Audits carried out by the NAO have, over the years, shown that in certain instances procurement systems and capabilities have not been adequate and had critical shortcomings.  This has prompted the Auditor General to carry out a study that examines the procurement capabilities and practices applied across the public administration, using twelve Government Departments and regulatory bodies as case studies.

The Auditor General reported to Parliament on ways of how public procurement could be used as a lever to drive performance improvements and achieve further efficiencies in the public administration. The NAO report identifies several examples and good practices that organisations across the public administration can adopt to consolidate and strengthen their procurement capabilities. While there are initiatives in place to enhance public procurement systems and processes, NAO noted that there are still limitations in the adoption of best practices and there is scope to further strengthen and enhance procurement capabilities across Government. The spending base of public procurement is very significant and any improvements will therefore have a substantial impact on budgets, freeing up resources for other priorities.

The main foci of the study were on:

• The organisation, resources and strategic importance given to procurement.
• The development of relevant policies and procedures.
• Planning for procurement requirements.
• Information management and monitoring of markets, suppliers and procurement activity.
• Initiatives to review and continuously improve procurement activities.
• The management of procurement risks.
• Opportunities for joint procurement.

Procurement capabilities and good practices may not always be easy to implement and may take considerable time and management effort to develop. The report presents a number of recommendations of how organisations across the public administration, depending on their individual circumstance, can continuously seek to improve and strengthen their procurement function.

A copy of the report is available in the publications section of the NAO website (http://www.nao.gov.mt), as from 29^th October, 2009.