EBRD GPA
Technical Cooperation Facility
The Facility assists WTO Members seeking GPA accession by providing country-specific technical assistance to support the accession and negotiation process and later implementation of the Agreement.
Considering that government procurement constitutes a significant share of public expenditure (10-15 per cent of the GDP), open competition, fair procedures and transparency are essential to safeguard the integrity and confidence in the overall procurement system. An important catalyst in achieving these goals is accession to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), a plurilateral agreement that partially opens government procurement markets in a non-discriminatory manner among its signatories while ensuring that transparency and other good governance aspects are followed in the domestic procurement systems.
The renegotiation and adoption of the revised text of the GPA in 2012 (GPA 2012) motivated a gradual broadening of the GPA membership as a number of governments considered accession as a step in their internal reform process. The growing interest in GPA accession demanded a more structured and permanent cooperation between the EBRD’s Legal Transition Programme (LTP) and the WTO Secretariat, resulting in the EBRD GPA Technical Cooperation Facility (EBRD GPA TC Facility), launched in May 2014.
The EBRD GPA TC Facility provides significant support to governments seeking accession to the Agreement, both at the negotiation and implementation stages by:
- Advising on government procurement policy and procurement market access coverage negotiations, to prepare, negotiate and submit comprehensive market access offers acceptable to all GPA Parties.
- Identifying and overcoming regulatory issues related to GPA accession, including carrying out compliance assessments of national procurement regimes with the GPA mandatory requirements.
- Supporting negotiations in Geneva and the participation of delegates in the WTO Committee on Government Procurement.
About
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is an international financial institution that promotes transition to a well-functioning market economy. The Bank, active in 38 economies across three continents, helps countries develop commercial laws and institutions that create a sound investment climate and promote sustainable economic growth.
The World Trade Organization is an intergovernmental organization whose primary purpose is to open international trade, ensuring that it flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. It acts as a forum for its Member governments to negotiate trade agreements that bind all or a subset of WTO Members.
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The EBRD GPA Technical Cooperation Facility Factsheet
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