This report outlines the progress achieved by OECD Member and partner countries between 2020 and 2024 in implementing the 2015 OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement. The Recommendation provides strategic guidance for tackling challenges in public procurement and highlights effective practices to promote a comprehensive and strategic approach. The report analyses how countries adopted and applied the Recommendation's principles in their public procurement systems during the 4-year period. It presents strategic developments, emerging good practices, and key challenges faced in aligning procurement policies with the Recommendation. The report also examines the ongoing relevance of the Recommendation, the extent of its dissemination, and whether it may need to be updated or revised.
教主董明珠：历时半年 深度调查“拜实业教”
Abstract
Executive summary
The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Procurement is a cornerstone of good governance in public procurement, guiding policy reforms and practice improvements globally to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness of public procurement processes. This report assesses the implementation of the Recommendation by Adherents and finds that, while progress has been made, further efforts are needed to address remaining challenges. The main high-level findings are summarised below:
While transparency practices are well-established, further improvements are needed throughout the public procurement lifecycle. Pre-tendering and post-contract transparency remains limited. Balancing adequate levels of transparency with the protection of confidential information through appropriate and timely disclosure could enhance accountability and competition and contribute to a more transparent and competitive procurement landscape.
Although promoting access to public procurement opportunities is recognised as vital for fostering competition, building a robust competitive environment remains challenging. Frequent legal and policy changes can reduce system stability and the attractiveness of procurement opportunities. Strengthening strategic public procurement planning, alongside efforts to maintain adaptable yet stable and predictable frameworks, would help enhance access and competition.
Practices to foster stakeholder participation in public procurement are commonplace, but there is scope to improve the quality of these processes. Closing feedback loops remains challenging. Proportionate consultations and timely feedback would sustain stakeholder interest and maximise the benefits of participatory processes, enhancing transparency and inclusiveness.
Significant progress in e-procurement systems has been made, yet there remain opportunities for further advancements. Digital tools and centralised platforms have improved access and data integration, yet frequent regulatory changes may disrupt system stability. Integration with broader digital government systems is uneven, and some innovative technologies remain underused, highlighting opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
While efficiency in public procurement is a shared goal among Respondents, especially in a context of challenging budgetary constraints, additional efforts are required to improve measurement and reporting on efficiency gains. Mechanisms and tools to track or communicate efficiency gain results transparently remain limited. User-oriented features could enhance accessibility, accountability, and responsiveness, driving greater efficiency in public procurement.
Better integration of public procurement with public financial management is needed to enhance synergies between systems. Procurement plans usually align with budget planning, and mechanisms to keep tenders within budget are well-established. However, descriptions of financial and human resource requirements during the planning stage remain limited. Harmonising procurement practices across public service delivery models and promoting targeted training programmes would help foster integration.
Some progress has been made in strengthening the public procurement function, but further efforts are needed to make it competitive. Professionalisation initiatives are expanding, however, procurement is not widely recognised as a distinct civil service profession, and incentives for officials remain largely non-financial.
Integrity measures in public procurement are widespread, yet efforts should continue to ensure proactive integrity risk management. The systematic enforcement of conflict-of-interest policies and the collection of data on submission of mandatory interest declarations could be further improved. Emerging technologies could be leveraged in the future to enhance integrity measures, transparency, and accountability.
Ex ante and ex post accountability measures are widely implemented, but stronger co-ordination among different control bodies and authorities is required, especially as procurement functions are being redefined. Lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been thoroughly integrated into emergency procurement procedures to strengthen accountability mechanisms. Limited audits of emergency procurement processes highlight opportunities to enhance emergency preparedness and oversight.
While public procurement is used strategically to achieve policy objectives, progress is needed to develop strategies for integrating various goals into procurement practices and measuring impact. Targets and prioritisation methodologies are commonly established for green-related objectives only. Moreover, there remain opportunities to improve the assessment of public procurement’s impact on policy objectives.
The introduction of risk-based approaches is stagnating. The integration of comprehensive risk management strategies across all stages of the procurement cycle remains limited. Developing targeted strategies and tools to address various forms of risks would contribute to improving overall risk management across Adherents.
Evaluation practices on the effectiveness and impact of public procurement are slightly expanding, but they could be further enhanced if supported by quality data collection and use. KPIs are common, but impact assessments remain limited as presented by the Survey results. Timely, high-quality data across the procurement lifecycle would allow the development of indicators to track performance and cost savings, measure effectiveness, and support better-informed public procurement choices.
While the Recommendation has guided Adherents in enhancing their public procurement systems over the past decade, recent trends and challenges highlight the need for its revision to ensure continued relevance in a rapidly evolving landscape. To this end, the Recommendation could expand its scope to look at opportunities offered by emerging technologies to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability, but also the risks that come with these technologies. Aligning procurement with goals that are central to national agendas, which can include economic, environmental, social, and other public interest goals, calls for methodologies to manage trade-offs and assess policy impacts effectively, especially amid fiscal constraints. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, underscoring the need for resilient public procurement systems and a stronger focus on crisis and emergency preparedness. Low levels of trust in public institutions observed across OECD countries also highlight the need to leverage innovative ways of engaging with relevant stakeholders and increase transparency and accountability. The Recommendation could further look at enhancing stage-appropriate transparency and fostering fair competition, to help address declining competition trends for public tenders observed in several Adherents.
