PPA Sets Records Straight

AB Adjei, CEO of PPA (M)

The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has denied any involvement in an alleged GH¢97 million contract signed between it and European Dynamics Company of Greece for the e-Procurement Project under the National e-Transform project.

At a press conference yesterday in Accra to set the records straight, Agyenim Boateng Adjei, CEO of the PPA, said the contract sum amounted to $5 million and not GH¢97 million as speculated.

Giving further details of the contract, Mr Adjei said European Dynamics Company of Greece, the application service provider, won an international competitive tendering process, which was supervised by the World Bank and other stakeholders by beating the stiff competition from other companies from Portugal, China, Nigeria and South Africa.

The contract sum ($5 million) covers the engagement of the ASP, sensitization and training, roll out expenses and other service costs.

So far, a total of US$1,775,084.25 has been disbursed to cover the first phase of the implementation process. And this is made up of a contract sum of US$1,510,710.00 and Value Added Tax (VAT) and direct tax components in the sum of US$264,374.25.

He stated that the remainder of almost $3.2million would be used to cover other roll out expenses to bring other entities onto the e-procurement system.

“I am glad to announce that European Dynamics has successfully held a joint inception and stakeholder consultations in July 2017 to kick-start the entire process.

“Currently, system requirement specifications are being developed. Other integration systems requirements are being addressed with relevant stakeholders such as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Registrar-General’s Department, GIFIMIS and the National Internet & Technology Agency (NITA).”

By the foregoing, he said European Dynamics was expected to conduct the training and implementation roll-out for six selected entities namely the Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana Health Services (GHS), Department of Feeder Roads, Koforidua Technical University, Ghana Cocoa Board and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).

The CEO used the opportunity to reiterate the authority’s commitment to ensuring value for money and delivering on its mandate.

Background              

Ghana, in its quest to bridge the digital divide in its service delivery from manual to electronic systems, received support from the World Bank under the e-Ghana Project to support applications such as the e-Government Procurement system in 2011.

This led to the engagement of Messrs PriceWaterHouse Coopers (Ghana-India) as consultants for the effective implementation of the project in 2012.

It was however suspended when the e-Ghana Project came to a close in 2012.

By Akpene Darko-Cobbina

 

 

 

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