PPA to clamp down on errant procurement officers

The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the PPA, Mr Frank Mante, has issued a warning that the Authority would clamp down all Procurement Officers, as well as actors in procurement processes who would not comply with the Public Procurement Act,2003(Act 663) as amended.

He made this statement during the 9th annual public forum organized by the Public Procurement Authority on Wednesday, 11 December 2019. The forum was organised to educate stakeholders, as well as the public on key policies and issues relating to public procurement on the theme “Functional procurement units: a key to a sustainable public procurement system”.

He further said that PPA would embark on a procurement assessment exercise to evaluate Procurement Officers’ records (procurement processes) and other actors in the process for the past two years. During the assessment exercise, he said, any Officer who would be found to have contravened the law would face prosecution.

Mr Mante noted that the PPA would liaise with the Attorney-General and the Special Prosecutor to sanction the persons who did not comply with the law. “In times past, PPA did not push for people to be prosecuted for infractions of the law. Hence our determination to crack the whip now,” he stated.

He stated that the PPA had through the review of applications for both single source or restrictive tendering procedures saved the country GH¢2.75 billion over the past three years.

The office of the Minister of State in-charge of Public Procurement has developed a code of conduct to guide the operations of procurement practitioners in the country. It will serve as the highest ethics and standards code for benchmarking procurement practitioners, suppliers, contractors and service providers in accordance with the public procurement act, 2003 (act 663).

The Minister of State in-charge of Public Procurement, Ms. Adwoa Safo, made this known in a speech read on her behalf at a forum.

Ms. Safo stated that her office was currently working to compile the past and present performance records of all contractors, consultants and suppliers in order to ascertain their performance abilities and their financial capabilities.

Ms. Safo further noted that the worst performers would be suspended or debarred for a specified period to ensure fairness, accountability, integrity, transparency and value for money.

Mr. Eric Victor Appiah, the Director of Compliance, Monitoring and Evaluation of the PPA, in his presentation said a survey to ascertain whether selected institutions were complying with the Public Procurement Act (Act 663) on the establishment of procurement Units showed that about 85% of the public institutions had Procurement Units.

However, he said, the units had inadequate office space, as well as personnel and resources to work with.