The Federal Government has initiated measures to tackle procurement challenges that may affect the implementation of this year’s budget.
The Director-General, Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), Alhaji Mamman Ahmadu, who spoke at the opening session of a workshop on public procurement processes, said the need to address challenges in the procurement process was based on the conviction that it would help to check the issue of corruption and reduce the number of abandoned projects in the country.
Ahmadu said the capacity building programme which was attended by heads of procurement departments in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government would facilitate “the development of new skills that will enhance the implementation and performance of the 2018 budget.”
He said as the regulatory agency responsible for the monitoring and oversight of public procurement, BPP is putting in place adequate measures to have an efficient procurement system.
One of such measures he said is that government will not force bidders to bid for goods and services delivered to government below cost. To guarantee fairness, Ahmadu said “what we can do is to create a very competitive environment in which making excessive profit will be eliminated.”
He said BPP has upgraded its national database of contractors by integrating it with other agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) among others to eliminate the use of falsified documents in the procurement bidding process.
The exchange of data between agencies he said will also “eradicate the patronage of portfolio companies, prevent companies from providing false claims in their submissions to gain undue competitive advantage.”
http://thenationonlineng.net/fed-govt-moves-to-tackle-procurement-challenges/