In recent years, a crucial indicator for the state of a country’s business climate has been the World Bank’s Doing Business report. USAID has developed the BizCLIR Technical Assistance program to take Doing Business to the next level—diagnosing the impediments to growth and providing solutions for reform.
From a practical perspective, USAID missions and other agencies can simply buy into an existing USAID contract vehicle, the CLIR IQC (Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform Indefinite Quantity Contract) meaning reduced project management start-up costs enabling immediate project kick-off and execution. It also allows, cost-sharing arrangements to be explored between USAID/Washington and field missions to optimize financial resources.
El Salvador
USAID supported the drafting of a new Secured Transactions Law:
Georgia
Georgia suffered from long delays and corruption because of excessive licensing requirements, particularly in the construction industry. With the help of BizCLIR technical assistance the licensing regime was reformed to decrease the number of required licenses resulting in:
With USAID assistance the Serbian Government Introduced an automated case management system in the commercial courts in 2004 that:
The BizCLIR Approach
Technical assistance under BizCLIR seeks to generate tangible and sustainable improvements in the business environment of a given country using a wide array of practical reform initiatives, such as the drafting of new laws, design of new entities (such as credit bureaus), reengineering of processes, or reorganizing government agencies. USAID’s extensive knowledge and expertise ensures that technical assistance initiatives:- Incorporate global best practices while appreciating the local context by customizing assistance to circumstances and capabilities of the country
- Take a comprehensive and holistic approach to a given country’s needs – examining legal and policy issues, strengthening the institutional environment and local capacity, building public-private partnerships, and utilizing and integrating information technology
- Ensure local ownership and transfer of knowledge so that solutions are institutionalized and sustainable.
From a practical perspective, USAID missions and other agencies can simply buy into an existing USAID contract vehicle, the CLIR IQC (Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform Indefinite Quantity Contract) meaning reduced project management start-up costs enabling immediate project kick-off and execution. It also allows, cost-sharing arrangements to be explored between USAID/Washington and field missions to optimize financial resources.
Illustrative Results
Implementing various BizCLIR Technical Assistance solutions has made an impact in a number of countries.El Salvador
USAID supported the drafting of a new Secured Transactions Law:
- Designed to allow the country to use various tangible and non-tangible assets as collateral.
- Reduced the requirements to possess collateral in cases of non-payment.
- Aimed at helping Salvadorians secure better credit at lower rates of interest.
Georgia
Georgia suffered from long delays and corruption because of excessive licensing requirements, particularly in the construction industry. With the help of BizCLIR technical assistance the licensing regime was reformed to decrease the number of required licenses resulting in:
- A drop in the number of activities requiring licenses from 909 to 159;
- An increase of 151% in construction permits granted in Tbilisi;
- A doubling of the share of construction in GDP from 2000 to 2006.
With USAID assistance the Serbian Government Introduced an automated case management system in the commercial courts in 2004 that:
- Selected judges at random,
- Charged litigants standard fees and
- Allowed citizens to track the progress of their cases on-line.
- Resulted in a 24% reduction in the inventory of pending cases during 2006, and a 38% reduction in the time needed to commence and complete enforcement of a contract from 2004 to 2006.
