Gaza – The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) published a research paper, titled Governing the Public Procurement Process in the Gaza Strip. The paper recommends that controls over public procurement be established with a view to maintaining the standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability. These controls should help facilitate and regulate the public procurement process, ensuring integrity, transparency, and accountability. The paper recommends that the Law by Decree on Public Procurement No. 8 of 2014 be adopted in the Gaza Strip. According to AMAN, this regulation provides for these standards and rules, which strengthen integrity in public procurement processes.
Presenting key recommendations on the values of integrity, the paper calls on the Central Tenders Department at the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) and Directorate General of Supplies at the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP) to highlight competition in tenders for all suppliers without favour. Public procurement staff need to submit financial disclosure statements. The paper also recommends that the MoFP provide training on good public procurement practices to staff members of public procurement departments. All line ministries are required to develop and make publicly available written rules on the disposal of samples following examination. Additionally, relevant bodies are required to approve a code of conduct for public procurement staff, report instances of corruption, and preserve public funds.
The paper also comes up with a set of recommendations to further promote the principles of transparency. The MoPWH Central Tenders Department and MoFP Directorate General of Supplies should build an online platform of government procurement to provide information on public procurements and tenders, contracting mechanisms, purchase book, and price quotes. All relevant authorities will publish all information on companies directly contracted on an exceptional basis, also stating the reasons for contracting these companies. Periodic reports on the volume of government procurements, including the types of procurements and concerned agencies, should be published. A summary of procurement contracts signed with companies will be made publicly available, making clear the quantities, amounts, service delivery, and source of allocations to projects.
To ensure accountability, the paper stresses that the control mechanism be laid out. In addition to conducting quality assurance procedures, service delivery will be monitored along the lines of tender terms. The paper also calls on the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau to identify official authorities in charge of controlling service provision and quality. Periodic reports on control over public procurement will be published. Hotlines will be in place for reporting cases of corruption, ensuring practical follow-up on these cases. Actions taken will be made public, but also ensuring protection of whistleblowers and witnesses. Sufficient space will be given to civil society organisations to monitor, follow up with, and provide feedback on all public procurement processes. Finally, a body will be established to supervise, develop policies and procedures for, and monitor public procurements.
Worth noting is that the research paper provides a review of main positive and negative developments in public procurement processes. It upgrades a report compiled by AMAN on the environment of integrity, transparency and accountability in public procurement processes in 2018. Some pending aspects still require a will for change in order to improve and develop governance of the legal and institutional frameworks for public procurement in the Gaza Strip.
To download the paper: https://www.aman-palestine.org/reports-and-studies/13905.html
