Some twenty-five public sector workers in Anguilla, engaged in project implementation, and projects that are recipients of Caribbean Development Bank financing, attended a two-day workshop at La Vue Conference Facility on Monday and Tuesday this week.
The workshop was part of CDB’s remit to launch a series of revised guidelines to personnel of all eighteen Borrowing Member Countries between January 2012 and July 2013.
The workshop in Anguilla was facilitated by Mr. Norman Cameron, Head of Procurement at the Caribbean Development Bank, and his assistant, Ms Marquita Small.
A press release, issued on Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance in Anguilla, stated that a major revision of the CDB’s procurement guidelines for consultants was considered and approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors at its 247th Meeting in Barbados on July 18, 2011. The revised guidelines are called “Guidelines for the Selection and Engagement of Consultants by Recipients of CDB Financing” and they became effective on October 1, 2011.
The press release continued: “The main objective of procurement harmonisation is to maximise the extent to which participating Multi-lateral Development Banks (MDBs) and International Financing Institutions (IFIs) can have uniformity in most procurement processes, while striving for similarity in others.
“In furtherance of this objective, participants in this harmonisation process, which included various Heads of Procurement of the MDBs and IFIs, have cooperated with each other to standardise and streamline procurement policies and procedures; build sustainable procurement capacity at the country, sector and projects levels; promote good governance in procurement; and identify and share best practices with each other and the beneficiary community.
“In addition to those provisions that are specific to CDB operations, the revised guidelines as they stand now more closely follow the format used by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank with provisions that are approximately 95% identical to the harmonised guidelines of other MDBs and IFIs.
“Major revisions include requirements for the publication of awards of contracts, clearer conflict of interest provisions and the introduction of a Standard Request for Proposal Form which is intended to reduce the efforts required by the Borrowing Member Countries in their assistance proposals.”
