The Federal Government through the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), says it is ready to introduce the electronic procurement system for contract facilitation and efficiency.
This was disclosed by the BPP DG, Mr Mamman Ahmadu, at the 2022 Federal Permanent Secretaries Procurement Retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on Friday.
The event themed “Strengthening Public Procurement for Optimal Effectiveness” was organised in partnership with Heads of Service.
Ahmadu disclosed that an electronic procurement system is currently being developed by the bureau in collaboration with the World Bank, citing that MDAs have been selected for its pilot phase.
He said, “One of the areas of discussion in this retreat is the introduction of e-procurement into the federal procurement system.
“The e-procurement system is being developed by the bureau in collaboration with the World Bank.
“As the drivers of the procurement reforms in your ministries, it is important that the information is brought to your attention before deploying it.
“Federal Permanent Secretaries are recognised as accounting officers in the ministries under Section 20, sub-section 1 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
“This places them at the heart of the procurement process as they are liable in person for the breach or contravention of this act or any of the regulations.”
He added that it is important that permanent secretaries are properly apprised with the fundamental principles of procurement in order to avoid the banana peels.
The director-general noted that the benefits to be derived from the electronic procurement system were tremendous.
He urged respective ministries that would be the drivers of the procurement system to abreast themselves with all the information before the commencement of the system.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Esan, said the law regulating the public procurement process existed to ensure that public funds and resources were responsibly utilised with the objective of obtaining value for money spent.
Esan urged permanent secretaries to use greater security and discretion before granting approvals for award of contracts which should be within the approval threshold and in conformity with other extant financial regulations.
