Issue

International cooperation is key to avoiding the exacerbated rivalry between public agencies, as manifested during the COVID-19 crisis.  Collaborative approaches to strengthen public procurement processes ‒ including at the international level ‒ and to understanding their impact on global supply chains are necessary in order to avoid disruptions.

Policy action

• Cross-border sharing of information on risk-management as well as on the availability of essential goods, prices and contacts. This will serve to inform procurement strategies and lessen global supply chain disruptions.
• Regional or bilateral standardisation of procurement procedures, joint procurement agreements, and lending agreements can help smooth over temporary disruptions in the flow of goods by simplifying cross-border transactions, facilitating the sharing of goods and inputs, and improving buying power, particularly those of small states.

Source: Adapted from Figure 1, “Initial policy responses to the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis”, OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19). More information on the results per country – https://sim.oecd.org/Default.ashx?lang=En&ds=DGSTRI

Related tools & publications

• OECD (2020), Public Procurement and Infrastructure Governance: Initial Policy Responses to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Crisis, OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Procurement