More Governments Improve Transparency.
It is always encouraging to see government procurement transparency improving around the world.
Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire have both recently applied to the GPA, Agreement on Government Procurement, a plurilateral agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreement regulates the procurement of goods and services, based on the principles of openness, transparency and non-discrimination.
Adopting the GPA ensures that a country’s government will publish details of their tenders and will run a fair and competitive tender process for public contracts.
Brazil submitted its application to join the GPA on 18 May, 2020. It is the first Latin American country seeking to become a party to the Agreement.
Côte d’Ivoire is also seeking accession into the group, having observer status since July 2020, showing the government’s ambition to bring its public procurement system in line with international standards and promote transparent and equitable procedures in the country.
Currently, 48 WTO members are bound by the Agreement. Australia was the latest member to have acceded to the Agreement in 2019, soon to be followed by the UK who will ascend in its own right, on the expiry of the EU transition period 31st December 2020.
The GPA aims to open up government procurement markets to foreign competition, and make government procurement more transparent.
This is another welcome step towards global openness and transparency in government procurement.
Our team can help countries evaluate the impact of accession to the GPA and how best to use technology to comply with the GPA.
Image courtesy of @WTO
