WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) — Jamaica is the lone Caribbean Community (Caricom) country to be given the green light by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) to use procurement systems on bank-financed projects.

An IDB statement Monday said the other countries given that approval are Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru.

“This approval reflects the countries’ efforts to improve their public procurement systems, which represent a US$800-billion market in the region,” the IDB said.

“The impact of these efforts is measured by various indicators, including market access, which has increased significantly as 70 per cent of all public procurement opportunities are today accessible through electronic means.”

The Washington-based financial institution said that the decision establishes the basis to expedite contracting processes by avoiding duplication and reducing transaction costs.

“The systems that may be used are shopping, framework agreements, reverse auction, and selection of individual consultants,” it said, adding “this approval represents a step towards a potential use of the entire national system, as in the case of Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico”.

The IDB said that the approval resulted from the assessment of these systems, and their compliance with international standards and practices. These standards were approved by the IDB in June 2010 based on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development best practices indicators.