World Bank E-Procurement for the Selection of Consultants: Challenges and Lessons Learned

This chapter examines electronic procurement (E-procurement) as a subset of E-commerce. It focuses on the acquisition of consultancy services rather than the acquisition of goods and works. The chapter explores the relevant issues surrounding the implementation of an E-procurement solution for the selection of consultants. It presents a case study and discusses the system functionalities and benefits of the solution. The chapter explains the challenges encountered by the World Bank during the implementation of the solution using critical success factors as identified by Kishor Vaidya et al. Selecting the project consultant is one of the most important decisions an owner or client makes in the life of the project. The World Bank's E-procurement solution consists of a Web-based application that integrates E-commerce, procurement workflow, and document management in a single solution. Before the launch of the E-procurement project, the World Bank adopted a set of security and authentication standards.