Stories

Customer Stories

IDA Foundation has a history of participating in programmes tailored to meet the specific needs of our customers. Below we share examples of projects that had a significant impact on the communities involved.

Supply of quality PPE items in times of COVID-19

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in early 2020 when the supply of critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) became acute, IDA has been actively working on the sourcing of these important items to address global healthcare challenges and shortages, especially in low- and middle-income countries. During this pandemic we built on existing – and created new partnerships. One of the organisations we supplied to during the COVID-19 pandemic is the Asian Development Bank (ADB). After a competitive bidding process, they placed an order of quality PPEs with IDA Foundation worth around $5.6 million to provide a steady supply of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to 13 developing countries in East Asia, Central and West Asia, and Southeast Asia.

To rapidly scale up the supply of PPEs for all of our customers, IDA set up an emergency quality assurance (QA) approval process which incorporates stringent quality guidelines and standards that comply with the World Health Organisation Model Quality Assurance System for Procurement Agencies. New PPE items are approved based on documentation verification to ensure compliance with regulations, and the artwork is photographed and assessed. Local norms for the product are taken into account in the approval process, for example ensuring acceptance by appropriate government authorities (such as United States Food and Drug Administration). In the case of new suppliers, IDA also performs due diligence as in non-emergency situations. This emergency approval is valid for 6 months, then the approval is reassessed. This emergency approach has allowed for the efficient and effective approval of PPE products, guaranteeing constant availability of the requested COVID-19-related supplies from a broad range of quality-assured manufacturers.

Jesper Pedersen at ADB commented: “The best practice for supply chain responsiveness and resiliency is to perform key aspects of quality assurance upfront to ensure parties involved in the manufacture of goods adhere to the applicable national or international standards of the items being produced. Quality control is then handled upon physical inspection of the goods to ensure the delivered items meet the agreed standards. This is exactly what we have seen so far in our relationship with IDA – the right goods, delivered at the right time, and to the agreed standard.”