World Bank unveils DPI procurement guide for more integrated digital services

The World Bank Group has published a guidance note that aims to assist countries in selecting the most appropriate procurement methods to build digital ID systems that are scalable and future-ready.

The publication, according to the Bank, offers practical insights on procurement practices that can offset the challenges of scaling digital systems and services. It is accompanied by three annexes on procurement neutrality for digital ID, framework agreement templates, and key example contract clauses.

Countries often pursue procurement models that lead to fragmented systems, hence making integrated service delivery a nightmare, the publication notes.

These challenges not only have to do with procurement missteps, but also architectural requirements and design implementation, especially at a time when countries are accelerating efforts to digitize almost everything. The result is monolithic turnkey contracts, proprietary data silos, and systems that risk collapsing once project funding runs out.

With the guide, the objective is to enable nations to make procurement decisions that advance inclusion, interoperability, sustainability, and public value for the digital infrastructure they intend to put in place.

One of the key recommendations of the report is for countries to pivot from technology-prescriptive to outcome-based and technology-neutral procurement. This means that countries must focus on the goal they intend to achieve in terms of interoperability, scalability, security, and user-centricity, and not on which product or vendor to use. When procurement is designed like this, it enables competition, innovation, better value for money, and also reduces lock-in risk, the report says.

Apart from focusing on outcomes rather than on the vendor, countries must also avoid what the Bank calls “gold-specs” that exceed actual needs, define clear acceptance criteria, and balance specificity by being careful not to over-specify which may stifle innovation, or under-specify, which may create ambiguity.

The blueprint, which is produced by the World Bank’s Vice Presidency for Digital & AI, calls for keen attention to certain evaluation criteria such as solution design and architecture which can account for between 25-30 percent of the success of a DPI project.

It also suggests the inclusion of clear criteria in procurement documents, which must provide clarity on issues including data ownership, source code control, documentation obligations, interoperability and portability, and the right to audit.

Other useful points include designing procurements that treat cybersecurity as a core contractual obligation, encouraging the participation of local and regional SMEs and startups, considering an Independent Verification Agent for technical oversight, requiring vendors to provide a comprehensive handover strategy to ensure sustainability planning, and establishing governance and implementation support bodies such as a technical review committee, performance monitoring, and contract management.

UNDP experts consider procurement a key part of digital ID developments and recommend that countries make it a part of their process right from the design stage, and not an afterthought.

Procurement advice is a regular feature at ID4Africa’s AGMs. The 2026 edition opens tomorrow, May 12, in Côte d’Ivoire.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital public infrastructure  |  procurement  |  World Bank