Government Procurement Experts' Group

 

The Government Procurement Experts' Group (GPEG) was established in 1995 to consider ways to increase transparency and liberalize government procurement markets in accordance with the objectives and principles of the Bogor Declaration and the Osaka Action Agenda. A sub-forum of the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), the GPEG continues its work in this area by:
  • Promoting the APEC GPEG Non-Binding Principles and the Transparency Standard
  • Sharing knowledge on government procurement regimes and best practices of member economies
  • Responding, in coordination with other APEC working groups, to the APEC agenda as advised by CTI
  • Providing a forum for networking among government procurement experts and for exchanging views on government procurement-related issues of the day
GPEG developed a set of APEC Non-Binding Principles on Government Procurement (NBPs), which were endorsed by APEC Leaders at their meeting in 1999 in Auckland, New Zealand.

The APEC GPEG NBPs are -
  • Value for Money,
  • Open and Effective Competition,
  • Fair Dealing,
  • Accountability and Due Process, and
  • Non-Discrimination.
The original set of NBPs included Transparency; this has now been subsumed into the area-specific APEC Transparency Standards on Government Procurement.

GPEG members work towards the application of these principles, taking into consideration the General Principles in the Osaka Action Agenda, as well as the specific characteristics of their economy and the costs and benefits of adopting specific measures.

The NBPs have contributed to the successful promotion of transparency and the liberalization of government procurement markets across member economies. The first round of voluntary reviews and reports to GPEG against the NBPs has been completed by member economies.

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Achievements

The seminar on the implementation of the Value for Money Non-binding Principle in Government Procurement was held in Lima from 13-14 August 2008. The seminar provided a platform for APEC economies to exchange views on this issue, as well as identified the best procurement mechanisms. Participants were also able to examine ways in which to improve new tendering procurement modalities.

Working to improve government procurement across the region, GPEG has:

  • Completed member economies' reporting against the NBPs;
  • Identified elements of the NBPs that addresses APEC's work on anti-corruption;
  • Finalized the review and repackaging of the NBPs with the aim of making them easier to understand and more business-friendly;
  • Complemented the Transparency Standards on Government Procurement;
  • Completed the Model Measures for Government Procurement.

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Current Activities

Currently, GPEG focuses its work on:

  • Continuing to develop GPEG capacity-building projects, including progressing SME initiatives in consultation with the SME Working Group.
  • Sharing information on the Transparency Standards and encouraging member economies to share information on their procurement frameworks, including e-procurement initiatives.
  • Information sharing on multilateral and bilateral trade arrangements negotiated by member economies.
  • Developing a framework for eProcurement Guidelines for reference of member economies in order to assist them in developing and enhancing their own eProcurement System.
  • Conducting a stocktake of member economies' Government Procurement systems and policies in an effort to facilitate the entry by private businesses/enterprises into the government procurement markets of APEC economies.

Capacity Building Projects

Korea proposed to host a capacity building workshop in 2009 which will comprehensively chart the evolution of the government procurement systems of member economies as well as examine the ways to assist private businesses and enterprises to enter other members' government procurement markets. This project is currently awaiting Budget Management Committee's approval.

The APEC Workshop on Government Procurement in WTO and FTA was held in Beijing on 18-19 October 2007. The workshop achieved its objectives of improving APEC members' understanding on the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and government procurement issues in RTAs/FTAs. The workshop covered an introduction to WTO GPA and related issues; the practice of negotiations on government procurement chapters in RTAs/FTAs concluded or under negotiation; and adding values to the negotiation of GPA and government procurement chapters in RTAs/FTAs.



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Government Procurement Resources

Outcomes from GPEG meetings such as presentations, reports and proposals are available through the
GPEG Documents and Reports page.

General information regarding the efforts of GPEG's 21 member economies to liberalise government procurement is available from the drop down menu below. Users can search for information on member economies including specific information on current government procurement policies, procedures, trade opportunities and key contacts for each economy.

Hyperlinks to related websites, including those listing specific procurement opportunities offered by individual APEC member economies, are also provided.

To access this information, simply click on the drop down menu below.

 
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Government Procurement Experts' Group (GPEG) - Key Contacts

Convenor
Mr. Seunghyun Kang
Director, Commodity Stockpile Bureau
Public Procurement Service, Republic of Korea
Gov't Complex-Daejeon 920, Dunsan-Dong,Seo-Gu, Daejeon,Korea, 302-701
Tel: 82-42-481-7200
Fax: 82-42-472-2240
Cell Ph: 82-18-416-8514
E-mails:
bullseye@pps.go.kr copied to gpeg_korea@hotmail.com; stonypass@pps.go.kr; and hsy-pia@pps.go.kr

APEC Secretariat
Mr Park Yung-suh
Director (Program)
E-mail: pys@apec.org

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