Among many reforms vigorously implemented by the Yemen government during the past two years, in order to reinstate its eligibility for Millennium Challenge Corporation, Threshold Program assistance have been its efforts to reform its civil service. Out of this has come a thoroughgoing overhaul of its approach to procurement, including a new law, new regulations, and opening procedures up to public scrutiny.
Ministers no longer sit on the High Tender Board, and a new procurement monitoring board includes technical experts alongside representatives from civil society.
A clear general understanding of the new law is essential, so Crown Agents recently ran a workshop in Sana'a sponsored by USAID and the High Tender Board itself. George Awwad, one of our senior procurement advisers and training specialists, took tender board officials through the practical and ethical implications of Yemen's new procurement law, showing how operating practice, skills and behaviour should be shaped to accommodate the new regulations.
This three-day workshop, highly collaborative, drew on delegates' extensive experience and resulted in unanimous agreement on an Executive Program Plan that will support the government's commitment to transparency and growth.