Ghana’s Procurement Authority warns of fraudsters

The Public Procurement Authority (PPA), has cautioned the public that there are some imposters operating under the guise of state agencies such as the Tender Board, Office of the Presidency, Republic of Ghana and operating websites such as www.tenderboard-gh.org, and Ghana Procurement Service with its website at www.ghanaprocurementservices.com.

The fraudsters, the PPA warns, are purporting to have been set up by the Government of Ghana, to provide offsite procurement outsourcing solutions, and awarding contracts on behalf of the Government of Ghana.

“We are by this notice alerting you of their dealings and advising that no purported contract awards from such organisations should be entertained. Please be advised that Contracts in Ghana are awarded only after an exhaustive tendering process in which the awardees are expected to have participated. Such Tender notices are also put out by the individual Entities and not a Central Agency on behalf of Ghana Government,” the Procurement Authority emphasised.

In a press statement dated 12 July, 2011 and headlined ‘IMPORTANT PUBLIC CAUTION- GOVERNMENT OF GHANA CONTRACT AWARDS’ the PPA cautioned the general public to be wary of such scams and disregard any correspondence ostensibly coming from the above-listed institutions.

“The PPA is a creation of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) mandated to regulate, assess and ensure full compliance by entities to all the provisions of the Act. It does not undertake procurement on behalf of entities but rather seeks to build their capacities to enable effective implementation of the Act,” the statement concluded.

By Edmund Smith-Asante