Procurement

ABSTRACT An audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) shows that Kenya has made significant progress against HIV, TB and malaria. This is partly due to the country’s ability to successfully procure and distribute Global Fund-supported health products. The OIG, however, found issues in the quality of services, measurement of grant performance and grant implementation in the context of devolution of health services from the central government to 47 county governments following constitutional changes in 2010.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund has electronically approved the Secretariat’s request to extend the timeline for the use of wambo.org for non-Global Fund financed procurement of COVID-19-related products to 31 May 2021.

ABSTRACT Malawi has made significant progress in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria since it started receiving Global Fund funding in 2003. Malawi faces significant challenges in implementing Global Fund grants, such as low domestic contributions to the health sector, low absorption of Global Fund grants, and a weak health system, which undermine achieving maximum impact against the three diseases. Some challenges relate to Global Fund processes while most relate to Malawi’s economic and political context. Solutions include increased country investments in health systems, addressing bottlenecks to effective absorption of funding, and increased oversight of grant implementation.

ABSTRACT The Office of the Inspector General has published a follow up audit of the Global Fund’s procurement processes. The audit report shows material improvements in these processes, but also shows that the Global Fund is yet to sufficiently address several issues flagged in the 2015 audit, and other subsequent audits. The Global Fund has commented, citing internal leadership issues as part of the reason for the delays.

ABSTRACT The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) is the government body authorized to procure and distribute Global Fund-supported health commodities. KEMSA obtains competitive prices compared to the Global Fund’s Pooled Procurement Mechanism, stock-outs of health commodities happen rarely, and orders are delivered on time. This article shows how – in some cases – a country’s independent procurement, if well managed, can work as well as the Fund’s pooled procurement.

ABSTRACT Staff from the National Tuberculosis Control Program in Bangladesh falsified documents to support training-related expenditures, according to an investigation conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. The NTP is principal recipient for a TB grant. This is not the first time that it has come under scrutiny.

ABSTRACT The Board has replaced a 2007 decision which required that all LFA contracts be re-tendered every four years with a decision that provides more flexibility with respect to the timing. The Board established principles governing the procurement of LFA services. The Board delegated to the Audit and Finance Committee the authority to modify the principles; and delegated to the Secretariat the authority to establish the procedures for procurement of LFA services.

ABSTRACT An audit conducted by the Office of the Inspector General reveals solid progress in implementing HIV, TB, malaria and HSS grants to Ethiopia – but also inefficiencies in grant management, absorption, quality of services, and procurement and the supply chain. The audit covered the period from July 2015 to March 2017.

ABSTRACT The Technical Review Panel and the Grant Approvals Committee applauded the “appropriately targeted investments” in prevention programs, and the access to testing and treatment services in the HIV funding request submitted by the Philippines. However, the country’s matching funds request was sent back for iteration.

ABSTRACT Clients using the wambo.org platform are generally quite satisfied, but the project has experienced delays, according to an audit conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. In addition, the OIG said, wambo.org has not achieved projected savings, and has not improved lead times for orders, compared to the Pooled Procurement Mechanism.