Principal considerations in the use of community partnered procurement for sustainable urban infrastructure

There is an increasing desire to involve the community in the procurement of infrastructure on the grounds of good governance and sustainability of urban services. One such emerging option to meet such demands is Community Partnered Procurement, (CPP), whereby community groups act as ‘stakeholders’ in the procurement process particularly with respect to ‘micro contracts’, contracts costing less than US$20,000 and duration of less than one calendar year. This paper reviews the results from some 800 contracts of this nature and provides a framework to help the practitioner decide when to use this option or more importantly, when not to use it. Perceptions and experiences of technocrats and professionals concerning the existing capacity of the community to undertake work as contractor have a strong influence on the decision whether to use community as contractors. Similarly the perceptions and experiences of community about the complexity of the work involved can influence their decision whether to undertake such work. This paper provides an overview of CPP based on cases studies from countries in South Asia and East Africa. The results show that this type of procurement is not only viable but can achieve comparable performances in time, cost and quality and have wider socio-economic impacts such as income generation, empowerment and micro-enterprise development