PROCUREMENT ISSUES The Malawi Experience

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PROCUREMENT ISSUESThe Malawi Experience

• Dr. Habib Somanje
• Director of preventive Health Services

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Introduction

• Most of the proposals to the donor partners
  including the Global Fund focus on huge
  investments
• Investments in personnel, goods and services
  cannot occur without procurement
• We cannot afford to misprocure as this may lead
  to failure of the program/project and failure to
  get value for money characterised by
• Inadequate quantity
• Inadequate quality
• Delayed delivery

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Summary of Global Fund Support
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Procurement Systems

• For non health products and services internal
  procurement committee using the procurement act
  and the World Bank procedures
• For health products use of the medical buying
  board with CMS as secretariat
• For vaccines and some specified health products
  like ARVs UNICEF is subcontracted to procure

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What are the Results

• There are mixed feelings
• The procuring teams have a lot to be proud of
  recently compared to the previous years. They try
  their best to stick to the procedures and
  managing many procurements.
• As for some of the internal clients, they cannot
  hide their frustrations due to delays in
  implementation
• So far, there has been no interruption in ARVs
  supply and the ITNs have always been procured in
  quantities as requested.
• Most of problematic situations are attributed to
• Complexity of procedures
• Lack of capacity
• Inadequate ownership of the process by all
  concerned
• Unwillingness to change the paradigm

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Procurement Procedures

• According to Henry Emerson Fosdick
• No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No
  steam or gas ever drives anything until it is
  confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light
  until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great
  until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
• However, according to Peter Drucker
• So much of what we call management consists of
  making it difficult for people to work. e.g.
  upper limits for different types of procurement
• Therefore, finding a balance between enforcement
  of procedures and making it difficult for people
  to procure goods and services timely is key. The
  yardstick should always be to prevent the
  postponement of life saving investment.

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Level of Procurement Capacity

• In some cases, it is possible to attribute
  failure to procure goods on time due lack of
  capacity.
• Development of procurement plans on time
• Quantification of some health products in the
  absence of good disease burden data
• In most cases, it is the blind application of all
  the procurement procedures in all situations,
  especially at community level.
• CBOs may not be required to develop their
  capacity to implement all the steps in
  procurement by nature of where they are
• As district budgets grow and prices go up, the
  limits should also go up

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Inadequate ownership by all

• The program managers stop their involvement after
  making their requests and providing information
  to be included in the procurement plan
• The IPC rarely provides feedback to the program
  implementation teams regarding their requests
• The WB stops its involvement after either
  providing the no objection or seeking
  clarifications or objecting the procurement
• This leads to the detachment of the cord between
  the procurement process and the intended benefits
  of the procured goods and services.

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Unwillingness to change the paradigm

• A paradigm is a perception, an assumption, a
  theory or frame of reference or lens through
  which one views the world. Covey
• It is almost always believed that the recipient
  countries have minimal or no capacity to manage
  huge procurements
• This has necessitated the use of World Bank
  procedures and the need to obtain no objections
  in addition to recruitment of highly paid T.As,
  for procurements to be concluded or the creation
  of a parallel system to conduct the procurement
• The countries are treated as what they are and
  not as what they should be
• The best way to inspire people to a superior
  performance is to convince them by everything you
  do and by your everyday attitude that you are
  wholeheartedly supporting them. Harold

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Focus for the future

• Prevent the creation of a situation where funds
  are available but goods and services are not
  procured on time or not procured at all. This is
  critical for the attainment of the MDGs.
• Move towards procurement of all goods and
  services including health products by the IPC and
  make a deliberate effort to trust and support it
  other than willingly replacing it.
• Management has resolved to become a trim tab by
  examining the procurement issues at least every
  fortnightly in order to generate objective data
  for provision of necessary objective feedback to
  all concerned. This will reconnect the cord
  between the beneficiary of the procured
  goods/services and the procurement process.