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First High Level Seminar on E-Procurement, Naples, Italy, 30-31 January 2006

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The first High Level Seminar on E-Procurement took place on 30-31 January 2006 in Naples, Italy. The seminar was one of the key outcomes identified at the First Regional Meeting of the GfD Working Group II on E-Government and Administrative Simplification in September 2005 in Dubai.

Participants

The High-Level Seminar was chaired by the co-chair of Working Group II, Mr. Vincenzo Schioppa, from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Italy, as well as by representatives of the Government of Jordan, Italy, United Arab Emirates, and United States. It was opened and closed by Mr. Federico Basilica, Head of the Department for Public Administration, Italy, by Mrs. Rehab Lootah, Head of Dubai  e-Government, and by Rolf Alter and Christian Vergez from the OECD Secretariat.

18 high-level experts from Algeria, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Oman attended the meeting. Furthermore, experts from OECD countries as well as from the UNDP, World Bank, and the Development Gateway Foundation were present.

The Arab participants presented their approaches and challenges to developing effective e-procurement systems and actively engaged in open and constructive discussions. Moreover, 5 Arab countries (Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, United Arab Emirates) provided extensive information of country experiences in e-procurement, addressing all enabling factors, including institutional, organisational, and regulatory aspects. The framework provided by the seminar has created a strong foundation for further work and discussion on other e-government and administrative simplification issues.

Outcomes

Key Outcomes of the meeting include:

  • Creation of a Network of E-procurement Experts supporting bilateral exchange of technical know-how and expertise on the implementation of e-procurement systems, focussing on:
    • Inventory of legislative requirements for e-procurement
    • Guidelines on building an “integrated” (actors, processes) approach to e-procurement
    • Checklist of effective skills and competences for e-procurement operators
  • Follow-up seminar with user groups (agencies, suppliers) on how to effectively implement e-procurement by bilateral/multilateral donors
  • Dissemination of Arab experiences on e-procurement through the collection and analysis of country papers for the preparation of Arab Country Action Plans to be presented at the GfD Steering Group Meeting at Ministerial Level on 20 May 2006
  • Proposal by the Italian Department of Public Administration and FORMEZ to host another High-level Seminar in Italy on Administrative Simplification, the second theme of GfD Working Group II

Agenda topics

The event has brought together e-government and administrative simplification experts from Arab and OECD countries to share strategic advice and practical view on:

  • Framework: Conditions for e-procurement, such as the regulatory framework, the organizational structures and responsibilities, process reengineering and transparency;
  • Challenges: technical and technological challenges as well as the skills and human capacities required to build up effective e-procurement systems;
  • Cooperation: Sharing successful experiences in the implementation of e-procurement procedures, tools and models such as:
    • eG4M model
    • e-Procurement project of the Ministry of State for Administrative Development of Egypt
    • e-Procurement experience of the Government of Lebanon
    • Italian case of the central procurement agency CONSIP and the rationalization program of public spending
    • The Development Gateway Foundation e-Procurement projects

Documentation