Concept Note: Retrofit Exercise

INTRODUCTION: 
The Baseline Indicators (BLIs) were originally developed as part of the World Bank / OECD-DAC Procurement Roundtable Initiative and were introduced for use in benchmarking procurement systems in December, 2004.  Subsequent to the Roundtable Initiative, as part of the Paris Declaration in 2005, it was agreed that the procurement targets contained in the Paris Declaration would rely on the procurement BLIs to score and monitor progress of indicator 2b which measures the quality of public procurement systems in partner countries.  In order to use the BLIs to assess country procurement systems, a consistent and common scoring criterion had to be developed.  This work has been underway since early 2006 and is now completed with the acceptance by the JV for Procurement of the final version of the BLIs in version 4 of the Benchmark and Assessment Tool for Public Procurement Systems as set forth in document attached entitled "Methodology for Assessment of National Procurement Systems". 
During recent discussions between the JV for Procurement and the JV for Monitoring, it was agreed to conduct a "retrofit exercise" which would enable the latest version of the BLIs to be re-applied in countries where earlier versions of the tools had already been used.   Most of the existing applications have been done by the World Bank either as part of scheduled CPARs or as part of the monitoring of on-going reform initiatives.  A list of  21 countries was been identified in March, 2006, where the BLI have been used; of this number, 15 are adherents to the Paris Declaration.

PURPOSE: 
The purpose of this proposal is to define a "retrofit" methodology that will maximize the amount of scored data obtained from a limited number of Paris Declaration adherents without incurring large costs and in time to be able to contribute to the preparation of the 2006 Baseline Report.  The JV for Monitoring is seeking scoring information to set the baseline for target 2b by mid-September 2006.

PROPOSED RETROFIT EXERCISE: 
The retrofit exercise consists of several steps:

1. Each country where the baseline indicators have been applied since December 2004 will be asked by the Co-Chairs of the JV to conduct a retrofit as a self-assessment using the BLI component of the version 4 Benchmark and Assessment Tool with the defined scoring criteria.  (The new BLI will shortly be available in French, Spanish and Portuguese versions to assist in this task.)  It is anticipated that key procurement counterparts in the respective countries will take the lead in this exercise, expected to take not more than take more than two weeks. For those countries with a National Coordinator in place for the field survey exercise of the Baseline Report, that person should be kept informed.
2. Once the country counterparts have completed the self-assessment, a review meeting will be convened by the government counterpart for procurement with interested and available donors to review the scoring process and results. The purpose of this meeting is for government counterparts to inform donors on the outcome of the scoring for each of the indicators and to review the consistency of application and scoring with the guidance stated in the methodology.  It is anticipated that the review meeting would take 1/2 to 1 full day.
3. A scoring sheet will be supplied to the government counterpart for procurement for recording the score for each of the 54 sub-indicators and to capture a brief statement that justifies or expands upon the score of 0-3 assigned.
4. The government counterpart for procurement will then e-mail to the DAC Secretariat an electronic, scanned copy of  the completed scoring sheet. The OECD/DAC will be responsible for converting the scores into a single country grade following the agreed banding approach that defines the A-D rating.
5. Individual country names and ratings will not be published in the 2006 Baseline Report. The retrofit exercise is a compromise solution proposed by the JV for Procurement as a short-cut means for providing data for the report only. The complete, validated results would involve the full benchmarking and assessment process and methodology approved for pilot field testing by the Co-Chairs on July 19. This process takes between 3 – 6 months once the orientation and organization has taken place. Once the results of this comprehensive process have been fully discussed and agreed amongst the partner and the donors, the critical development work begins. Donors and the partner will work together over a period of time to strengthen the capacity of the procurement system and to focus on greater harmonization among donors and with the country.
6. The results of the retrofit exercise are sufficient to be used as proxies of the relative performance levels of the restricted sample of participating countries; the names of the participating countries will be listed and the resulting percentages by level will be published.
7. The proposed methodology is intended to make the best possible use of the existing data for the primary purpose of establishing the baseline scores for indicator 2b.  The retrofit exercise also offers the opportunity for countries to start building their own capacity to assess their procurement system against internationally agreed standards and to monitor the effectiveness of their own reform initiatives.  This retrofit exercise is also a means to introduce donor staff in the partner countries to the assessment tools and to begin the process of aligning  around an agreed reform strategy.

PROPOSED TIMELINE:  

• End-Aug 2006: The Co-Chairs invite country authorities to participate and to assume the lead of the process working in close collaboration with interested local donor reps.
• Mid-Sept 2006:  Countries complete self assessment retrofit exercise.
• By end-September 2006:  Donors working with the lead government counterpart for procurement participate in the review of the retrofit assessment and the partner government submits the completed scoring sheet to the DAC Secretariat