Niger’s competitive dialogue decree: how three years of inaction is costing businesses and taxpayers
When Niger’s government unveiled Decree No. 2022-743/PRN/PM on 29 September 2022, it promised nothing less than a revolution in public procurement. The new competitive dialogue procedure was presented as the tool that would finally bring discipline to public spending, open up decision-making, and give the state access to the technical expertise needed for major development projects. Three years on, the reality is starkly different: the reform has produced no measurable economic benefit, no savings for the treasury, and no new opportunities for the local firms and citizens it was supposed to serve.
A sophisticated mechanism that never left the paper
On paper, competitive dialogue offered a clear advantage: public buyers could sit down with several shortlisted bidders and jointly design the most suitable technical, legal or financial solutions. In the daily routine of Niger’s public administration, however, the provision has remained a dead letter.
- No technical ownership: With insufficient training and no clear methodological guides for procurement officers, the mechanism is widely seen as too complex and cumbersome to handle.
- Business as usual: Contracting authorities keep falling back on traditional methods or, worse, on derogatory procedures that bypass the very added value the 2022 text promised.
- No flagship project delivered: In three years, none of the major infrastructure contracts that were meant to benefit from this competitive flexibility has generated visible results or a measurable efficiency gain for the public purse.
From reform rhetoric to the reality of direct deals
While the language of institutional renewal and fiscal rigour dominates official discourse, the persistence of direct award practices and negotiated contracts directly contradicts the intentions set out in the 2022 decree. Instead of fostering genuine competition and transparency, the revised legal framework often serves as an administrative showcase to reassure observers, while day-to-day practice remains marked by opacity and a lack of accountability.
Local companies, which were supposed to be the first to benefit from a more open dialogue with the state, continue to complain about restricted access to major opportunities and slow procedures. For them, the reform has changed the vocabulary, not the rules of the game.
The real-world toll of an inoperative legal framework
After three years of theoretical application, the balance sheet of the 29 September 2022 decree exposes the gap between legislative inflation and operational reality:
- No impact on cost reduction: The financial optimisation expected from stronger competition has not materialised in the public accounts.
- Transparency in name only: Audits and evaluation reports on the actual use of competitive dialogue remain virtually non-existent.
- A brake on investment: The mismatch between what the texts say and what actually happens feeds uncertainty for serious economic partners, discouraging long-term commitment.
A missed opportunity with lasting consequences
Decree No. 2022-743 has proved to be a legal veneer with no knock-on effect. The introduction of competitive dialogue now looks less like a genuine lever for transforming public procurement in Niger and more like a communication exercise whose costs — in lost efficiency, delayed projects and weakened trust — are borne by businesses and taxpayers alike.
