The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has pledged its support for the creation of a professional procurement licence.
The endorsement was revealed at the CIPS Pan African Conference in July in Johannesburg.
David Noble, group CEO, CIPS said in a statement that “as a profession, we need to step forward and be accountable for our actions. In a world of scarce resources and increasing supply risks, we can no longer accept inadequate procurement and supply practices and, therefore, we must ensure this profession is fit for purpose to move on to its next generation – a licensing approach will ensure the right structure is in place for this to happen.”
The intention behind the licensing initiative is to ensure procurement processes are carried out by professionally qualified practitioners, and that these professionals can demonstrate a pre-determined level of competence, and they can be held accountable to formalised standards of practice and ethics.
A licence would improve corporate governance, transparency and greater accountability, CIPS said.
Jens Wandel, assistant administrator and director of the bureau of management at UNDP, said “a licensing structure will ensure the profession gains formal recognition of its status and can attract higher calibre individuals as well as provide protection for individuals and organisations”.
“Raising our standards for effective, ethical and sustainable procurement will allow UNDP to meet its transparency objectives, address the ever-growing supply side risks of a truly global marketplace and deliver the high levels of professional skill, knowledge and integrity that are essential to procurement and public good.”
The organisations said a licensing regime would also provide greater confidence in the profession, allow companies to protect the public good, standardise procurement processes, and address the requirements of the International Aid Transparency initiative in the supply chain.
