ANSA-EAP’s focus on procurement monitoring responds to the growing number of citizen-government partnerships working in this thematic area. In the past, procurement monitoring was seen as a purely anti-corruption initiative. Beyond putting in precautionary measures and finding the loopholes in how government purchases goods and services, the ANSA-EAP approach to procurement monitoring institutes more sustainable governance practices.
ANSA-EAP is developing an inter-country pool of expert-practitioners on procurement monitoring. The goal is to create a regional community of procurement practitioners who can integrate social accountability thinking, tools, and practices into procurement procedures, protocol, and processes.
In November 2009, ANSA-EAP hosted OPEN DOORS 2009’A Regional Forum on Procurement Monitoring as a Social Accountability Tool in Advancing Citizens’ Engagement with Government. Held in Hong Kong, OPEN DOORS 2009 drew 76 participants from citizen groups, governments, and donor institutions from 13 countries.
OPEN DOORS 2009 discarded the conventional rulebook for running a conference. It used Open Space Technology, a process that galvanized participants into ‘owning’ the forum. They joined in the spirit of open space by quickly sharing their experiences and collaboratively identifying and addressing difficult procurement monitoring issues. They asked questions, shared ideas, information, and practices. Regardless of the sector and country they represented everyone was eager to share and learn.
Participants grouped into their respective countries and crafted country plans to promote procurement monitoring both in their countries and in the region. Country plans had common themes. For example, they all called for projects to map social accountability and procurement monitoring activities in respective countries. They also emphasized the need for more effective dissemination of knowledge and tools on procurement monitoring and social accountability.
At the country level, ANSA-EAP is building national procurement monitoring sub-networks in the four priority countries.
In Cambodia, ANSA-EAP partners with the Coalition for Integrity and Social Accountability (CISA) for its procurement initiatives. CISA, which has 29 member organizations, helped lobby for the passage of an anti-corruption law in this country.
CISA’s interest in public procurement relates closely with their anti-corruption advocacy. With its track record in policy advocacy, CISA believes it could also push for the long overdue procurement law in Cambodia. To do this effectively, it requested ANSA-EAP’s technical assistance to build its members’ knowledge and capacity to deal with procurement issues, and conduct research about the procurement bill that the group will lobby for passage in Parliament.
In Indonesia, ANSA-EAP is currently formalizing a procurement sub-network through the coordination of Transparency International-Indonesia and Indonesia Corruption Watch. Closely involved in the preparations are PATTIRO, Indonesia Procurement Watch, Bandung Institute for Governance Studies, and B-Trust.
The objective of this sub-network on procurement is to provide a fresh platform for citizen groups to push for a procurement law and for more procurement monitoring efforts.
In Mongolia, ANSA-EAP has gathered 16 organizations to form a national sub-network on procurement. The first of its kind in Mongolia, this sub-network seeks to influence the legal framework and improve access to procurement-related information. It has high potential of providing an alternative and complementary evaluation of Mongolia’s Public Procurement Law. Passed in 2000 and most recently amended in 2007, the law has been crafted with minimal participation of citizen groups.
With ANSA-EAP support, the Mongolian sub-network currently builds the procurement monitoring capabilities of its members, runs advocacies and partnerships with government for procurement-related monitoring, and conducts forums to share experiences in procurement advocacy. It also seeks to influence the legal framework and improve access to procurement-related information.
In the Philippines, ANSA-EAP works with the Philippine Procurement Network (P2N), which emerged directly from the Open Doors 2009 event. The main challenge to P2N is consolidating and sustaining the many existing procurement efforts in this country. P2N has asked for ANSA-EAP’s support to map and assess citizens’ public procurement monitoring nationwide, and set the agenda, program and sustainability plan for the sub-network.
ANSA-EAP also has an emerging partnership with the Government Procurement Professionals of the Philippines, Inc. (GP3I), a unique group of government procurement officers that serves as support system for their peers and colleagues as well as a study and advocacy arm for improving procurement practices in the country. GP3I has sought the assistance of ANSA-EAP in incorporating social accountability in its program and strategies.