USTDA Partners with the State of Maharashtra, India to Promote Value-Based Procurement

(USTDA) Mumbai, India – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency launched a three-day training workshop in partnership with the State of Maharashtra in India under the Global Procurement Initiative: Understanding Best Value (GPI). The GPI workshop will provide over 100 local procurement officials from across the State of Maharashtra with access to leading experts from the George Washington University’s Government Procurement Law Program (GW), as well as GPI energy and transportation technical specialists. The workshop will be focused on international best practices in value-based procurement, and include sessions on public-private partnerships as well as in-depth life-cycle cost analysis training.

Later in the week, USTDA and the State of Maharashtra will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), formalizing their partnership under the GPI. Under the agreement, USTDA will continue to support Maharashtra’s efforts to improve its public procurement practices and become a leader in the region.

“We are so pleased to partner with the State of Maharashtra under the Global Procurement Initiative,” said USTDA’s Director for Global Programs, Andrea Lupo. “The MOU and this week’s training will support the already extensive efforts of the State of Maharashtra to integrate best-value determinations into public tenders, as well as foster fair and transparent international competition, and promote the long-term professionalization of the procurement workforce.”

“I am confident that the partnership with USTDA will help State Government in the implementation of the revised procurement law and development of best procurement practices for achieving the best value for State consistent with international standards,“ said the Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. “Besides guiding and assisting the Public Works Department’s officials to integrate value-procurement practices in public procurement tenders, it will also provide assistance in coordinating logical aspects of training events, workshops, orientation visits and other similar events.”

“This partnership represents a great opportunity to collaborate on procurement capacity building across the State of Maharashtra, especially in the areas of public works and energy, to ensure that the State of Maharashtra receives the best value for public funds through fair and open competition,” said Minister of Public Works, Chandrakant Patil.

“The formalization of this partnership reflects our close cooperation with the Maharashtra state government, and represents another key avenue of collaboration between United States and India,” said Consul General Edgard Kagan, who provided opening remarks at the workshop. “Through efforts both small and large, the U.S.-India strategic partnership will continue to strengthen both countries and have a beneficial impact across this region.”

USTDA and the State of Maharashtra initiated partnership discussions in 2017, when USTDA hosted a delegation of high-level government officials from the State of Maharashtra on a study tour in the United States. The delegates received in-depth training from the George Washington University Government Procurement Law Program, met with professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and gained insights on different models in best value procurement at the U.S. federal, state and local-levels.