世界银行-关于公共采购的见解：B-READY项目的主要发现（英）

Insights about Public Procurement: Key Findings from theB-READY ProjectAntoni Albert Nogués Comas and Kerenny Torres Negrón1his Brief examines regulatory indicators that promote frm entry, ease of contracting with the government, fairness, transparency, and best value for money in public procurement systems across 50 economies. Drawing on indicators from the novel Public Procurement category under the Market Competition topic of the World Bank’s Business Ready (B-READY) project, the analysis develops Composite Procurement Category scores categorized by economy income level. Tis approach ofers a new perspective on considering procurement regulations and services from a competition standpoint. Te study presents the current conditions and reveals that good practices in fostering competition in public procurement can be adopted and implemented regardless of an economy's income level. Findings show a signifcant variation in the adoption of digital procurement, which afects transparency and entry barriers, as well as disparities in gender representation, which weakens competition and dynamism in these markets.T Public procurement refers to the process by which central governments, regional or local authorities, purchase work, goods, or services from companies. Te government, through its signifcant and discretionary demand, wields considerable power to shape markets, drive competition, and foster dynamism, potentially leading to innovation, efciency, and growth. By utilizing public procurement as a powerful tool, governments can achieve cost-efective social and economic policy objectives. For example, a modern public procurement system, designed to provide access to all frms by removing entry and informational barriers in government markets, is associated with higher frm participation in tenders (Hjort et al. 2020; Knack, Biletska, and Kacker 2019); lower prices (Adam, Sanchez, and Fazekas 2021);, greater innovation; and more sustainable solutions. Because public procurement is an essential function in public administration, nearly all modern economies have enacted procurement rules or regulations, with 73 percent adopting digital platforms to carry out these processes (World Bank Public Procurement Database 2020). However, the efectiveness of the public procurement process in encouraging tender participation, competition, and innovation depends largely on the quality of its regulatory design and the complementarity of public services. Research shows that better procurement regulations signifcantly boost bidder participation and increases fscal savings (Hoekman and Taş 2022, Iimi 2006), with e-procurement among the policy interventions with the greatest positive impact in promoting competition (Adam, Sanchez, and Fazekas 2021; Lewis-Faupel et al. 2016). Even in markets with many capable suppliers, defciencies in the regulatory framework or in the provision of public services to support frms that participate in public procurement can create barriers