THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly (GA) is the supreme and sovereign body of the Network. It is the framework for dialog, concertation, orientation and decision-making regarding the activities of the Network.
It gathers the Representatives at high level of member countries’ institutions who can be represented in return by other persons of their team in case of absence. The delegates should have a formal power of attorney conferring them absolute legitimacy.
The power of attorney must be introduced to the Technical Secretariat and to the Executive Committee (EC) of the Network if need be in order to participate in the General Assembly and vote in there. National associations of experts and professionals of public procurement can also take part in the General Assembly meetings as associate members and observers without the right to vote. The Official Representative of the Host Country presides over the General Assembly as the President of the Network.
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee (EC) is the body in charge of the implementation of the annual work plan and of all decisions made by the General Assembly. Its members (the member countries) are elected by the active members of the Region and approved by the General Assembly. The EC is composed of five (5) active members whose representatives hold high technical positions in institutions in charge of public procurement, control and regulation of the public procurement sector in their respective countries.
The EC is structured as follows based on geographic criteria with a Coordinator and an Alternate per region:
Zone 1: North Africa Region (NAR)
Zone 2: Eastern Africa Region (EAR)
Zone 3: West Africa Region (WAR)
Zone 4: Southern Africa Region (SAR)
Zone 5: Central Africa Region (CAR)
The repartition of the countries within the five (5) regions will be defined by the Rules and Regulations.
During the approval of the elected members in the Executive Committee by the different regions, the General Assembly will see to it that the EC is linguistically balanced.
The EC elects one of its members as the Executive Coordinator of the Network to chair meetings. This election respects the principle of rotation within the EC.
If there is no candidate or if it’s impossible to replace the representative of a region after a period of time defined by the Rules and Regulations, the other members of the Network can choose a representative of another region in replacement.
Each member of the Executive Committee is elected for two (2) years non-renewable. During the GA, a calendar will be established on the agenda for each sub-region to elect its representative in the EC. The elected candidate is the one who gets the highest ballots among the members of his corresponding zone.
If the Executive Committee so elected is linguistically unbalanced, the General Assembly will ask the Chairperson of the Network to make a consultation with the five (5) regions to correct the situation.
The process of selecting the members of the Executive Committee is detailed in the Rules and Regulations.
THE TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT
It’s supervised by the Executive Committee. It’s the operational administration of the Network on daily basis.
Without being exhaustive, the Technical Secretariat has the following attributions:
Collect process and spread all information and documents concerning African public procurement;
Produce and spread technical notes and/or researches done by itself or by subcontract based on information collected for the members or other cooperation partners;
Collect and process information related to successful experiences and good practices of the members on a database form;
Develop relations with similar institutions to the Network and with African and international financing institutions;
Facilitate contact between members in order to increase cooperation between them;
Sustain the EC in the conception, the approval and the execution of the activities retained in the annual work plan; follow up and evaluate activities as well as manage and access international cooperation opportunities;
Assist the EC in the identification and management of resources for international cooperation;
Design and execute specific projects based on the orientations of the General Assembly and the Executive Committee, especially projects aiming to reinforce horizontal cooperation between institutions and members of the Network;
Nourish active relations with institutions having same objectives such as professional associations, training institutions, multilateral banks and civil society’s organizations;
Submit to the Executive Committee:
i. Drafts of agendas and texts to examine;
ii. Drafts of Statutes and Rules and Regulations’ amendments;
iii. Action plans, activity minutes and budget drafts
iv. Financial Statements
v. Convention drafts
See to the application of the decisions and resolutions made by the Network’s bodies;
Guarantee the administrative support and contribution to research commissions, work groups and ad hoc committees;
Proceed to the archiving and the transmission of documents;
Manage the database and the website of the Network;
Defend the interests of the Network against third parties and see to the application of its texts;
Provide administrative assistance to the organization of meetings and activities decided by the other bodies of the Network.
Provisions related to the functioning of the Technical Secretariat and its operational relations with other bodies are defined in the Rules and Regulations of the Network.