Public procurement is a major area of public expenditure that is highly vulnerable to corruption. OECD Global Forum on Governance 2004 concluded that lack of transparency and accountability is a major stumbling block to fairness, equal treatment and integrity in public procurement. As an approach to ensure good governance in public procurement, citizen actors are increasingly engaged in the public procurement process as an oversight mechanism. This policy brief explores the possibilities of citizen engagement in public procurement with a focus on municipal public procurement in Bangladesh. From its findings, the brief concludes that there is scope for CAs as instruments for increasing transparency and accountability in MPP. The CAs will have to be persons who are not part of or linked to any bidders or PEs. They have to be educated, informed and aware, and have a stake in concerned PP as a direct beneficiary. In the long run, there have to be legal reforms and policy innovations in PPA and PPR giving way to the institutionalization of CE in the procurement process. In the short run, the brief recommends that CE should capitalize on existing participation windows.
Author: Haque, Kazi Nurmohammad Hossainul
Type: Policy Brief
Year: 2013
