By Toby McIntosh
For the first time, the World Bank has published information on large contracts it makes for goods and services, mainly consulting services.
The datasets put on the Bank’s website Aug. 8 arrived 10 months later than planned and temporarily contain less data than promised.
The disclosures reveal Bank contracts valued at over $500,000 annually, but will soon be expanded to include contracts above $250,000, the original disclosure pledge, a Bank official told FreedomInfo.org. (For background see previous FreedomInfo.org report on the delay and the original promise.)
One new database shows 34 “Corporate Procurement Awards,” with the largest being $2,609,757.16 with the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands for “Consulting Services – Global Ocean Action Summit for Food Security and Blue Growth.”
Another disclosure page is for “Master Agreements” and do not contain cost information. The contracts are described as “indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity and therefore contract value is not indicated.”
There are 20 such listings, with 11 being for “ICT Experts” and six for “Hydro-Economic Analysis.’
On both pages the names of the suppliers are provided, along with the date of the award, a short description, the World Bank Group organization involved, a “selection number,” the country of the supplier, and a “VPU Description.”
Buttons offer options to manage, filter, visualize, and export the material.
The data covers three quarters, from July 1, 2013 to April 1, 2014. Quarterly updates are planned.
$29 Million in Procurement Listed
The listed 34 contracts total just over $29 million ($29,195,726.77), with seven for more that $1 million.
The top seven are:
– Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, $2,609,757.16, for “Consulting Services – Global Ocean Action Summit for Food Security and Blue Growth.”
– Booz Allen and Hamilton, Inc., United States, $ 2 million, for “World Bank Group Expenditure Review.”
– Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation, United States, $1,600,000.00, for “Execution of the International Finance Corporation Lighting Global product Quality Assurance Program and transition to private sector.”
– Unicon Ltd., United Kingdom, $1,551,500.00, for “South Sudan DDR Pilot Reintegration Project – Consultancy to Implement the Livelihoods Support Component.”
– CPCS Transcom International Limited, Barbados, $1,330,540.00, for “Consulting Services – Transport Policy Performance Review.”
– Economic Consulting Associates, Ltd., United Kingdom, $1,290,836.64, for “Consortium-Approach to the Development of Gas to Power and the Gas Ring in the Energy Community.”
– The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars, United Kingdom, $1,213,927.00, for “Analysis of Provider Payment Reforms in Advancing China’s Health (APPROACH): An Evaluation of County Hospitals”
While contracts with accounting firms, consulting groups, academic institutions and corporations predominate, there also are large contracts with nongovernment organizations including:
– the Earthquakes & Megacities Initiative in the Philippines for “Consulting Services – Bangladesh Urban Earthquake Resilience Program Phase Two,” and
– the Open Society Foundation of the United Kingdom for “Improving Civil Society Engagement in Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Implementation – Support to Publish-What-You-Pay (PWYP) International Secretariat.”
Filed under: IFTI Watch