More than 45 hours had been allocated to date to discussing the draft public procurement law in parliamentary committee since June 2020.
The Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan, mandated by the Minister of Finance on this effort, took part in the committee’s weekly meetings.
Chaired by MP Yassin Jaber, the committee has thoroughly studied seven chapters of the draft law:
Chapter 1 on “General provisions“,
Chapter 2 on “Preparation and implementation of the procurement process“,
Chapter 3 on “Procurement methods”,
Chapter 4 on E-procurement,
Chapter 5 on “Professionalization and capacity building”,
Chapter 6 on “Governance of public procurement” tackling the roles and mandates of the regulatory body, the complaints commission, the tender and acceptance committees and the procuring entities,
Chapter 7 on “Review mechanisms”
Key stakeholders, namely the Central Inspection Board, the Central Tender Board, the Court of Audit, the State Council, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, OMSAR, and the Council for Development and Reconstruction were consulted and attended the committees’ meetings.
International experts from OECD-SIGMA and the World Bank were providing technical advice and guidance to this process.
The review and enhancement made to the draft law are taking into consideration substantive feedback of 15 public agencies, oversight bodies and the private sector, namely the ministries of Finance, Defense, Interior and Municipalities, Public Works, the Lebanese Army, the Court of Audit, the Central Tender Board, the State Council, OMSAR, the Higher Council for Privatization and PPP, the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Council of South, the Syndicate of Contractors, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in South Lebanon, the Rassemblement des Dirigeants et Chefs d’Entreprises Libanais.
This process also aligned with the eight guiding principles of public procurement on which the draft law is founded.
The law was voted on the 19th of July 2019, 2020..
