Key reforms aimed at ensuring value for money for all government procurements under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration are being effected at the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
Notable among the reforms is the proposed establishment of a special procurement audit unit and value for money audit unit at PPA.
These are to ensure that applications to be sent to PPA namely sole-source and restrictive tendering by state institutions, departments and ministries are subjected to extensive and comprehensive due diligence and value for money audit to ensure that the nation does not lose revenue due to poor procurement.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PPA, Agyenim Boateng Agyei made this known in an interview with BUSINESS GUIDE recently on the sidelines of a forum organized by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS-Ghana).
He said the various sanctions under the Procurement Act shall also be applied strictly as part of the reforms.
Lost Image
According to him, the said reforms are aimed at redeeming the “lost image of PPA” which has in recent past come to be synonymous with dubious sole-sourcing deals.
“The PPA was established essentially to help protect the public purse and regulate the profession of procurement, because close to 70 percent of government’s revenue, besides personal emoluments, is used for procurement.
Its responsibility is to make sure that state institutions abide by the provisions of the procurement law, the Procurement Act of 2016, Act 914.
But Mr. Agyei said the provisions have not been adhered to over the years.
“My vision for the authority is to reposition the authority and to redeem the lost image. That is not what the authority is meant to be.
The authority has a mandate to follow up procurements of all kinds, he said.
The CEO said that “the majority of procurements that are to be carried out by the various state institutions using other methods must monitored so that it is not only sole sourcing we are going to focus.”
The reforms have been welcomed by professionals in the industry, especially members of CIPS Ghana, who have been advocating the promotion of procurement in the country.
By Melvin Tarlue