Article published by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) magazine Supply Management on September 8, 2015.
Will Green looks at how the World Bank’s radical overhaul of its procurement processes will affect the organisation and its clients.
Construction works for the Panama Canal expansion project – one of the infrastructure projects financed by the World Bank. © Gerardo Pesantex/World Bank
How many organisations spend $44 billion each year in 178 countries, including the most war-torn nations, finance enormous infrastructure projects such as the Panama Canal expansion scheme and support social development in the poorest countries?
Then ask, how would you go about developing a procurement strategy for such an organisation? This is the challenge the World Bank faced as it set about reforming a procurement system unchanged since the 1970s.
Behind the scenes, the World Bank has been active in Greece for some time, says Heemskerk. ‘Many institutions don’t work. The country is corrupt. We have allowed that to happen in Europe. We have all looked the other way.’ The Greek crisis has a large impact in the region, he says. Countries like Bulgaria, where the World Bank has been a player for a long time, feel the pain.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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