Agreement is on the
basis of mutual reciprocity, which provides for guaranteed market
access in the areas which are reciprocally covered.
The
GPA provides rules for competitive and non-discriminatory procurement
for opportunities above certain thresholds, in a similar way to
the EC procurement Directives, which are themselves currently
being simplified, clarified and updated. Following the adoption
of the 1996 GPA, the EC rules have been amended so that EC suppliers
are treated in the same way as GPA suppliers. Details of the latest
state of play for the EC rules can be found under Office
of Government Commerce.
The
GPA is currently being reviewed to simplify and clarify its provisions,
to allow for the full exploitation of developments in procurement,
such as electronic procurement, and to improve its scope and coverage.
Further
details on procurement details can be found in the procurement
pages of the WTO website
The
multilateral Transparency Working Group, established at the 1996
Singapore Ministerial Conference is currently conducting a study
on transparency in government procurement practices, taking into
account national policies. Based on this study, and
following the agreement at the November Doha Ministerial Conference,
negotiations will take place after the 5th Ministerial Conference
on the basis of a decision to be taken, by explicit consensus,
at that Session on modalities of negotiation.
For
more information, contact:
Jonathan
Denison Cross
Tel: 020 7271 1392
Fax: 020 7271 1344
E-mail: jonathan.denisoncross@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
Last
revised on Monday 6 May 2003
