The UK Launch of the CoST International Programme was held in London on Monday 22 October. Around 60 people attended the over-subscribed event, and keynote speakers included Paul Kett, Co-Chair of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group; Geoff French, President of FIDIC; and Jamie Drummond, Executive Director of ONE. The result was a fascinating mix of
The CoST International Programme was launched on Thursday 25 October at the Open Contracting Event in Johannesburg. Over 100 participants heard from H.E. Commissioner Ali Sulaiman, Ethiopian Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and Verónica Taracena, Secretary of Control and Transparency in Guatemala as to how CoST had benefited their respective countries. They also reaffirmed their
CoST recently participated in a conference on Integrity in Public Procurement, co-organised by the Mexican Department of Public Administration, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. Speaking after the event CoST Chairman Christiaan Poortman said: “Mexico has made great strides in developing its public procurement system. It maintains a comprehensive database on all public projects, including
With Engineers Against Poverty now leading the IS, there have been some changes in roles and responsibilities amongst members. Petter Matthews is the Executive Director with overall responsibility of managing the CoST Programme. Zlatina Loudjeva remains a Member of the IS as Strategy and Funding Adviser. John Hawkins recently joined Engineers Against Poverty from the
The Guatemalan Government has underpinned its commitment to CoST by agreeing to provide $120,000 to fund the Multi-Stakeholder Groups activities for the next twelve months. Their commitment to CoST is reflected with Deputy Ministers representing Government on the Multi-Stakeholder Group. CoST Tanzania has recently received approval of £50,000 from DFID Tanzania office for the next
The Tanzanian and Malawian MSGs are in the process of consulting with their respective Public Procurement Authorities on incorporating the information required by CoST to be disclosed into their Public Procurement Regulations. The baseline studies had shown that public procurement Legislation rarely asks for disclosure of information during contract implementation. The Malawian MSG has been