IDB Launches Comprehensive Procure+ Reform

ASUNCIÓN — The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) today launched Procure+, a comprehensive reform of procurement across IDB-financed operations designed to strengthen competition, improve spending, and add value to project performance, reinforcing transparency in development spending. 

The initiative covers about $4.5 billion in IDB-financed procurement each year across infrastructure, energy, health, digital transformation, and other sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

Procure+ strengthens how procurement works across the full project cycle. It promotes value for money, fosters stronger competition, and eventually leads to higher quality standards and better allocation of resources, while introducing new safeguards on conflicts of interest and ultimate beneficial ownership to ensure transparency in public contracts. In sum, Procure+ will deliver greater value and improve the impact of IDB-backed projects, ultimately benefiting the people of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

“Strong procurement systems protect public resources and create fair opportunities for the private sector,” said IDB Group President Ilan Goldfajn. “With Procure+, we are strengthening competition, raising quality standards, and increasing transparency, so countries can deliver better projects with stronger results.”

“Ecuador welcomes the IDB’s Procure+ reform as a transformative step toward strengthening value for money, transparency, and integrity at the core of public procurement in the region. Ecuador is already advancing these principles in practice. Through operations supported by the IDB, the country has introduced quality-based evaluation criteria and enhanced integrity safeguards in procurement processes. Procure+ reinforces this direction,” said Sariha Moya, Ecuador’s minister of economy and finance and IDB governor. “Ecuador looks forward to continuing to work closely with the Bank to further professionalize public procurement and deliver better results for the people in the region.”  

“Canada welcomes the IDB’s Procure+ reform proposal as an important step toward stronger competition, better value for money, and greater integrity in development spending. By strengthening transparency, professional standards, and quality-based procurement, Procure+ reinforces procurement as a critical tool for fair market access for more companies as well as for delivering better development results for people across Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Patricia Peña, associate assistant deputy minister in the International Assistance Partnerships and Programming Branch of Global Affairs Canada and head of delegation. 

Evidence shows procurement design directly affects results: 

• Evaluating quality and price together can lower total costs by 5%-20% over the life of infrastructure assets. 
• Each additional bidder can reduce prices by 2%-8% on average. 
• Infrastructure investment can generate 10-30 jobs for every $1 million invested. 
• Quality-based procurement attracts stronger bidders and reduces delays and cost overruns. 

Procure+ is structured around five reform pillars and 38 key actions to strengthen procurement performance across the project life cycle: 

• Value for money through open and fair competition 
• Higher quality and fit-for-purpose procurement solutions 
• Forward-looking oversight and digital-risk management 
• Stronger professional standards and procurement capacity 
• A modernized procurement policy framework aligned with evolving market conditions and multilateral development bank practices  

Key actions include a minimum local labor requirement to ensure jobs and skills for the region, no matter who wins the contracts; earlier engagement with markets to attract capable bidders; broader use of quality criteria in procurement decisions; stronger contract management; new digital tools for monitoring procurement performance; and expanded training and certification for procurement professionals. 

The reform also strengthens transparency in procurement processes by requiring additional checks on beneficial ownership and potential conflicts of interest, helping protect public resources and ensuring fair competition among bidders. 

By integrating competition, quality, and integrity safeguards, Procure+ aims to ensure that development financing translates into faster and more effective results on the ground.