A two-day training workshop on procurement and contracting was held in the NWFP Programme Support Office in Peshawar from 6-7 February 2003. This was a follow-on to the two-day procurement workshop for PSO staff held in October 2003.

The three main areas covered in the workshop were:

The training workshop was very timely because the PSOs are about to start bid evaluation of technical and financial proposals sent in response to the Requests for Proposals issued for Stage I TIPs. The future implementation viability of DSP Stage I projects, worth over Rs.200 million, depends the selection of service provider firms. Crucially, the PSOs need to understand bid evaluation and contract negotiation so they can select the optimal service providers, and thereby ensure that Stage One outputs are generated in an effective and efficient manner.

Simultaneously, the procurement process for the TIPs in the Integrated 2nd Work Plan approved by the National Programme Steering Committee in January 2004 is starting. The PSOs need to be aware of lessons learnt from the Stage One procurement process so that improvements can be made in Stage Two.

The Peshawar workshop was attended by Administration, Programme and Contract Administration officers from the five PSOs as well as ADTA team members. It was conducted by an ADB Procurement Specialist Mr. Sheraz Haider, with support from the NPSO Deputy Director Contract Administration Mr. Asif Kabani. The ADTA Procurement Specialist gave a briefing on contract negotiation.

The workshop was conducted in an interactive manner. On the first day considerable time was devoted to reviewing the procurement process and resolving any concerns and queries voiced by the participants. On the second day participants divided into groups and carried out a mock bid evaluation. The assessments of the five groups were compared in a joint debriefing. All the participants found this 'practice run' at bid evaluation very useful.

On day two, taking advantage of the presence of officers from all five PSOs, a session was held to set timetables for procurement and contracting of Stage One fast-track TIPs. If the agreed timetable is implemented, roll-out of these TIPs should start by the first week of April 2004.

This two-day workshop was held in Peshawar as part of an effort to promote interaction and visits between different PSOs. The participants enjoyed the visit to Peshawar, especially the tikka dinner laid on by the NWFP office on Friday evening. The next meeting - of Provincial Directors - is being held in the Punjab PSO in Lahore.