Comparison of procurement of non-consulting services: public procurement rules-2008 Vs World Bank guidelines

Abstract

The World Bank Guidelines and Public Procurement Rules-2008 are basically prepared for the proper guidance of the procurement at the same time it also provides legal support and a restrictive boundary for the parties involved in procurement. This dissertation mainly deals with the comparison of these two guidelines regarding procurement of nonconsulting services. In Public Procurement there are generally three procurement categories: goods, works and services. Services are classified as consulting services and non-consulting services. In some cases, they are simply classified as services because of the difficulty, at times, in clearly determining the difference. The distinguishing factor between the two, however, is the degree of importance of the measurable physical output of the requirement. This study covers those parts of the guidelines which are related to non-consulting services. In World Bank guidelines non-consulting services have been clarified and procurement process has been outlined. One sample bidding document has been published to facilitate the procurement process. On the other hand Public Procurement Rules -2008 does not clarify the non-consulting services. However there is some provision of procurement of physical services, related services and stand-alone services. It is mandatory for all the public sector procuring entities to follow the standard tender documents prepared by the CPTU, which yet not published for procurement of non-consulting services. The current scenario of procurement practice in the public sector has been studied through interviews with procurement professionals working in World Bank financed projects regarding non-consulting services. The analyses indicate that there is limited scope of procurement of non-consulting services in the current public procurement rules-2008. For WB guidelines, the current sample bidding documents needs to be update to overcome the shortcomings. And at last it can be said that the maximum guidance in the two guidelines are almost same and there are some minor difference in some specific cases and this similarity eventually helping the procuring entity to be accustomed easily with all the guidelines.