Afghanistan Public Procurement

Public Procurement is frequently considered to be a back-office function; however, after 1990s, it was marked as one of strategic economic functions of the government and today it has become even more important from a strategic perspective because shortfalls in public procurement can affect the entire government development programs, for a big chunk of public money is expended through public procurement and in return services are rendered to the public. Therefore, ineffective and inefficient procurement would result in waste of public money, ineffective service delivery and public disenfranchisement.  That’s why today, procurement can act as a vital tool for implementation of broader socio-economic policies of the government.

#transparency  #accountability  #fairness

In Afghanistan, Public Procurement was established in 2006 when the procurement law was adopted. The law later on was amended in the year 2009 and 2014 through legislative decrees and was under review of the Wolesi Jirga.
Now, with the intentions of the National Unity Government for reform of the systems including that of the public procurement, the procurement law has been amended after vigorous literature study of previous and existing laws, internationally accepted and successful models like the United Nation Commissions on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL Model Law, an analysis of the procurement environment and public sector environment of the country and after extensive consultations with stakeholders, development partners and legal experts.
The amended law was enacted through legislative decree 75 and was gazette consequently officially published in Gazette (No. 1186) before it got approved by the parliament on January 13, 2016. Based on the provisions of the constitution, the procurement law was reviewed at Mishrano Jirga (the Upper House) and afterwards was passed by the joint committee of both houses. Finally, the new law was endorsed via decree number 90 of the President and was gazetted  
Conciseness, preciseness, institutional system development, pro-active tools for economic development, transparency, mutual accountability, fairness and competition are what has been strengthened in the new law.
>>> For more information, please visit the website of the National Procurement Authority of Afghanistan.