Following the successful implementation of Phase I (2006-2009), Crown Agents was selected by the Department for International Development (DFID) through a competitive process to provide the second phase of services to the government of India to build the capacity of the Empowered Procurement Wing (EPW) established in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The overall objective of the project is to improve the efficiency and transparency of the procurement activities of MoHFW. The project team comprises national and international experts from various backgrounds including procurement, logistics, supply chain, pharmacists, IT and biomedical experts.
The second phase of the project aimed to build on earlier successes and address new reform challenges. The team of consultants is responsible for strengthening the capacities of the EPW, but will also be instrumental in building the capacities of up to 10 states. The team will roll out the procurement, stock control and inventory system PRoMIS beyond the pilot states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Mararashtra to other areas, which will include training procurement and stores staff in various state vertical programmes; setting up a helpdesk and producing a user manual for the sustainability of the ProMIS package.
Crown Agents will also help the MoHFW to establish an autonomous Central Procurement Agency (CPA) to carry out health procurement for the government of India and strengthen the logistics and supply chain arrangements at central and state level.