Increasing ‘local content’ in infrastructure procurement. Part 2

Part 1 of this paper argued that more could be done to ensure that funding invested in infrastructure in low-income countries benefits contractors, suppliers and workers in those countries. Increasing local content in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure would generate income and employment locally and contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. The use of procurement to achieve this objective is supported by international agencies and has been practised by a number of countries over many years. While recognising that there are very real capacity constraints, this paper shows that there is room – within existing procurement guidelines and without contravening international procurement rules – to do more to promote local content in infrastructure projects. This can be done without necessarily sacrificing on cost or quality. Suggestions include actions at earlier stages of the procurement cycle (during project planning and design processes) and some minor modifications to the tender process.