Procurement of Election-related Technology
By Jesper Pedersen

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supports elections and democratization processes around the world. Its assistance ranges from supporting civil society organizations to assisting national election management bodies (EMBs) organize elections in post-crisis countries (for example, the Democratic Republic of Congo).

The Inter-Agency Procurement Services Office (IAPSO) is the procurement center of the UNDP and supports the procurement process for its offices around the world, other UN agencies, and governments in developing countries. IAPSO's assistance includes developing procurement strategies, strengthening local procurement capacity, identifying procurement needs and, in some instances, managing the entire bidding process.

In the past five to seven years, UNDP/IAPSO has become a major actor in procuring election materials that range from ballot boxes to ink, stationary, and digital registration kits.This article describes the procurement process for a new technology for voter registration in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also offers several lessons that can be learned from the process.

Case study: Voter registration kits in the DRC

The procurement process

In 2005, UNDP/IAPSO was asked to procure up to 10,000 digital registration kits to be used in the Democratic Republic of Congo to register an estimated 28 million eligible voters. After registration, each voter was to receive a voter ID card. The kit itself contained a laptop computer (used to capture all relevant voter information), a camera, a fingerprint scanner, a printer, and a generator (to provide a reliable power supply).

UNDP/IAPSO pre-qualified 12 companies that expressed interest and were deemed both technically and financially capable. In the end, we received five bids, three of which complied with the bid's terms of references. After further technical and financial evaluation, all three companies were asked to attend a test session in Kinshasa. During the test, all three kits were thoroughly tested in a two-day mock registration exercise to ensure that they matched the required specifications and could perform successfully.

Besides providing the kits themselves, the successful supplier was to train all personnel who would handle the kits as well as in-country technical support (to enable them to quickly resolve any technical problems the kits might experience). In the end, the voter registration exercise was successful, and more than 25 million voters were registered in a mere six months.This case offers a few lessons with respect to procurement of information and communication technology (ICT) for elections.

Lesson 1: Assess local capacity to manage the project

It is important to assess the capability of the local EMB to implement and manage a project such as digital voter registration. Based on the results of that assessment, an appropriate risk management strategy can be put in place. Simply put, there are three possible strategies when implementing a digital registration exercise:

• Procure only equipment. In this case, the EMB/ buyer assumes responsibility for managing the project and guaranteeing the quality of outputs. The EMB assumes the risk, and the supplier is responsible only for delivering the equipment.


• Procure equipment plus services. Besides equipment, the buyercould alsopurchase additional services, such as training staff and technical support. In this case, the EMB and supplier share more responsibility, but the EMB/buyer retains primary accountability for the outcome.


• Outsource the entire project. Should an EMB choose to outsource the entire project to a service provider, that provider would bear all responsibility for generating a successful outcome.

Which of these strategies will offer the best results must be determined through a case-by-case analysis of the EMB's strengths and weaknesses as well as the degree of public trust in the project. No matter which strategy is chosen, in the end it is important that specifications and/or terms of references are clear, unambiguous, and neutral and that sufficient time is allocated to both the procurement and implementation phases. The procurement process of complex ICT can easily take four to six months.

Lesson 2: Take steps to establish public trust

When introducing ICT in elections, public trust is extremely important. In the case of the DRC, the three technically compliant bidders were invited to Kinshasa to test their voter registration systems, where local officials and citizens could easily observe. This arrangement both allowed comparison of the systems' relative function in the environment in which they would be used and diffused public anxiety about introducing new technology. In our experience, holding onsite tests that the public can witness is an important step in building public confidence in the electoral process.

Lesson 3: Ensure procurement process is transparent

In the DRC, UNDP/IAPSO made sure that all local stakeholders as well as international organizations providing financial and technical support were able to trust that the procurement process was carried out in a transparent manner that followed international procurement best practices.

Conclusion

This case study demonstrates that demands for election-related materials are changing quickly as newly developed technologies are being used successfully in the electoral cycle. Although UNDP/IAPSO is still very much involved in procuring traditional election materials, more and more EMBs are requesting assistance to implement advanced ICT systems for voter registration or even electronic voting systems.

As a result, EMBs' election-related procurement needs are becoming more complex, which only highlights the importance of involving procurement professionals in the process from the beginning. In general, UNDP/ IAPSO's goal has been to improve procurement within UNDP-managed election projects. However, IAPSO is involved in an EC-UNDP initiative to establish a training course to improve the procurement skills of staff from both organizations.

Furthermore, UNDP/IAPSO also helps UNDP country offices to develop procurement plans and/or strategies. If requested, UNDP/IAPSO could offer this service to local EMB staff to help build their ability to manage the procurement of election-related materials.

The importance of timely procurement that is conducted in a transparent and accountable manner (and that provides value for money) is slowly being recognized. The lack of such transparency and accountability can, in fact, jeopardize the credibility of an electoral process if, for example, materials are delayed. Measures must be taken to build public trust in the procurement process so that the electorate can trust the materials used in the elections. These measures are key to ensuring the integrity of the process.