World Bank approves $1.5 mn aid for Bhutan

The World Bank has approved a $1.5 million grant to help Bhutan improve its national public procurement system.

The Institutional Capacity Building Project for Procurement will create an up-to-date national procurement system recognised by international partners as standard and adequate for all procurement whether for the national budget or donor-financed projects, the Bank said.

The positive outcomes produced through more efficient, effective, fair, and transparent procurement, such as increased accountability, value for money, and budgetary savings, are expected to have an impact on achieving other goals, including rapid economic growth, promoting private sector growth, and improving quality of life, it added.

"Procurement requires a variety of skills to enable procurement officers to use the framework of rules and regulations to make informed decisions and work to guarantee optimal results," said Dimitri De Pues, task leader for the project. "This project will focus on building the capacity of national institutions in Bhutan responsible for training people on public procurement, thus making it sustainable and creating a professional procurement cadre of civil servants."

The main objective of the project is to establish the standards required for a body of procurement professionals and to establish a qualifications and training programme to support the future development of these professionals.