On May 28-29, CLDP, in coordination with the General Directorate for Public Contracting (DGCP) organized a workshop to discuss the creation of a new certification program for contracting personnel. CLDP’s multi-year programming in the Dominican Republic is aimed at increasing transparency and competition in government tenders, which will increase opportunities for US companies to participate. Over the last three years, CLDP has conducted over 10 workshops for contracting personnel on procurement best practices, which will be institutionalized through a new mandatory certification program for officials involved in procurement.

This professionalization effort is one of the main objectives of CLDP’s new funding agreement with USAID and will help to change the administrative culture of procurement processes throughout the Dominican government, which are often influenced by political appointees and inexperienced bureaucrats. The workshop featured over 35 participants including members of the DGCP, academics, officials from the Presidency’s office and university deans. The participants provided practical recommendations on the design of the certification program including the institutional framework, the course requirements and the certification’s impact on the role and authority of contracting personnel. The workshop experts included an expert from the Defense Acquisition University, a current senior contracting officer from the Department of Veterans Affairs and a former FEMA contracting officer. Over the coming weeks, the DGCP, with CLDP’s assistance, will use the recommendations to develop a comprehensive framework that will be presented to government leadership for approval and implementation. When implemented, the certification program will be one of the first of its kind in the region and will represent a major step forward in ensuring the sustainability of CLDP’s procurement assistance to the Dominican government.