São Paulo, Brazil – The U.S. Trade and Development Agency, in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Development and Management (Ministry of Planning) launched its second, three-day procurement training workshop in São Paulo under USTDA’s Global Procurement Initiative: Understanding Best Value (GPI). Over the next three days, the workshop will be led by an expert from the George Washington University Government Procurement Law Program as well as the GPI technical specialists, training over 60 state and municipal-level officials from across Brazil in international best practices in public procurement, including the use of best value determinations and life-cycle cost analyses.

USTDA’s Director for Global Programs, Andrea Lupo, who provided opening remarks at the workshop, noted, “Brazil has been a key partner of USTDA for many years, and we are delighted to already be launching this third activity with the Ministry of Planning. Our GPI assistance builds upon the laudable steps that Brazil has already taken to improve public procurement to set the country on the path to international best standards, and to ensure that the Government of Brazil is able to attain the best possible outcomes from upcoming procurements.”

Aline Ribeiro Dantas de Teixeira Soares, Deputy Secretary of the Secretariat of Management, added, “This initiative presents a great opportunity to foster discussion aimed at improving public management, and to build strong and long-lasting cooperation for development, which is also the focus of the strategy developed by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management in Brazil.”

This workshop follows two initial activities, the first of which was a three-day, in-country workshop in Brasilia for federal-level procurement officials in December 2017, during which USTDA and the Ministry of Planning signed a Memorandum of Understanding.  In January 2018, USTDA hosted 15 senior officials from the Government of Brazil for a 10-day procurement study tour in the United States. Going forward, USTDA will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Planning to develop tailored procurement assistance programs to support the implementation of best value in Brazil.