The Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) conducted an exclusive talk on “Efficiency Gains in Procurement” as part of its CERP Talk initiative on December 27, 2019 in order to bridge the gap between evidence and policymaking in Pakistan.
Dr. Adnan Q. Khan, Co-founder and Board Member CERP along with Ms. Maha Rehman, Programme Manager, and Mr. Ahsen O. Majid, Project Manager with the Procurement Project shared the findings of the research study conducted in Punjab and its implication as a policy measure for the government.
Public Procurement forms a substantial part of national income and is estimated to be 19.8 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. The talk focused on how to reduce wasteful Public Procurement in the light of the research study “The Allocation of Authority in Organizations: A Field Experiment with Bureaucrats” conducted by Dr. Adnan Q. Khan along with Dr. Oriana Bandiera from LSE, and Dr. Michael Carlos Best, and Dr. Andrea Prat from Columbia University in collaboration with the government of Punjab. The results of the study illustrated that organisational design and anti-corruption policies must balance agency issues at different levels of the hierarchy. The talk also highlighted how to improve the efficiency of public procurement through designing better performance measures and optimal monitoring systems and by creating an online market.
“30% of the provincial budget… goes into procurement” mentioned the Finance Secretary, Mr. M.Abdullah Khan Sumbal, who was present at the event and shared the government’s perspective on Punjab’s Procurement landscape. He also recognised CERP Talks as a platform to bridge the different worldviews between academia and policy reform stakeholders. “Transparency remains a very challenging issue in the public sector when it comes to payment,” says Mr. Shahid Hussain, MD PPRA who was also present at the event. Apart from this Mr. Naeem Sheikh, Former President ICAP was also present at the event.
CERP Talks is an initiative by CERP that aims to engage with experts by giving them a platform to create awareness on ideas and topics including but not limited to research, social issues, and policy.