Public procurement – the purchase of works, goods, and services with government funds – is a crucial economic activity for public authorities worldwide, particularly at the local and regional levels. Properly implemented, public procurement offers Lebanese local authorities the potential to optimise their funds, improve the lives of their residents and stimulate local economic development.
Currently, Lebanon’s public procurement is governed by an outdated and fragmented set of laws and decrees that enables corruption and clientelism. It is one of the main structural challenges to local authorities’ institutional resilience which is preventing them from providing high-quality services in a cost-efficient and accountable manner.
This Policy Brief is an edited version of a paper written by Mohamad Seif Edine, Expenditures Commitment Controller at the
Lebanese Ministry of Finance. It was revised by André Sleiman of DRI.