Introduction

Procurement of goods, works or services under the projects funded by the World Bank whether under International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) orJnternational Development Association (IDA) has to be in accordance with the guidelines of the Bank for such procurements. These guidelines have been developed by the Bank based on their need for impartial administration of procurement among eligible bidders thereby providing equal business opportunity to the Member Countries of the Bank and are based on the accumulated experience of the Bank and good/procurement practices followed on a global scale. The basic considerations guiding procurement in Bank financed projects are :

a) Need for economy and efficiency in the execution of the project;
(b) Bank’s interest as a co-operative institution in giving all eligible bidders from developed and developing countries an opportunity to compete;
(c) Bank’s interest as a development institution in encouraging the development of domestic contracting and manufacturing industries; and
(d) The importance of transparency in the procurement process.

The Bank’s guidelines cover various procedures acceptable to the Bank and these are applicable only to the extend they are provided in the legal loan agreement for the specific project. The Bank’s procedures in many respects differ from the procedures normally adopted in the Government of India viz. the nodal agency, the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal (DGS&D). Some of the major differences are also highlighted later in this paper.

Volume 

Procurement organisations and the business community in India can not afford to over look the Bank’s procurement procedures in view of the heavy funding being done by the World Bank group in India and consequently the volume of purchases made by the project implementation units. Table below gives the large borrowers and the Bank’s disbursement upto financial year 1999. It would be seen that while during 1999 Russia was the largest borrower with a borrowing of US $ 3.51 billions, India borrowed US $ 1.437 billions, cumulative disbursement upto financial year 1999 for India was US $ 51.99 billions followed by china at US $33.05 billions.