ABSTRACT
In 2009, total annual official aid stood at US$120 billion, with five countries contributing 62% of this: United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan. The majority of this aid is discharged through bilateral agreements with governments in developing world. But significant portions are also channelled, not through bilateral aid programmes, but through multilateral institutions such as World Bank Group and United Nations agencies. A common mantra of those who manage aid budgets is that it is not simply the volume of aid that determines the extent to which development goals are met, but also its quality. The 2010 version of Standard Bidding Documents of the World Bank for procurement of goods and related services lays out in detail model tender documents and pro forma conditions of contract. The commercial experience of the extractive industries also demonstrates that choice of procurement process and tender evaluation criteria are determinants of the magnitude and quality of these effects on private sector development.
