The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the Asia-Pacific premier development institution committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable future for the region. The Bank currently has 68 members of which 49 are from within Asia and the Pacific with the remaining 19 coming from other regions. ADB assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. Total ADB operations in 2020 amounted to US$31.6 billion, US$7.6 billion more than in 2019.
In response to the increasing interest from the development community towards the ADB’s procurement policy, DevelopmentAid will host a thematic webinar on 14 October 2021 to explore the Bank’s procurement guidelines and best practices for fruitful collaboration.
ADB’s profile and strategy
The ADB was established in 1966 and is headquartered in Metro Manilla. Currently, the Bank is represented in 33 countries, most of which are located in the Asia and the Pacific region. In addition to financial services and products, the Bank provides advisory services, facilitates policy dialogue, and mobilizes financial resources from external sources. The eradication of poverty represents a priority for ADB as the region has over 263 million people living on less than US$1.90 a day and 1.1 billion living on less than US$3.20 a day. The Strategy 2030, a roadmap approved by the ADB in 2018, highlights seven operational priorities that have been designed to contribute to the ADB’s vision to achieve prosperity, inclusion, resilience, and sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Fig.1. Operational priorities for ADB’s Strategy 2030
Operational highlights
In 2020, ADB commitments grew by 24% compared to the previous year reaching a total of US$31.6 billion. It is important to mention that almost 48% of all funds for 2020, or US$16.1 billion, were directed towards mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. The largest share of funds took the shape of loans (85%) while grants accounted for US$1.1 billion (3.4%).
Fig.2. ADB Commitments by type of operations (2018-2020, US$ million)
Source: Asian Development Bank – Annual report 2020. ADB Commitments 2016–2020.
* Includes all ADB Commitments. Some are not reflected in this table.
In 2020, Southeast Asia received the largest share (36.8%) of funds from ADB, followed by South Asia with 28.6% and the Central and West Asian region with 20.1%. It is worth noting that the same trends can be observed in the funding dedicated to mitigating the effects of the pandemic crisis, with 43.6% of funds being transferred to Southeast Asia, 24.7% to South Asia, and 24.6% to West Asia. Despite the struggle to contain the ongoing pandemic crisis, the Asia-Pacific region’s output is expected to expand by 7.1% in 2021 and by 5.4% in 2022, supported by a broad recovery in exports.
Fig.3. ADB Commitments by region (2018-2020, US$ million)
Source: Asian Development Bank – Annual report 2020. ADB Commitments by Region, 2016–2020.
Procurement principles
ADB procures goods, works, and services from external suppliers for its development projects and programs and engages consultants to help to prepare studies, appraisals, and reports. The Bank applies various bidding procedures for its procurement activities and each project tender specifies the bidding procedure to be used. In selecting qualified contractors, ADB will always be guided by the following principles that relate to:
- Source of Procurement: The proceeds of a loan can only be used for the procurement of goods and works supplied from, and produced in, member countries of the ADB
- Economy and Efficiency: Contracts are to be procured through international competition unless other forms of procurement are more suitable and have been agreed upon between the ADB and the borrower
- Fairness: Procurement procedures must give member countries adequate, fair, and equal opportunity to compete for contracts
- Transparency: It is essential that the procurement process achieves economy and efficiency and combats fraud and corruption
Invitation to a webinar
DevelopmentAid invites you to attend an exciting webinar on “Doing business with the ADB: procurement guidelines and best practices” that will take place on 14 October 2021 at 2 pm (Brussels)/8 am (Washington DC)/ 8 pm (Manilla).
Speaker: Stephane Y. Bessadi, Senior Procurement Specialist
Host: Ion Ilasco, External Relations & Events at DevelopmentAid
During the webinar, attendees will learn about ADB’s profile, operations, portfolio, and procurement policy. Moreover, our speaker will provide several tips on how to prepare correctly for upcoming bids and win projects funded by ADB.
Speaker Bio: Stephane joined ADB in 2017. Currently, he is leading and supporting a portfolio of $ 800 M sovereign and non-sovereign infrastructures projects, within Procurement, Portfolio, and Financial Department. He is also responsible for preparing strategic procurement plan for quality of infrastructures, operational capacities, digital and high-level technology. Before joining ADB, Stephane spent 15 years working for private water companies, primarily Suez Environment. He obtained a BA in Economics from McGill University in Montreal, a Master as Engineer Economist at the University of Aix-Marseille II, and a Master in Water Management at the National School for Rural Engineering and Forestry in Montpellier.
