📋 Tender Overview
Project Name
Together we ACT: Accelerate, Collaborate, and Thrive in Central and West Asia
Project Number
59294-001
Country / Economy
Regional
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic
Pakistan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Project Status
Proposed
Project Type / Modality of Assistance
Technical Assistance
Source of Funding / Amount
TA: Enhancing Project Readiness and Strengthening Project Management in Central and West Asia
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 1.00 million
Sector / Subsector
Public sector management / Public administration
Gender
Some gender elements
Description
This regional technical assistance (TA) is designed to continue enhancing further procurement, project readiness, and portfolio management capacities across developing member countries (DMCs) in the Central and West Asia Department (CWRD). The TA targets executing and implementing agencies (EAs/IAs) of ADB-financed projects, offering tailored hands-on support during critical phases of project design and implementation.
Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy
Building on the achievements of the ongoing RETA in CWRD, project performance in Central and West Asia is continuously improving. For example, end-to-end procurement time steadily decreased from 370 days in 2022 to 261 days in 2023 and 181 days in 2024 demonstrating enhanced efficiency in project implementation. There is, however, a need to maintain the work on building project implementation capacities and to address delays due to slow procurement processes, limited project readiness, and insufficient institutional capacity among EAs and IAs. These delays hinder the timely delivery of development outcomes and reduce the effectiveness of ADB-financed operations. For example, many EAs/IAs still lack the skills to prepare bid documents, carry out evaluation and prepare evaluation reports, leading to significant procurement bottlenecks.
ADB uses two indicators of project readiness: design ready and procurement ready. Projects with preliminary design and specifications or detailed engineering design completed before approval are considered design ready. Projects that have issued bid documents for major contracts before approval are considered procurement ready.
The TA supports the design and implementation readiness of projects, with a specific focus on procurement readiness. The TA addresses constraints such as i) limited readiness filters and modalities in project design, ii) weak contract management and grievance redress mechanisms during implementation, and iii) dependency on external consultants without sufficient internal capacity building.
By embedding readiness practices and strengthening project management, the TA ensures smoother implementation of both ongoing and future ADB-financed projects. The TA aims to improve and build on the momentum built to address delays in project readiness and implementation across Central and West Asia by
