Overview
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the largest development institution in Asia and the Pacific. The Bank is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future for the region while maintaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. In 2020, ADB reported an overall portfolio of US$116.5 billion, or US$15.3 billion more than in 2019, and has awarded 6,931 contracts with an overall value of US$10.3 billion.
Given the increasing interest of the development community towards ADB’s operations, DevelopmentAid invited Stephane Y. Bessadi (Senior Procurement Specialist at ADB) to discuss ADB’s portfolio, operations, procurement policy, and forthcoming business opportunities during a thematic webinar.
The ADB has two types of engagements, specifically sovereign and non-sovereign operations. Sovereign operations involve direct support for countries and governments. By the end of 2020, ADB’s sovereign portfolio had reached a total of US$102.1 billion, or US$14.7 billion more than at the beginning of that year, consisting of 728 active loan and grant projects with an average project size of US$137.0 million, or US$9.8 million more than in 2019.
Non-sovereign operations, on the other hand, reflect the direct support of ADB to the private sector. In 2019-2020, the Bank reoriented its focus on non-sovereign operations to respond to the pandemic by offering shorter-term, smaller-scale liquidity and working capital support for direct and indirect COVID-19 response initiatives. The non-sovereign portfolio increased by 4% in 2020 reaching US$14.4 billion, or US$0.6 billion more than in 2019.
Fig.1. An overview of ADB’s sovereign portfolio
In 2020, ADB introduced a new streamlined strategic procurement framework that allowed the Bank to improve its flexibility when responding to emergency situations similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes supplement ADB’s procurement policy that was implemented in 2017. While the Bank will apply specific procurement rules and procedures on a case-by-case basis, ADB’s procurement operations will be generally guided by six core procurement principles:
For the fiscal year 2020, the ADB awarded 6,931 contracts with an overall value of US$10.3 billion. The highest share of funds was directed towards the procurement of Works (civil engineering works e.g., buildings, highways, bridges) with US$6.8 billion, followed by the procurement of Goods at US$1.4 billion, Non-Consulting Services (e.g., surveys, training, translation, event management) at US$1.3 billion and Consulting services at US$0.7 billion. It is important to mention that about 6% of all procurements in 2020 (US$0.564 billion) focused on COVID-related contracts.
Fig.2. Overall procurement data in 2020 ($ million)
* ADB Procurement Policy can be accessed here
** Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers can be accessed here
Referring to business opportunities, Stephane reminded all interested parties to consider collaboration opportunities at every stage of the ADB project cycle. Thus, individual experts, consulting organizations, suppliers, and other contractors are invited to send their Expression of Interest (EOI) at any stage of the project if they feel that their expertise matches the pre-established requirements. Moreover, Stephane also warned of the common pitfalls when preparing bids. Thus, stakeholders are advised to make sure that bid documents are signed correctly by authorized signatories, bid security is submitted and all supporting documents are attached to the proposal (JV Agreements, Audited Financial Statements, Past Performance Certificates).
Fig.3. Cooperation opportunities based on ADB project cycle
For those who did not have the opportunity to join us for this online event, a link to the recorded version can be found here. The presentation materials used during this webinar can be requested from i.ilasco@developmentaid.org.
We invite you to join us for our next webinar on “Doing business with the Millennium Challenge Corporation: Procurement Guidelines and Best Practices” which will take place on 28 October 2021. Our speakers, Jackie Naranjo (Supervisory Contract Specialist) and Mike McEntire (Director of Program Procurement) will introduce MCC’s profile, operations portfolio, and procurement policy.