In a bid to reduce reckless spending during procurement by the Government of Sierra Leone, an Information Communication Technology (ICT) system is to be developed to weed out weak paper base procurement procedures.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in collaboration with the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) with support from the World Bank yesterday organized a one day conference on E-Government Procurement System at the Miatta Conference Hall in Freetown.
Several stakeholders from the public and the private sector attended the E-Procurement conference on the theme “enhancing public procurement efficiency a case for E-Government procurement.”
Explaining about the E-Procurement the Chief Executive Officer of the NPPA Brima Bangura said the E-procurement will enhance transparency and accountability and also promote efficiency and effectiveness of value for money.
He said weaknesses on paper-based procurement have the potential to overshadow the good things government is doing.
Secretary to Cabinet and Head of Civil Service Ernest Sururr in his statement said he is usually confused with malpractices of procurement over pricing of goods, no objection, collusion between ministers and vote controllers on conflicts of interest.
He said the negative side of procurement are many and it is the most critical part of governance, as 80% of government money goes into procurement.
To achieve value for money we need to ensure effective and efficient procurement for transparency and accountability.
He said technology is improving lives around the world and welcomed the E-Procurement noting that the auditor general’s report has also exposed wastages in government on procurement alone.
He said at a time of austerity “we do not want to waste resources that is meant for the people.”
He said with E-Procurement it will reduce interface between procurement officers and bidders and as it improves efficiency and promotes transparency and accountability.
Bakarr Tarawally Director of Communications in the Ministry of Information and Communications said currently 70 Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) are currently connected to the internet backbone open data portal.
He said cabinet has approved a number of ICT policies by decentralizing paper procurement to E-procurement and called for proper management of the reforms.
He also explained that a dedicated website is also critical for public bodies to publish procurement plans, tender and procurement bids, where suppliers and consultants can also be able to review and download bid documents and also evaluate procurements on the website.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development said “we have come a long way of procurement of reforms as it plays a crucial pillar in public sector efficiency.”
Additionally he said we want to reset the procurement process by using Information Communication Technology (ICT)
He said E-procurement is to keep modernizing procurement as a tool for good governance that results to value addition in the procurement process. The new system enhances significant savings but said the real challenge is for the system to work.
Practice Manager Procurement and Solution World Bank Y.S. Krish said he had faced many threats for his strict implementation of procurement rules in many countries he had worked.
He said strengthening government procurement will improves service delivery. He said public procurement and contracting should be fair and transparent and managed openly with transparency and accountability.
The World Bank Country Manager Parminder Brar applauded the Government initiative to sign to the open data portal.
He highlighted some of the challenges in government in the areas of procurement as reported by the auditor general reports and corruption in procurement is a big issue globally.
He expressed commitment and determination to support the E-Government Procurement Process.
An overview of public procurement management including the challenges leading to the establishment of an E-Government procurement system in Sierra Leone was delivered by Mohamed Musa.
The session was chaired by Yema Thompson and the conference was concluded with a communique.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Saidu Bah
Quelle/Source: Awoko, 16.11.2016
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