The Government of Tunisia and the World Bank Group's MENA Procurement Department organised a conference from 18 to 20 June 2018, on the digitalisation of public procurement contracts and electronic public procurement procedures with a view to promoting SME participation in procurement and improving the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public purchasers.
This event, which aims to provide a South-South exchange platform, gathered representatives from countries with advanced online procurement systems that promote active participation on the part of SMEs in government procurement as well as participants from countries in the MENA region and sub-Saharan Africa, and some representatives from developed countries, in addition to representatives from the General Treasury of the Kingdom (TGR), the National Commission for Public Procurement (CNCP), the National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ANPME) and representatives from the CNEA secretariat. The Moroccan delegation attending this event took the opportunity to shed light on the experience of Morocco in the dematerialisation of the public procurement process.On their part, the participants recognised the crucial importance that public contracts play in creating jobs, promoting and developing SMEs.
Accordingly, the digitalisation of public procurement becomes a powerful tool in all sectors as it provides a wide variety of benefits, especially in terms of modernisation, innovation, efficiency, financial gains, etc. Participants also cited other benefits offered by digitalisation such as increasing efficiency and enhancing competition through providing SMEs with better access to contract opportunities and promoting transparency by sharing information with policymakers, managers and other stakeholders in the country.
