MoF failed to publish US$2.6m worth of contracts – Auditor-General

Auditor-General (A-G) Daniel Yaw Domelevo has condemned the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for concealing four major contracts signed in 2018.

“Our review of the Ministry’s procurements showed that a number of awards for goods, services and consultancy were undertaken without its publication on the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) website,” the annual report on Public Accounts of Ghana (PAG) as of 31 December 2018 on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), said.

Novabase/Rhema benefitted from two separate contracts; a 220 Hyperion Licences deal on 18 January 2018 at a cost of US $1,201,445.36 and a Documentation of workflow contract signed on 8 February 2018 at a cost of US$1,388,814.00.

The rest are computer supply by IT Market signed in July 2017 at a cost of GHS 79,000.00 and another computer supply deal awarded to Techzon at a cost of GHS 74,000.00.

The A-G said the actions of the MoF were contrary to Section 13 of the Public Procurement Act 2003, as amended, which “enjoins all procurement entities to immediately publish their awards notification on the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) website to enhance transparency and fairness”.

The report added that: “The noncompliance of the above provision in our opinion could compromise the competitiveness of the procurement processes”.

Even though the A-G said the ministry responded that it encountered difficulties uploading the contracts on its website, the office stressed that “to ensure that value for money is obtained, we urged the ministry to adhere to the procurement law”.