Project procurement complaints

Clients are responsible for implementing Bank-financed projects*, including all aspects of the procurement process from the planning stage through to the award of contracts, as well as the administration of the contracts themselves. The Bank monitors the procurement process and may assist clients in their institutional development, but is not a party to the resulting contracts. The rights and obligations of the client vis-à-vis tenderers for goods, works and services to be furnished for the project will be governed by the tender documents issued by the client and not by the Bank’s Procurement Policies and Rules

The following guidelines provide a summary of important information in a procurement complaint process.

• Who can make a complaint?
• General guidance on procurement complaints
• How to make a complaint
• What happens next?

Prohibited practices (coercive, collusive, corrupt or fraudulent practices)

Any occurrence, or suspected occurrence, of a Prohibited Practice in the procurement award or implementation of a Bank-financed contract in the context of a Bank Project shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Bank’s Enforcement Policy and Procedures. Allegations of Prohibited Practices shall be submitted to the Bank’s Chief Compliance Officer and can be submitted by anyone here.

Who can make a complaint?

• Goods’ Works or Services (except consultancy services procured in accordance with Section 5 of the EBRD Procurement Policies and Rules)
  A complaint can only be filed by firms participating in a pre-qualification process or as a tenderer in a tender process and must be accompanied by a copy of a Power of Attorney. Firms that are acting as sub-contractor or do not in any way participate in the tender process do not have the right to file a complaint about the procurement process.
  
• Consultancy Services (procured in accordance with Section 5 of the EBRD Procurement Policies and Rules)
  A complaint can only be filed by firms or individuals that are participating in a selection process and must be accompanied by a copy of a Power of Attorney. Firms that are acting as sub-contractor/consultant or do not in any way participate in the selection process do not have the right to file a complaint about the selection process.

General guidance on procurement complaints

The EBRD takes any allegations of misconduct during a tender process seriously and all complaints a being reviewed thoroughly. However, it needs to be understood that complainants are responsible for providing the Bank with evidence supporting their allegations and for ensuring that information provided to the Bank is accurate and verifiable.

Annex 1 of the EBRD Procurement Policies and Rules provides guidance to potential tenderers wishing to compete for Bank-financed contract for goods, works and services. It should be noted that:

• The final decision whether a tender process has been carried out in accordance with agreed procedures rests with the Bank.
  
• If a complaint is filed after contract award, the Bank’s decision will be whether or not to finance the contract. The Bank’s decision will not result in the award of the contract in favour of the complainant. EBRD takes any allegations of misconduct during a tender process seriously and all complaints are being reviewed thoroughly. However, it needs to be understood that the complainant have a great responsibility in ensuring that information provided are accurate and verifiable. Complainants are expected and indeed required to provide the Bank with evidence supporting its allegation.

Tenderers should be aware of the following:

• Any complaining tenderer (complainant) is requested to submit its complaint in the format provided below
• The complainant is required to provide evidence supporting the allegations made in the complaint
• The complainant is required to provide reference to the paragraph(s) or section(s) of the tender documents that are alleged to have been violated
• The Bank will forward the complaint to the client for its action and response
• The Bank will review the complaint issue based on information provided by the complainant, the client and any other information, as deemed appropriate, including information provided by consultants that may be retained to assist the Bank in its review
• Apart from acknowledging the complaint and finally communicating its decision to uphold or not to uphold the complaint, the Bank will generally not engage in any communications with a complainant

How to make a complaint

The EBRD Procurement Complaint Form (189KB - PDF) should be used to file a complaint.

Complaints shall be submitted to the Director of the Banking Department Team responsible for the project and to ProcurementComplaint@ebrd.com.

Alternatively the Complaint Form and attachments may be faxed to the Procurement Departments fax no: +44 (0)20 7338 7472.

What happens next?

Once a complaint is filed with the Procurement Department it will be reviewed by the Procurement Department and the Banking Team responsible for the operation. The Bank’s client will be requested to provide the Bank with supporting evidence to confirm that the agreed procedures have been followed. This may be an iterative process and complainants should be aware that the review process may take considerable time.

The Bank will acknowledge the receipt of the complaint but will not enter into discussions or correspondence with any tenderer about the details of a complaint during the review process.

If the complaint concerns highly technical matters or other issues requiring specialist knowledge, the Bank may engage expert consultants to support the Bank in its review process. This will naturally prolong the time needed for conclusion of the review.

To enhance the overall quality of the Bank’s procurement work and ensure that decisions about procurement complaints comply with the Procurement Policies and Rules (PP&R) and are consistent and fair, the Bank has established the Procurement Complaints Committee (PCC).

The membership of the PCC is constituted as follows:

• Deputy General Counsel
• Chief Compliance Officer
• Corporate Director, IT & Administrative Resources
• Executive Counsellor, Banking Department
• Executive Counsellor, Operational Policies
• Director, Operational Risk and Information Security

Once the Procurement Department has finalised its review of a complaint it will formulate a recommendation to either agree (uphold) or not agree (not uphold) with the position of the complainant. This recommendation will then be submitted to the PCC for its decision. Once the PCC has made this decision, the complainant will be informed of the outcome of the review.

A complainant that has received information that its complaint has not been upheld may seek a debriefing with the client in line with Annex 1, Paragraph 14 of the Bank’s PP&R.

*Bank-financed projects and Bank-financed contracts refer to operations, projects and contracts that are financed from the ordinary capital resources or Special Funds resources of the Bank or from any other resources administered by the Bank to the extent that the application of these rules has been agreed with the donors of such funds.

Last updated 11 May 2010