The Government of Lebanon’s successful completion of the MAPS exercise is a significant step toward modernizing and strengthening its public procurement system. The results from the exercise show that in Lebanon there are opportunities to enhance transparency, efficiency, and integrity in public procurement. As a result of the MAPS exercise, there is now a clear path forward. This blog, prepared by the World Bank, summarizes the key takeaways and lessons learned.

REWARDING SUSTAINABLE AND INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT
The Procura+ Awards reward successful, already running, sustainable and innovative public procurements.
These procurements lead to significant improvements of public goods, services, processes and infrastructure.
Applications to the Procura+ Awards 2021 are now open in all four categories:
- Sustainable Procurement of the Year,
- Innovation Procurement of the year,
- Outstanding Innovation Procurement in ICT,
- Procurement Initiative of the year.
The deadline for applications is March 31, 2021.
More details (application form and terms&conditions) on the link below.

The One Planet Network Sustainable Public Procurement Programme calls upon the global public procurement community to leverage purchasing power to respond and recover responsibly from the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we propose nine concrete actions for the public procurement community.
Humanity is faced with a challenge unprecedented in recent history. Approaching one year since the outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted countless lives worldwide and it leaves a lasting impact on individuals, world economies and society as a whole. What are key tools for responsible response and recovery mechanisms? Public procurement is one of them. Making responsible and strategic decisions on how public money is spent is key to creating economic, societal and environmental value.
In addition, different sectors face distinct challenges, but also unique opportunities to contribute to a responsible recovery, which is why the Sustainable Public Procurement Programme also has collated suggestions for a selection of high-impact sectors, including health care, construction, textiles, plastic and more.
This is a joint effort by the SPP Programmes Co-Leads ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, the Governments of China (Environmental Development Centre of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China) and the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) and the UN Environment Programme, as well as 16 Multistakeholder Advisory Committee (MAC) members from across the world.
We invite you to visit our website, reach out for more information and to share the Call to Action within your networks, so that we collectively can recover from the pandemic in a more sustainable and responsible way.
The One Planet Network Sustainable Public Procurement Programme

Check out this brochure to learn more about the importance of MAPS, the international standard and the universal tool to evaluate any public procurement system anywhere in the world.

The Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan is taking part in the Lebanese parliamentary special committee formed to study the draft public procurement law.
The committee launched its meetings on June 2, 2020, in the presence of key national stakeholders from the public and private sector and representatives of international organizations. Following the kick-off meeting, public hearing sessions with public administrations, oversight bodies and the business community took place to consult of the draft law.
Consecutive committee meetings are held weekly at the Lebanese Parliament to discuss stakeholders' comments and bring enhancements to the draft law.
The draft law was prepared by the Institute in line with international standards and guidelines, in collaboration with 13 national and international experts, and with the technical assistance of the EU-OECD SIGMA Joint Initiaitve, the World Bank and the Agence Française de Développement.

In line with Lebanese Government commitments to advancing public procurement modernization, the Ministry of Finance launched in June 2019 the implementation of the MAPS II, with the support of the World Bank and the AFD. The President of the Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan, Ms. Lamia Moubayed Bissat, was mandated by the Lebanese Minister of Finance, as National Focal Point.
MAPS II falls within the international requirements to establishing a modern and sound public procurement system in Lebanon. This international methodology, developed by the OECD, aims at identifying the strengths, weaknesses and gaps of the system, and providing recommendations to better priorities reform actions.

The guidelines intend to provide a common understanding of the set of measures and environmental criteria that can be considered in developing the most appropriate legal and operational framework to address single use of plastic in public procurement in the signatory countries of the Barcelona Convention.
This document has been developed within the Cooperation Agreement between UNEP/MAP and the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea Protection. SCP/RAC has commissioned this work to Ecoinsitut, a non-for-profit associated work cooperative consisting of professionals with diverse academic and professional background.