Tag Archives: public procurement

FEMISE MED BRIEF no5 : Egypt and the WTO Government Procurement Agreement

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FEMISE is launching its new Policy Brief series MED BRIEF aspiring to provide Forward Thinking for the EuroMediterranean region. The briefs contain succinct, policy-oriented analysis of relevant EuroMed issues, presenting the views of FEMISE researchers and collaborators to policy-makers. 

The fifth issue of MED BRIEF “ Should Egypt join the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)?” is available here.

Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim (Professeur d'économie, Faculté des sciences économiques et politiques, Université du Caire, FEMISE)

Ahmed Ghoneim (Faculty of Economics & Political Science, Cairo University, FEMISE)

It is also available in Arabic here.

“This Policy Brief, by Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim (Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economics & Political Science, Cairo University), tries to answer the critical question of whether Egypt should join the WTO GPA? The debates on theoretical and policy levels have not reached a clear cut answer regarding the pros and cons of a developing country joining such an agreement. Yet, we try in this policy brief to clarify some of the misconceptions associated with the joining of such agreement, and identify what are the steps needed for membership to be fruitful”

The list of FEMISE MED BRIEFS is available here.

 

The policy brief has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union within the context of the FEMISE program. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Potential Accession to the Revised WTO Government Procurement Agreement: The Cases of Egypt and Turkey

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Government procurement concerns how public authorities spend taxpayers’ money on goods, services and infrastructure. In each country public procurement is typically governed at the national level by setting rules that try to balance a number of goals. Of these goals, transparency, non-discrimination, integrity and competition are probably the most important.

The aim of transparency is to ensure that the rules are followed and that non-compliance can be identified and addressed.

The Research Project considers the benefits and costs of accessing the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (WTO GPA) for Turkey and Egypt. While Paper 1 considers the case of Turkey, Paper 2 analyzes the case of Egypt. Finally, Paper 3 provides a Synthesis Report.

The project shows that:

  • The WTO GPA significantly increases the probability that a foreign firm will win a public procurement contract in the EU member and affiliated states.
  • The WTO GPA promotes a more competitive environment by increasing the number of offers for a given contract.
  • The WTO GPA significantly lowers the risk of corruption by decreasing contracts with a single offer, reducing the success ratio of firms and allowing firms with lower network strengths to win contracts.
  • The competitive environment in a country is a significant determinant of the efficiency of public procurement. An increase in the number of offers decreases the contract price with respect to the estimated cost.

Thus, the WTO GPA commitments will secure better value for the money spent by governments in their procurement processes as a consequence of applying the WTO GPA principles of transparency, non-discrimination, integrity, and competition.

Given that the WTO GPA’s provisions will certainly benefit Egypt and Turkey, it is surprising that to date neither of the two countries have become signatories of the WTO GPA.