World Bank Document

 
The World Bank 
Agriculture Modernization Project (P158372) 
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compliance with the WB policies and procedures; (iii) development of POM with a detailed chapter on procurement, 
including description of decision-making processes and accountability and integrity safeguards for procurement 
decisions; (iv) putting in place an efficient contract management mechanism. 
18. 
Procurement supervision and ex-post review. Routine procurement reviews and support will be provided by the 
procurement team based in the Tashkent WB country office. In addition, at least two project implementation support 
missions will take place each year, during which procurement ex-post reviews will be conducted for the contracts that 
are not subject to WB prior review on a sample basis (covering 20 percent of contracts). One procurement ex-post review 
report will be prepared per fiscal year, including the findings of physical inspections of not less than 10 percent of the 
contracts awarded during the review period. 
Environmental and Social Framework 
19. 
ESF Institutional Arrangements. UZAIFSA is well experienced with implementing the donor-financed projects on 
agriculture and water resource management and they have a good record of working hand-in-hand with the line 
ministries to deliver specific programs. In the current project portfolio, UZAIFSA has been performing satisfactorily on 
managing credit lines and less satisfactorily on complementary programs related to delivery of public services and 
inclusion of small dehkan farms, the activities to be supported by AMP. The track record on monitoring and managing 
safeguards issues under the WB implemented and currently under implementation (HDP, LSDP, and Climate Adaptation 
for Aral Sea basin project) is overall positive and proves that the agency has good in-house institutional and human 
capacity for ensuring social and environmental safeguards under the AMP. The agency hired five (5) environmental and 
social safeguards specialists which have necessary experience and knowledge on WB and national environmental and 
social assessment frameworks. Furthermore, recently UZAIFSA hired additional five (5) safeguards specialists, who are in 
the different country's provinces with the main task to oversee implementation of safeguards documents while 
implementing various agricultural projects. At same time, the agency has a limited experience and knowledge on 
addressing the requirements, which are related to new WB ESF, in particular those related to labor and working 
conditions and labor safety issues, community health and safety, incidence reporting protocols, and biodiversity 
conservation - mostly in terms of requirements for preventing introduction of new seed varieties, which may have risks 
and impacts related to biodiversity and ecosystem services. While the agency has experience with financial 
intermediaries, the environmental and social screening and monitoring arrangements for credit line services must be re-
assessed and possibly expanded to be consistent with the requirements under the ESS9 on Financial Intermediaries. The 
project will support necessary capacity building activities in specified areas.