Active development aid is a cornerstone of the national identity of the federal Republic of Germany. It is rightly understood to be a humanitarian and rational imperative and is actively promoted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) within the scope of the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations. International efforts are regularly focused on the »5 Ps« (People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, Partnership).
In order to implement ambitious targets, the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) forms the »spearhead« of German development aid. The GIZ has establishments and project offices throughout the world with the result that sometimes employees happen to be located in dangerous regions. Deployment actions with armoured vehicles are the exception, but the job cannot be called simple in any terms.
The same is true for procurement. While the GIZ has up to now executed the procurement exclusively on its own account, as with many other public sector clients it is increasingly faced with the limits of its capacity. Leinemann Partner therefore supports the GIZ in the scope of a pilot project as an »external awarding office«. On the basis of a consulting concept created especially for the development agency, Leinemann Partner now performs numerous award procedures for the GIZ which are mainly in English, but also in German and French.
The areas of deployment include environmental projects, support for the Vietnamese population to help them cope with flooding in the Mekong Delta and vocational training for workers in Uganda to help them have a share of the local natural resources. Accordingly, the procurement items are as varied as the countries and regions involved where the work is performed. This entails overcoming language barriers, managing international bidders and making the procurement process as transparent as possible so that the various bidders from all corners of the world understand the requirements of a European procurement procedure in accordance with the German procurement regulations.
Other factors are the extremely specific requirements of the respective country of deployment. Tension between different ethnic groups and cultural traditions naturally have to be taken into consideration during the procurement consulting process and specified when the definition of the requirements is passed on to consulting companies which makes each procedure despite its size unique and demanding at the same time. For example, how will you react if a consultant is without any grounds not allowed to enter the country of deployment? What could happen if the political framework suddenly changes or if the security situation deteriorates?
These and other questions had to be answered in the 50 procurement cases which have been processed so far and an end to the successful cooperation is not yet in sight.
The pilot phase coming to an end has gone extremely smoothly and the teams from Leinemann Partner and GIZ have grown together to become an effective unit. Working together, an ever larger number of parallel procurement processes were being successfully managed and resolved. In the course of each process it was possible to improve the workflow and communication interfaces which has in turn increased the overall efficiency of the procurement process.
GIZ benefits from a continuous transfer of expertise with regard to the procurement management procedures and procurement law expertise.
Junior GIZ staff are able to learn the procedures of the complex procurement process »on the job« under the guidance of our experts in procurement law. This enables GIZ to manage peak workloads using external reserves and also simultaneously secures the competent and sound training of its own young employees which makes the cooperation a sustainable investment.
The support for GIZ is made from the Leinemann office in Frankfurt by the lawyers Jonas Deppenkemper and Timm Freiheit under the guidance of partner Jarl‑Hendrik Kues.
