SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT : The Director General of ARCOP Senegal lists the advantages of APD.

It is in the interests of African countries to incorporate “sustainability” into their procurement processes – a strategic concept aimed at integrating economic, social and environmental considerations into the public procurement cycle. And they would be well advised to do so, according to Saër Niang, Director of Arcop Sénégal. According to Mr Niang, PPAs offer enormous potential benefits, as they are fully in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the World Bank’s revised mission to end extreme poverty and stimulate prosperity on a liveable planet.

LEJECOS – On Tuesday 23 April 2024 in Dakar, the World Bank and Senegal’s Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Arcop) launched a one-week training course on Sustainable Public Procurement (Apd) for those involved in public procurement.
In his speech, Saër Niang said that this training, designed for experienced public procurement managers and representatives of World Bank project implementation agencies in the West and Central Africa region, was an extension of activities already underway with development partners.  According to Arcop’s Managing Director, PPAs are now a strategic concept aimed at integrating economic, social and environmental considerations into the public procurement cycle. As well as offering enormous potential benefits, Mr Niang argued that Sustainable Publ ic Procurement is perfectly aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the World Bank’s revised mission to end extreme poverty and stimulate prosperity on a liveable planet.

In Senegal, he explained, sustainable public procurement is enshrined in the regulatory and legislative framework for public procurement and is based on 3 pillars. The first of these is the economic pillar, which guarantees preferential access to public procurement for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and players in the social economy. There is also the social pillar, which he believes promotes protection and guarantees access to employment for women, young people and people with disabilities. And finally, the environmental pillar. “It has become an essential aspect of all public procurement”, he said.

He went on to explain that Senegal’s new Public Procurement Code now requires contracting authorities to make environmentally friendly purchases and use techniques that reduce the harmful
impact on the environment. According to him, in Senegal, public procurement, which is a means of implementing public policies, represents a budget estimated at nearly CFAF 4,000 billion. With such a large financial windfall, Mr Niang believes that the contracting authorities are in a position to bring about substantial environmental, social and financial improvements.

“We have a responsibility to transform the way we buy and consume, and consequently the way we produce goods and services”, he said. He added that Senegal’s public procurement system had
undergone several evaluations over the past two decades. As a result, he said, the system has been in full development since the Country Program Assessment Report 1 exercise in 2003.

Bassirou MBAYE