RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/WPGR/W/7
2February 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-0387)
Working Party onGATS Rules
INFORMATION ONGOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OFSERVICES
Note bytheSecretariat
Atthemeeting oftheWorking Party onGATS Rules heldon8December 1995, the
Secretariat wasrequested toprepare apaper onpossible approaches tocollecting information
relevant tothenegotiations ongovernment procurement ofservices. Twoquestions needtobe
addressed. First, whatinformation should becollected? Secondly, howshould theinformation be
collected? Theviews expressed byMembers during themeeting suggest thefollowing
possibilities.
I. What information should becollected?
Members maywishtoobtain information inatleastfourdifferent areas.
1. Existing procurement regimes
Theaspects ofprocurement regimes which maybeofinterest, include:
- Laws andregulations inforce;
- Procurement procedures applied;
- Publicity forinviting tenders;
- Requirements laiddown forpossible suppliers;
- Criteria forassessing bidsandawarding contracts;
- Disclosure ofbidsreceived andcontracts awarded;
- Treatment granted todomestic andforeign products andservices and/or suppliers;
- Procedures forhearing andreviewing complaints.
2. Procurement inregional andother plurilateral agreements
Thetreatment ofgovernment procurement intheEU,NAFTA andother regional
agreements maybereviewed.
3. Economic importance ofservices procurement
Inseeking toestimate theeconomic importance ofservices procurement, several indicators
mayberelevant. Forinstance, itmaybepossible toobtain statistics forsome countries onthe
share ofservices procurement, onbothanaggregate andsectoral basis, in:
- totalprocurement;
- totaldomestic demand;
- totaldomestic output.S/WPGR/W/7
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4. Perceived obstacles tocreating multilateral disciplines onservices procurement
Additional information inthisareamaybeimportant inhelping toidentify thelevelof
multilateral disciplines acceptable toMembers. Itmayalsobeuseful toobtain information on
howMembers viewthepossibility ofintroducing acertain degree offlexibility intheapplication
ofnational treatment andother disciplines (asdiscussed inSection IV.1ofdocument
S/WPGR/W/3).
II. How should theinformation becollected?
Theappropriate method ofcollecting information would clearly depend onthenature of
information desired. Thepossibilities include:
1. Astandard questionnaire
Aquestionnaire would probably bebestsuited tocollecting information onexisting
procurement regimes, butcould alsohelpinobtaining estimates oftheeconomic importance of
services procurement andinidentifying obstacles tocreating multilateral disciplines on
procurement. While itispossible toobtain comprehensive anduniform information onall
Members through astandard questionnaire, theprocess ofdesigning suchaquestionnaire,
obtaining responses andcompiling them, would necessarily takeasignificant amount oftime.
2. Voluntary provision ofinformation
Rather thangothrough theprocess ofdesigning andresponding toaquestionnaire, certain
information could beprovided onavoluntary basis. Members maywishtolimitindividual
discretion oncontent andtimeofprovision byreaching anagreement onbothissues.
3. Bilateral orplurilateral discussions
Such discussions maybebestsuited toidentifying factors affecting thecreation of
multilateral disciplines onprocurement andtoaddressing some oftheother questions identified in
document S/WPGR/W/3.
4. Other research
TheSecretariat could examine selected provisions affecting services procurement in
regional andother plurilateral agreements.
III. Some existing sources:
1. TheOECD issued volumes onGovernment Purchasing in1966 and1976 describing
regulations andprocedures ofOECD member countries (OECD, Paris, 1966, 1976). Even
though theinformation contained inthese volumes isnowoutofdate, theymayprovide some
ideaofwhatinformation needs tobecollected andhowitshould bepresented.
2. TheCommittee onGovernment Procurement under theTokyo Round decided todraw up
achecklist ofissues which would serve asabasis forthedescription byeachParty ofthemain
elements ofitsimplementing legislation (30January 1981, GPR/4). Anewchecklist, based on
theonecontained indocument GPR/4, iscurrently under consideration intheCommittee underS/WPGR/W/7
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thenewAgreement onGovernment Procurement inthecontext ofalarger debate onthe
modalities ofnotifying implementing legislation.
3. APEC hasrecently designed aformat forasurvey ongovernment procurement systems
andpublication arrangements forprocurement opportunities inmember economies.
4. Article VI:9oftheGPA thatentered intoforce on1January 1981 (Article VI:10 ofthe
1988 revised text)required Parties tocollect andprovide statistical information totheCommittee
onGovernment Procurement oncontracts awarded byallprocurement entities under the
Agreement. Article XIX:5 ofthenewGPA thatentered intoforce on1January 1996 widens the
reporting requirements toinclude theservices contracts which arenowcovered bytheAgreement.
5. TheTrade Policy Reviews ofindividual countries contain abriefsection onprocurement
laws, regulations andprocedures.