PPA says 76% of public entities do not use e-procurement system
The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) says it will push for the passage of a Legislative Instrument (LI) to make it mandatory for all public entities to publish their procurement information on the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS).
The Authority said the move had become necessary as it had emerged that majority of public institutions were not using GHANEPS despite 430 entities being enrolled onto the system since its introduction in 2019.
Data compiled by the PPA indicates that out of a total of 335 public entities trained on the e-procurement system, only 79 entities, representing 24 per cent, filed their tender notices on the platform.
On the contrary, a total of 256 entities, representing 76 per cent performed “no activity” on the platform.
These were contained in a presentation delivered by Mr Thomas K. Bondzi, Head of IT Support Services, PPA, at a Data Use Workshop organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) in Accra.
Mr Bondzi said though the Public Procurement Act was amended to include e-procurement in 2016, it was not legally mandatory for public entities to use the platform.
He said the PPA would push for the passage of the LI to make it compulsory for entities to use the platform after all public entities had been trained on the system.
“So far, we have enrolled 430 entities onto the GHANEPS platform. The plan is to enrol 15 entities per month. Our target is that by the end of the rollout period in 2023 we will enrol 660 entities onto the system,” he said.
He added that: “The PPA is trying to find ways and means to ensure usage of GHANEPs by the entities because we have trained a lot of them at a cost, and they are not using it.”
Mr Bondzi said so far 69 contracts had been awarded on the GHANEPS platform with a total value of GH¢17million.
The GHANEPS is being implemented under the eTransform Project which is being undertaken by the Ministry of Communication with funding support from the World Bank.
The e-procurement system is designed to address corruption in procurement procedures by minimising human face-to-face interaction and increase productivity for both Procurement Officers and Service Providers.
In its assessment of the usage of the GHANEPS platform by selected entities under the education and heath sectors, the GACC found that there had been improvement in information disclosures on the platform but there were information gaps in terms of contracts awarded.
Out of 20 institutions monitored, the GACC identified that 35 tender information was disclosed by the entities as against 23 contract information.
That, it said, implied that tender information was more than contracts awarded information.
“There was missing information under the tender and contract session. This includes contract start and end date, column for justification for procurement method used, and some contract amounts were not stated,” Madam Faustina Djabatey, Communications Officer, GACC, said.
Madam Beauty Emefa Nartey, the Executive Secretary, GACC, said the Coalition would continue to monitor the implementation of the GHANEPS and collaborate with relevant stakeholders to help make public procurement systems more transparent.
Source: GNA