World Bank wants to make Brazil’s public acquisitions more efficient

The World Bank is taking part in an initiative to support the Brazilian government in the execution of the first Yearly Plan of Purchases of Brazil. Goals include helping improve decision making on the use of public funds and promoting transparency in the purchasing process.

The plan will be released in December and is valid for 2020. All federal agencies and institutions will participate in drafting the document.

Brazilian and World Bank specialists meeting in Brasília. - Mariana Ceratti/Banco Mundial/Direitos reservados

World Bank acquisition specialist Alexandre Borges noted that the plan will place Brazil at the avant-garde of this kind of initiative in South America.  “This will allow the government to provide better services for the population at a lower price.”

Lower costs

Renato Felini, deputy secretary with the Management Secretariat of the Economy Ministry, the first goal of the plan “is seeing what the government’s demand is. Companies will be able to foresee this demand and have a closer connection with the state. That’s a good thing.”

Felini also mentioned the state’s “being able to stop making separated, branched purchases, and start centralizing it. It’s about bigger purchases and an economy of scales, being able to have fewer costs in the process.”

According to official figures, from 2007 to 2017, spending on public purchases through Comprasnet added up to over $132 billion. These purchases account for an average of 0.96 percent of the Brazilian GDP.

Efficiency

According to a study entitled Um Ajuste Justo (“a just adjustment”), launched by the World Bank in 2017, Brazil may spare around $6 and $9 billion in three years if the country increases the efficiency of concessions.

The joint work that led to the creation of the Yearly Plan of Purchases of Brazil started around three years ago at the request of the federal government.

The World Bank Group, an independent agency in the UN system, is the biggest global source of assistance for development, and offers $60 billion in loans and donations to its 187 member countries.