Achieving value for money through procurement Part 2: DFID’s approach to value for money through tendering and contract management
An appropriate overall approach to procurement with good performance in most areas of tendering, but significant weaknesses in contract management.
Read the approach paper
- PDF download (447 KB)
- Published: 4 Dec 2017
Our approach
This is a performance review, providing Parliament and the public with an assessment of whether DFID makes appropriate use of competitive procurement, and whether its tendering and contract management practices secure quality programme delivery at competitive prices. It also assesses whether DFID has adequate controls in place against uncompetitive practices and unethical behaviour.
This review covers DFID’s procurement of goods, works and services in relation to aid programmes over the period 2012-13 to 2016-17, including ongoing contracts initiated during that period. It assesses the full range of procurement and contract management practices, from defining supply need and identifying delivery options through contract award to oversight and monitoring of suppliers and contract compliance. It explores how well DFID captures and applies lessons on procurement. The review does not cover agreements with multilateral organisations, grant making to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), financial aid to partner governments, the procurement of goods and services for DFID’s own administrative use or procurement by other aid-spending departments.
ICAI has conducted two reviews of how well DFID achieves value for money through procurement. The first review explored DFID’s approach to its supplier market. This second review examines whether DFID maximises value for money from suppliers through its tendering and contract management practices. These reviews complement a further ICAI review on DFID’s approach to value for money in programme and portfolio management. Together, these three reviews cover the key processes by which DFID ensures value for money for the UK taxpayer and the beneficiaries of UK aid.
Review questions
Our overarching goal for the review was to establish whether DFID uses ethical and competitive procurement to ensure effective programme delivery at the best price. We set out to answer the following review questions:
- Relevance: To what extent are DFID’s strategy and approach to procurement appropriate to its objectives and priorities?
- Effectiveness: How well does DFID secure value for money through its tendering practices?
- Effectiveness: How well does DFID secure value for money through its contracting and choice of payment mechanisms?