USTDA Strengthens Efforts to Promote Value-Based Procurement in Ethiopia

February 3, 2016

(USTDA) Provides advisory services to national power generation and transmission company

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), Ethiopia’s national power generation and transmission company, to provide technical assistance under the Global Procurement Initiative: Understanding Best Value (GPI). The grant will fund a senior procurement advisor to help EEP achieve value for money in publicly funded energy projects, including those that support President Obama’s Power Africa initiative, which aims to increase electricity access in Ethiopia and across sub-Saharan Africa.

“USTDA and EEP are looking forward to working together under this exciting phase of the GPI,” said Lida Fitts, USTDA’s Acting Regional Director for sub-Saharan Africa, who signed the grant alongside EEP CEO Eng. Azeb Asnake. “EEP’s commitment to incorporating value-based procurement methods into their public tenders will help them achieve better outcomes from those tenders, leading to better quality and more reliability in the energy sector.”

The grant builds on USTDA’s efforts to help the Government of Ethiopia establish best-value procurement practices, including the use of life-cycle cost analysis, in its tender processes. In October 2015, USTDA and its GPI partner, the George Washington University Government Procurement Law Program, provided training to 50 procurement officials from EEP, the Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency, and other federal entities. This April, USTDA will host a group of senior Ethiopian officials in the United States to highlight U.S. federal, state and municipal examples of best value and life-cycle cost analysis in the procurement process.

The goal of the GPI is to advance partner countries’ capacity to carry out effective infrastructure procurements. In Ethiopia, the use of international best practices and policies in public procurement can support sustainable infrastructure development, increase access to energy and enhance economic growth.

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