Discusses the legal requirements for selling to the host government, including whether the government has agreed to abide by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or is a party to a government procurement chapter in a U.S. FTA. Specifies areas where there are opportunities.

Many governments finance public works projects through borrowing from the Multilateral Development Banks. Please refer to “Project Financing” in the “Trade and Project Financing” section for more information.
 
The Congolese government typically publishes public bids to buy or contract with commercial entities through a commercial transaction. Public bids are published for transactions involving amounts above $100,000 for equipment, supplies, and other goods and for transactions above $40,000 for professional services (i.e. architects, lawyers, consulting services).  Below this level, the government may follow a simplified process for public bids where three bidders are asked to submit their bids and the bidder with the lowest price is selected.
 
With the importance of personal relationships, as well as the limited government use of internet-based resources, companies hoping to conduct business successfully with the government should have either a local presence or a local partner to more easily identify opportunities to bid on government projects – which may be advertised by word-of-mouth prior to publication, or be physically posted in hard copy only at the advertising ministry itself. Additionally, a potential bidder will be taken more seriously– and have opportunities to bid on the lower-valued projects handled via simplified bid - if the relevant government ministry is acquainted with the company.
 
Amid the ongoing economic and fiscal crisis, the RoC government has scaled back public spending including reducing or eliminating payments of counterpart funding for certain social and development projects as well as delaying payments on infrastructure projects and other public contracts.  The U.S. Embassy is aware of multiple cases of non-payment or delayed payment by the Congolese government on contracts involving international companies and NGOs.

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.