September 24 - 25, Director of the Public Procurement and Logistics Observatory (PPLO) Akylbek Umetaliev, in order to expand international cooperation and exchange of experience, at the invitation of the Institute of Supply Management, India (ISM-INDIA) took part in an event called “International Procurement Conference 2021”.
The initiative to host the international conference, in collaboration with the World Bank, comes from the Institute of Supply Management, India (ISM-INDIA), which is the largest supply management institute in the world, with a membership of over 50,000 supply management professionals in 75 countries.
The conference program aimed for the using digital technologies in procurement, new approaches to solving modern problems using digital (smart) procurement. The theme of the conference "The journey to procurement excellence". The conference motto - "Digital is the next natural evolution for Procurement which builds on the e-Procurement era".
Digital (SMART) procurement is the application of disruptive technologies to facilitate transformation. The conference examined various aspects of procurement activities to achieve the above goals. The conference program has become unique and the conclusions that been drawn will be useful and applicable in procurement in both the public and private sectors.
Key conclusions that made at the end of the conference:
Holding such international conferences is extremely important, because the cost of purchasing goods and services can account for up to 70% of a company's sales and almost 20% of GDP in government procurement. This makes procurement a critical and strategic priority to make it cost-effective and efficient. This situation calls for the transformation of procurement from a tactical level into a strategic and digital function. COVID-19 has accelerated this transformation by several years.
Public procurement (including private procurement) fosters innovation. Strategic use of public procurement helps governments stimulate innovation at both national and local levels, and ultimately improve productivity and inclusiveness.
