Open Competitive Bidding (OCB)

Open Competitive Bidding (OCB) is the Asian Development Bank's default method for procuring goods, works, and non-consulting services, consolidating the older International Competitive Bidding and National Competitive Bidding distinction into a single, openly advertised competition governed by the ADB Procurement Policy.

What is Open Competitive Bidding?

OCB is the method ADB introduced in its 2017 Procurement Policy to replace the binary ICB/NCB framework used by most other multilateral development banks. Rather than drawing a threshold line between international and national advertising, OCB starts from the principle that competition should be as open as the market warrants, and the implementing agency calibrates the advertising reach, bidding language, and document complexity to match the contract. All OCB tenders are still advertised publicly and are open to firms from any of ADB's 69 member countries.

In practice, OCB for large infrastructure contracts functions the same way that icb does at the World Bank: an international notice, standard bidding documents, sealed bids, and award to the lowest evaluated substantially responsive bid. For smaller contracts or those in remote areas where international interest is genuinely limited, OCB allows nationally focused advertising while preserving the same transparency requirements. When a contract is too small or routine even for OCB, ADB permits Limited Competitive Bidding or Direct Contracting with justification.

Notices for OCB opportunities are published on the ADB procurement portal and may also appear as spn-equivalent announcements linked to the project's General Procurement Notice.

Why OCB matters for bidders

OCB is the primary gateway into ADB-financed contracts, which totalled USD 29.3 billion in commitments in 2025. Firms that monitor ADB project approvals and the associated procurement plans can identify OCB opportunities six to eighteen months before the notice appears. Because ADB frequently co-finances projects with the World Bank and AIIB, an OCB notice sometimes runs alongside equivalent notices on those portals, and a firm tracking only one institution misses the others. ADB's Consultant Management System (CMS) is a separate track for consulting assignments and uses QCBS, QBS, and related methods, not OCB. OCB applies to goods, civil works, and non-consulting services.

Example

ADB's road improvement programmes across South and Southeast Asia illustrate OCB at scale. A highway rehabilitation project in the Philippines, approved by ADB's board and assigned to the Department of Public Works and Highways as implementing agency, would publish an OCB notice on the ADB portal covering civil works packages worth tens of millions of dollars. Eligible firms from all 69 ADB member countries could submit sealed bids, with award going to the lowest evaluated responsive bidder meeting the qualification criteria.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is OCB different from ICB used by the World Bank?

OCB is ADB's updated version of the same concept. It carries the same core principles of open advertising, transparent evaluation, and award to the lowest responsive qualified bid, but it removes the fixed ICB/NCB threshold and lets the implementing agency calibrate the geographic reach of advertising to the realistic market for each contract.

Where are ADB OCB notices published?

Notices appear on the ADB procurement portal at adb.org/projects/tenders. They are also linked to the project's procurement plan and may be carried by aggregator services that monitor MDB portals.

Can firms from outside ADB's member countries bid on OCB contracts?

No. Eligibility for ADB-financed procurement is limited to nationals of ADB's 69 member countries, covering most of Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America. Firms from non-member countries are not eligible.