Derestricted
FTAA.sme/inf/76
August 12, 2003
Original: Spanish
Translation: FTAA Secretariat
FTAA – CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON SMALLER ECONOMIES
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
HEMISPHERE COOPERATION PROGRAM
REQUEST FOR TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE FOR PREPARING A MARKET
ACCESS
OFFER FOR GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
The Dominican Republic is pleased to present to the CGSE the following project
profile from the Dominican Republic’s National Negotiating Group on Government
Procurement for the Hemispheric Cooperation Program; this profile was classified
as FTAA.nggp/inf/61 and was recently submitted to the NGGP for the same purpose.
I. Introduction
The Dominican Republic hereby submits its request, through the Negotiating Group
on Government Procurement, to the FTAA Technical Assistance and Cooperation
Program for technical assistance to prepare its market access offer for
government procurement.
- Background
In document FTAA.TNC/20, the FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) established
that market access offers for government procurement shall be submitted between
15 December 2002 and 15 February 2003. It also stipulated that technical
assistance for preparing offers will be provided to countries needing it and
that these countries will have until 15 July 2003 to submit their offers.
In compliance with the instructions set out in FTAA.TNC/20, the Dominican
delegation submitted a list of its assistance needs in the Negotiating Group on
Government Procurement (FTAA.nggp/inf/38) for later submission to the
Consultative Group on Smaller Economies, through that Group’s Chair. Among these
needs is technical assistance for preparing market access offers.
- Rationale
The Dominican Republic is not a signatory of the World Trade Organization’s
Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement and lacks experience in
negotiations that entail the submission of offers for government procurement.
The only agreement that the Dominican Republic has signed in which government
procurement is negotiated is the Central America – Dominican Republic Free Trade
Agreement, which has broad coverage, includes all levels of government, and only
requires the submission of negative lists. Furthermore, the Dominican Republic
is unfamiliar with the structure of federal governments in the hemisphere and
does not have the statistics that would enable it to evaluate the degree to
which offers exchanged in the FTAA are reciprocal and balanced.
Taking into account its lack of experience, the Dominican Republic has neither
the studies nor the skilled experts that it needs to prepare a market access
offer for government procurement that would allow it to successfully meet the
challenge represented by the multilateral negotiating process of the FTAA.
The technical assistance requested by the Dominican Republic would enable it to
participate fully in the negotiating process, thereby ensuring an outcome that
is fairer and more consistent with the development goals of the country, which
must coexist with its trade liberalization policy.
- Project Goals:
The main goal is to train a technical team so that it has all the tools needed
to prepare the Dominican Republic’s market access offer and formulate requests
for improvements to offers received from other countries in the hemisphere.
Specific Goals:
- Prepare a market access offer for government procurement that allows for the
coexistence of national development needs and goals, a commitment to open trade,
and the transparency sought in the FTAA.
- Become familiar with and understand the political structure of federal
governments and entities at all levels of government that engage in government
procurement.
- Evaluate the government procurement statistics of the countries of the
hemisphere and develop the ability to analyze them in terms of negotiating
objectives.
- Inputs
- Workshops and seminars on the preparation of market access offers for
government procurement.
- Political and administrative structure of the countries of the hemisphere,
including a list of entities at all levels of government that engage in
government procurement.
- Statistics on procurements made by countries in the region, for all levels of
government.
- Other information that would help the Dominican Republic evaluate the
government procurement market in the hemisphere.
- Anticipated Results
- A market access offer for government procurement that takes into account
national development needs and goals, reflects the FTAA’s commitment to special
and differential treatment, and dovetails with the Dominican Republic’s
commitment to trade liberalization and transparency in government procurements.
- Strengthened national institutions through the training of technical personnel
in the preparation and submission of market access offers for government
procurement.
- Creation of a team conversant with the political structure of federal
governments in the area of government procurements that has been trained to
analyze statistical information for evaluating the negotiated market, in order
to ensure reciprocity and balance of the negotiations.
|