Government Led BDS Quality Assurance

The BO group had two questions to address; How can BDS quality be communicated in a market?  What is a credible certificate of quality?

However, participants preferred to focus on the four questions raised through the presentations that were made.

These would also address the two questions above.

• How can the government coordinate the accreditation and certification of BDS? Should it be an enabler rather than a controlling entity? How can certification be done without affecting inclusivity?
• How can a BDS association align with the government regulations? How can BDS providers work together effectively to improve the BDS landscape?
• How can BDS standards be adopted by government MDAs and how can the government enable non-state actors to support interventions to address BDS challenges?
• What could be the best financing mechanisms for effective delivery of BDS to ensure that BDS cost becomes affordable for SMEs?

Due to time constraints, only two of these questions were given deeper focus as explained below.

On Q1, participants unanimously concurred that the government should play an enabling role, and not the controlling entity due to two major reasons. The first is bureaucracy, which is inevitable in government operations, yet it could affect the actors’ morale and slow down progress. The second is the fear for conflicting priorities as governments usually have pressing issues to tackle, and which at times are a priority to it with potential to get this BDS effort to the back of the queue.

However, it was noted that most countries do not yet have an organised network or community of BDS stakeholders to support this initiative. It is therefore fine for the government to initiate the certification process, develop all aspects of the landscape in consultation with stakeholders, and then hand over to an industry-led entity after full establishment. The government can then concentrate on policy and legal framework to ensure the certification process is well guided. However, for accreditation, most governments have agencies responsible for product and service accreditation, and that is acceptable for regional and international recognition of the BDS from a particular country.

To coordinate certification and accreditation, the government should support establishment of a BDSP association, that provides a community of BDS practitioners with a good linkage to the certification entity (Conformity Assessment Body) or government at the start so that certification can easily be supported. The association would also bridge the gap between BDS providers and the CAB or government and also play the lobby and advocacy function.

The collaboration with the BDS associations would ensure inclusivity so that BDS providers are all part of the ecosystem, regardless of where they are based (geographically), level of training or sector they are serving.

For Q2, participants agreed that the government, through a consultative process, should develop a code of conduct/ethics and guidelines to be adopted by the associations and thoroughly monitored by the government, this would ensure alignment between the BDSPs and the government regulations.

It was also observed that BDSPs should be supported to conform to the regulations and standards and incorporate them into their operations for easy adherence to the set practices.

The associations, however, was observed to have a duty to sensitise its members, provide training and promote certification so that BDSPs have well-built capacity and align to government regulations in place.

For Q3, there was concurrence that governments all over the world work through policies and standing orders, so the same would apply to the BDS support systems. MDAs must be supported to develop policies through which standards and any other BDS interventions can be adopted.

Non-state actors can be supported to address challenges in BDS landscape through publication of regular M&E reports that highlight existing gaps which need to be addressed with the support of all actors. The government could also hold annual BDS conferences where studies are shared, case studies discussed, and non-state actors encouraged to commit to support particular intervention that address some of the highlighted challenges.

Q4 was not discussed in both rounds due to time constraints.