RICG - Red Interamericana de Compras Gubernamentales

Activity

Succesful Closing of the Eleventh Annual Conference of the INGP

Find in the RICG database information organized by thematics, countries and type.

Dialogue

The Inter-American Network on Government Procurement (INGP), and the General Public Procurement Agency (DGCP, per its acronym in Spanish) in Dominican Republic, with the support of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), organized this year’s XI Annual Conference on Government Procurement in the Americas held on October 28th to 30th, 2015 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

On Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th, INGP members conducted the public sessions with the presence of representatives and international experts from different sectors related to government procurement, academics, women and MSMEs associations and officers from the public and private sector.

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The opening was led by the President of the Republic, Danilo Medina. At the ceremony, he expressed that by democratizing the procurement system, he would be democratizing the important MSMEs sector. “Under our administration, women or companies led by women have received over RD$ 30 billion” the president said, adding that his government moved from 2000 female providers in August 2012 to more than 12,000 in August 2015. He also highlighted that within 3 years, the Registry of State Providers (RPE) has reached 57,527, representing an increase of 38,000 new suppliers.

The opening ceremony was also attended by Ms. Araceli Azuara, representative of the Organization of American States (OAS), Ms. Flora Montealegre, representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the ambassadors from Canada, Mr. Steve Coté and Panama, Mr. Pablo Quintero Luna; as well as the Minister of Public Administration, Mr. Ramon Ventura Camejo.

Topics of public sessions – October 28-29, 2015

The public sessions were conducted by prestigious international experts and Government Procurement Directors from the region with an audience of over 400 participants, following these topics:

Plenary Sessions:

Can public procurement contribute to the achievement of national development objectives?

How to integrate markets through Public Procurement in te Caribbean?

How effective are the measures to fight corruption in public procurement?

What is the true value of money?

Is e-procurement an essential mechanism for modernization and innovation of public procurement?

Simultaneous Sessions

Can public procurement be used to promote local development? Family agriculture, women and MSMEs.

Is it possible to create a culture of sustainable production and consumption through public procurement?

What are we measuring on public procurement in Latin America and the Caribbean?

What is the role of public-private partnerships in the procurement of large and complex projects?

Social mechanisms of participation in public procurement.

What is the role of open data in government procurement?

See Speaker’s Bios

Winners of 2015 INGP Awards

During the public session, the award “Joseph François Robert Marcello” was presented to the Executive President of OSCE, Magalí Rojas Delgado, in recognition of her leadership, innovation, long term vision, management skills, knowledge generation, cross-country cooperation and contribution to the INGP and her high commitment to great management of public government in her country.

In like manner, the award for “Innovation in Government Procurement” was granted to the Direction of ChileCompra, represented by the Director, Trinidad Inostroza for the initiative “Open Data Policy” for the innovation in implementing new information technologies in the field of Public Procurement.

ChileCompra, aligned with the principles of the government, adopted a policy of open data providing information of public tenders in a transparent, relevant and accessible manner. The project started in 2009 with the website “Analiza” to facilitate the use of public procurement data. In 2012 the Observatory was added to monitor the tenders and from 2014 the Public Market API allows the development of innovative applications with information from public procurement.

“These changes arise for citizens, businesses and the public sector can access our data in a simple and dynamic way. We are currently implementing improvements in functionality that come from the needs of our users, organizing data and providing more information” explained Trinidad Inostroza en this press release published on the ChileCompra website.

Private Session

During the private session on Friday October 30, sub regional simultaneous meetings took place (the Caribbean, South and Central America) where the achievements of member countries were presented and identified the needs and common challenges to face in the coming years.

Additionally, the INGP welcomed Puerto Rico as a member, the INGP Statutes modification was approved and the authorities for the next management period 2015-2017 were selected. Also, the location for the next XII Annual Conference of the INGP in 2016 was selected: Jamaica.

Ms. Trinidad Inostroza, Director of ChileCompra, was selected as President of the INGP and the Executive Committee is now formed by the following countries: Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Belize, El Salvador, Colombia and Paraguay.

INGP departing president, Dr. Yokasta Guzmán, Director of Public Procurement in Dominican Republic, who hosted these 3 day event, stated that all countries in the region should consolidate the best practices implemented in public procurement to improve the quality of life of people.

Ms. Trinidad Inostroza, elected INGP President for 2015-2017, expressed her willingness to continue working for integrity in public procurement and the inclusion of women and MSMEs in the sector.

The Technical Secretariat, led by the OAS, presented the Activities Report 2014-2015 and conducted the debate during the private session to follow the proposed agenda. In addition, the IDB and the IDRC from Canada, presented the results of their programs.

Countries presented their priorities for the upcoming years related to the following topics:

Probity and Integrity / Anti-corruption
Open Data
Strong Institutions
Best Value for Money
PPPs
Professionalization of public purchasers
Gender
Price standardization price / preferential values
Framework agreements
Broadband connectivity
Model legislation in CARICOM for Caribbean countries
International Institutional Coordination