$212.1 billion. That was the level of official development assistance in 2024 (OECD), channelled through thousands of programmes and suppliers across the world. Within the UN system alone, procurement runs to tens of billions of dollars annually. Yet behind these recent headline numbers, many organisations are operating in a tighter fiscal reality today. Budgets are under pressure, unrestricted funding is shrinking, and inflation is eroding purchasing power. In this environment, procurement must make every cent count, maximising value for money, accelerating delivery, and ensuring scarce resources reach communities with measurable, impactful results. When procurement in the global development space works well, funds translate into better health outcomes, resilient livelihoods, and stronger institutions. When it doesn’t, value is lost, timelines slip, and innovation stalls.
Procurement, across the various sectors that encompass global development, is more than compliance. Done strategically, it becomes an engine for inclusion, innovation, and measurable impact. This article explores what holds procurement back today, and practical steps procurers and suppliers can take to unlock value.
Why procurement matters more than you think
Procurement quietly determines who gets to deliver and how quickly impact reaches communities. It shapes:
- The diversity and quality of partners brought to the table
- The speed of mobilising expertise and resources
- The accountability and trust stakeholders place and expect in results
Small changes can have outsized effects. Streamlined processes and equitable access don’t just improve efficiency; they open doors to local knowledge, fresh ideas, and more resilient partnerships.
The problems: complexity, fragmentation, and risk aversion
Procurement in the development sector operates across a uniquely complex landscape:
- Many actors, many rules: Multilateral development banks, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, philanthropies, and development finance institutions all use different portals, templates, and compliance regimes. Mapping and tracking opportunities often demands specialist knowledge before any technical work begins.
- Expanding scope: Beyond goods and basic services, organisations regularly procure technical strategy, monitoring and evaluation, climate integration, digital transformation, organisational effectiveness, leadership development, and executive search. Requirements are more specialised and cross-cutting than ever.
- Resource-intensive bidding: High-quality bids require contextual understanding, technical excellence, strong compliance, and disciplined bid/no-bid decisions. For SMEs and local firms, the investment can be prohibitive, risking the exclusion of precisely the perspectives that deliver context-rich, sustainable solutions.
- Rising standards and scrutiny: ESG, safeguarding, anti-trafficking, anti-corruption and value-for-money expectations are essential, but they add to the compliance load. Under time pressure, many bidders default to formulaic responses, dampening creativity and differentiation.
- Process over people: Too often, procurement is designed around process fidelity rather than the people and partnerships that must make delivery work. That misalignment is a root cause of missed outcomes.
The opportunities: from transactional to transformational
There is no single fix, but organisations and suppliers can each make focused changes that strengthen outcomes quickly. For procurers, with some decisive adjustments they can shift procurement from gatekeeping to value creation:
- Simplify and standardise where possible
- Use clear, concise documentation with consistent structures across tenders.
- Reduce duplication (e.g., pre-qualification once, validate annually; accept recognised certifications).
- Offer proportionate requirements that scale with contract size and risk profile.
- Clarify evaluation criteria with relative weightings and examples of “what good looks like.”
- Broaden access and inclusion
- Publish opportunities widely and early; share forward-looking procurement pipelines to give suppliers time to prepare.
- Lower barriers judiciously, revisit minimum turnover thresholds, references, and consortium rules to enable credible SMEs and local firms.
- Encourage supplier diversity through inclusive evaluation criteria (e.g., local partnerships, gender-responsive design, climate integration, social value).
- Provide Q&A sessions and feedback debriefs as standard, build capacity across your market, not just your supplier list.
- Evaluate for value, not just cost
- Weight technical merit, delivery capability, risk management, and learning plans alongside price.
- Consider total value over contract life (e.g., sustainability, knowledge transfer, capability building).
- Reward adaptive delivery models, not just tightly scripted workplans, where context demands it.
- Invest in partnership capacity
- Offer pre-bid webinars and guidance on compliance topics (safeguarding, data protection, ESG).
- Pilot smaller tranches with high-potential local providers to build an evidence base safely and quickly.
- Use performance data to inform future lotting, scoping, and supplier development.
- Make governance a strength
- Maintain robust fiduciary controls but avoid over-engineering.
- Build transparent decision trails that reduce risk and enhance trust.
- Align procurement oversight with strategy, risk, and programme governance for coherent decision-making.
For suppliers, they can turn bidding into an organisational capability that compounds over time, by building capability and targeting collaboration.
- Professionalise the bid function
- Create a centralised bid library (capability statements, CVs, case studies, policies, DEI/ESG commitments).
- Implement disciplined bid/no-bid criteria aligned to your strategy and strengths.
- Track win/loss data and feedback; convert insights into playbooks and reusable assets.
- Strengthen compliance and assurance
- Invest early in safeguarding, data protection, anti-corruption, and ESG policies that meet common donor standards.
- Keep documentation audit-ready; use checklists to avoid last-minute scramble.
- Adopt proportionate quality management systems and demonstrate continuous improvement.
- Build partnerships that add real value
- Form consortia that combine global reach with local insight and delivery presence.
- Co-develop solutions with partners, share tools, align methodologies, and define joint success measures upfront.
- Establish fair governance and IP arrangements early to avoid friction at mobilisation.
- Align to cross-cutting priorities
- Make gender integration, climate resilience, digital ethics, and social value part of your default approach, not an annex.
- Evidence how you will build local capability and leave systems stronger post-engagement.
- Stay close to clients and context
- Track pipeline signals and engage early to understand needs, constraints, and risk appetite.
- Offer options in proposals (e.g., “good/better/best”) to support value-based decision-making.
- Share thought leadership and lessons learned to become a trusted partner, not just a vendor.
Key Takeaways
Effective procurement accelerates impact by streamlining processes, widening access to diverse and local suppliers, and strengthening organisational systems. By employing clear templates, engaging suppliers early, and focusing on value-based outcomes, organisations can reduce time-to-contract, improve solution quality, and mitigate delivery risks. Prioritising capacity-building for both buyers and suppliers fosters a healthier, more resilient market.
Procurement acts as a strategic lever when it is aligned with organisational priorities, underpinned by transparent criteria, and supports meaningful partnerships. Connecting procurement to governance, strategy, and capability development enables organisations to move with clarity and confidence, ensuring that sourcing decisions support mission objectives, encourage inclusion and innovation, and drive lasting effectiveness.
Imagine procurement that feels clear, fair, and fast. Your teams spend less time wrestling process and more time shaping solutions. Your supplier base is diverse, values-aligned, and capable, mixing global expertise with local insight. Contracts mobilise on time. Risks are managed openly. Learning is captured and reused. Most importantly, funded programmes deliver what they promise, and communities see the benefit sooner. That is procurement as a strategic asset. It is within reach, and it starts with small, confident steps taken today.
If you want support to strengthen your procurement for impact, aligning people, process, and partners, we’re here to help. SRI Executive partners with development organisations to enhance organisational effectiveness, governance, strategy, leadership, and executive search so you can move decisively and deliver lasting change.