Every year the World Bank benchmarks the regulatory environments in 77 economies the world over, assessing their impact on the public procurement process. The benchmarking essentially cuts across two lines: The procurement lifecycle (how well the contract lifecycle from bid preparation to contract execution performs) and the complaint and reporting mechanism (how well contesting works in each country, and how transparent the public procurement process is). The goal is to gain an understanding of how well countries guard themselves against corruption. As the World Bank puts it:
“Corruption in public procurement imposes very high costs on both the government and the citizenry. It not only wastes citizens’ money but undermines the quality of public goods and services by not fairly and properly considering public needs when projects are designed and implemented. Transparency International estimates that “damage from corruption can represent on average 10-25%—and in the worst cases as much as 50%—of a contract’s value” (Transparency International, 2006).”
The report is the result of a major initiative kicked off in 2013. You can download the full report from the World Bank.
Featured Image Courtesy of World Bank