USAID’s Governance for Inclusive Growth program has been supporting the Ministry of Planning and Investment to develop an e-marketplace portal that will provide information on goods and services (such as office supplies) commonly procured by the Government of Vietnam, and facilitate online ordering from selected suppliers. Efforts to support  Vietnam’s e-procurement plan for the period of 2016 – 2025 are being led by the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) within the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). This week, USAID supported PPA with a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City to finish developing this pilot e-marketplace portal and finalize procedures for centralized procurement by state enterprises, including discussing how a legal framework should be drafted to help implement the e-marketplace.

So What? Improving e-procurement management will bolster policy coherence and transparency, and facilitate future business and trade opportunities.