ZIMBABWE EVALUATION OF THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL PROCUREMENT PILOT PROJECT EVALUATION
Under the 2008 Farm Bill, the US Congress authorized $60 million in Commodity Credit Corporation funding for USDA to implement a local and regional procurement project in FY 2009-2012. The pilot intended to study the timeliness and effectiveness of using local and regional procurement in responding to food crises and disasters. The primary purpose of USDA Local and Regional Procurement evaluation was to determine the whether local and regional procurement was timelier than in-kind food aid (when considering speed of procurement and delivery), whether it is more cost-effective, and to assess the market of the procurements, to establish typical market conditions against which to assess the impacts The consultant developed a country profile including the market profile in which the project purchase and distributed food. . The profile also included; a) The commodities , volumes, geographic reach and volumes of the market b) Sources of supply and demand c) Number and type of buyers and sellers, degree of market concentration and market competition d) A complete time series of wholesale and retail prices and quantities supplied and demanded e) An inventory of unusual purchases in the procurement zone for each commodity, with focus on strategic-stock purchases by government on LRP purchases The consultant also arranged for the evaluation team to meet with and identify PVOs to evaluate. The consultant was also responsible for obtaining data on the steps involved in procuring in-kind food aid and LRP. The data enabled a side by side comparison of costs and times involved in procuring food using either forms.