UNODC recommends open contracting, e-procurement for transparent emergency procurements

Apr 09, 2021 News

The UNODC’s Headquarters.

Kaieteur News – To promote transparent and accountable public medical emergency procurement, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is encouraging open contracting and e-procurement. The organisation sought to outline several possible corruption risks associated mainly with COVID-19 vaccine procurement and distribution, and general medical procurement in a report titled: “COVID-19 VACCINES AND CORRUPTION RISKS: PREVENTING CORRUPTION IN THE MANUFACTURE, ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF VACCINES”.
It affirmed that while corruption scandals in procurement are widespread, in the healthcare sector, the procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical devices are particularly prone to corruption and the corruption can most likely occur in the pre-bidding, bidding and post-bidding phases.
The UNODC in its report posited that open contracting may be effective at reducing said corruption, since it equips the public with vital information such as, what is being bought, at what price and quantity, as well as who is the selected supplier.
It added that with e-procurement, efforts to tackle corruption can be more efficient since it allows for “public dissemination of relevant data, such as the bidding and awarding of contracts through a dedicated website, thereby ensuring the element of transparency”. According to the UN organisation, “Public procurement frameworks can also help advance transparency and reduce the risk of purchases from illegitimate suppliers during times of crisis.”
Moreover, it was said that in a public health crisis, corruption risks in procurement are magnified by the urgency of a country’s needs, required flexibility and requested speed for the delivery of the said product, which creates the opportunity for individual discretion that can further increase the risk of corruption.
The report disclosed that during the pre-bidding phase, corruption risks include estimates for the demand of a particular product being done inaccurately, bypassing of public tendering procedures and officials tailoring tender documents to favour a particular bidder. The report further highlighted that during the bidding phase, there is a great risk of government officials receiving bribes or recompenses from suppliers.
Given all that is mentioned, the UNODC made sure to state that the European Union has issued a guidance document, with various options and flexibilities according to its public procurement framework, for the purchase of supplies, services, and works related to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Finally, governments can also turn to COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which is co-led by WHO, the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Gavi. COVAX aims to accelerate the research and development and equitable distribution of diagnostics, drugs and vaccines against COVID-19,” the report stated. It added that using COVAX can assist governments in purchasing safe and effective vaccines, for example, through its pooled procurement mechanism for participating countries.
Notably, Guyana is a part of the COVAX mechanism and so far has received 24,000 doses; however, that quota has been free of cost. The Government of Guyana has been exploring multiple options to obtain more vaccines including bilateral and multilateral discussions and direct engagements with vaccine suppliers.

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