Prior Review

Prior review is the World Bank's pre-approval process for high-value or high-risk contracts financed under its loans and grants, under which the bank examines and must approve each key stage of the procurement before the implementing agency may proceed to the next step.

What is Prior Review?

In borrower-executed procurement, the World Bank distinguishes between contracts important enough to warrant step-by-step oversight and smaller contracts that can be reviewed after the fact. Prior review applies to the former. For every contract subject to prior review, the implementing agency must submit the bidding documents, the evaluation report, and the proposed award to the bank before proceeding, and must hold a no-objection from the bank before signing. The sequence is: draft documents to bank, no-objection, publish, receive bids, evaluate, evaluation report to bank, no-objection, sign contract.

The threshold above which prior review applies is set in the project's financing agreement and varies by country, sector, and procurement method. Large icb contracts and all contracts with high fiduciary or integrity risk typically fall under prior review regardless of value. Contracts below the threshold fall under post review, where the bank inspects a sample of completed procurements rather than every stage.

Why Prior Review matters

Prior review directly affects a bidder's timeline. When a contract is subject to prior review, the period between bid closing and contract signing is longer than in a purely domestic procurement, because each stage waits for bank clearance. Bidders who factor this into their planning avoid surprises during mobilisation. For suppliers tracking a tender pipeline, knowing whether a contract is under prior review also signals the level of bank scrutiny applied to the process, which is a proxy for procedural rigour and for the risk that an award will be challenged or reversed.

Example

A USD 15 million water treatment plant contract under a World Bank-financed urban infrastructure project in Ghana is designated for prior review. After bid opening, Ghana's project management unit submits the evaluation report to the World Bank's task team. The bank reviews the evaluation over three weeks, confirms the recommended firm is substantially responsive and the lowest evaluated bidder, and issues a no-objection. The PMU then signs the contract.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the prior-review threshold set?

The threshold is negotiated and written into the project's legal agreements (typically the Loan Agreement or Grant Agreement). It reflects the country's assessed procurement capacity, the sector's risk profile, and the contract type.

What happens to contracts below the prior-review threshold?

Those contracts fall under post review. The World Bank audits a sample of post-review contracts after they are awarded to confirm that the procedures were followed. A finding of misprocurement in a post-review audit can still result in the bank refusing to finance that contract.

Can the prior-review threshold change during project implementation?

Yes. If the implementing agency demonstrates strong procurement performance, the bank may raise the threshold, reducing the number of contracts subject to prior review. Conversely, problems may trigger a lowering of the threshold.