Experts have said that fostering the development of local information technology (IT) sectors via public procurement must involve industry, government, development partners, and international financial institutions.
They were speaking at the second Global e-Government Forum, which was held on 22 and 23 October in Ilsan, Republic of Korea.
UNCTAD, working in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Ministry of Security and Public Administration of the Republic of Korea, organized a special session at the Forum, on Public procurement and IT sector development.
Experts from international organizations and a delegate from Sri Lanka shared their experiences on how to leverage public procurement related to e-government systems in order to boost the development of local IT sectors.
They stressed that different actors - such as IT industry associations, public procurement offices, e-government agencies, donor governments, and international financial institutions - had key roles to play in the process.
The discussions were mainly based on the findings of a recent study by UNCTAD and Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which identified seven strategies for promoting local IT sectors:
- Having a coordinated IT and public procurement policy
- Strengthening the institutional framework
- Establishing good practices throughout the procurement process
- Favouring local suppliers, while ensuring quality of goods and services
- Increasing the options for small and medium-sized enterprises to submit bids for public contracts
- Adopting best-practice software design
- Promoting awareness and capacity-building in the private and public sectors
The session also featured presentations on e-procurement made by delegates from Georgia, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea. The representatives of those countries said that the use of e-procurement had resulted in greater transparency, better opportunities for local enterprises to participate in public procurement, and less corruption.
