Consulting Services Operations Manual

Guidelines, Handbooks, and Manuals

Pub. Date: 2008
In stock

In April 2006, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) issued a revised edition of its Guidelines on the Use of Consultants by Asian Development Bank and Its Borrowers, (the Guidelines), incorporating significant changes resulting from the harmonization of policies and procedures with those of the World Bank.

While the Guidelines set basic policies and procedures, further guidance on using consultants is provided to ADB staff through the project administration instructions (which are updated periodically). A third reference, which provides information on practices and procedures in even greater detail and to a wider audience, has been the Handbook for Users of Consulting Services (the Handbook). The last edition of the Handbook was produced in 2002. Thus, when the new Guidelines were issued, a substantial amount of updating was needed, both because of the changes to the Guidelines themselves and because of incremental changes in policies, practices, and procedures over the years.

In considering the type of document needed to replace the Handbook, it was decided to aim at a broader utilization and a wider audience than the Handbook had served, and to produce a publication that could be used for training purposes as well as a reference. It was thus decided to produce a somewhat different document with a more practical and pragmatic focus that would be aimed at all users and providers of consulting services for ADB. This current Consulting Services Operation Manual (the Manual) is the product of that decision.