Public Procurement Authority reviews its operations

The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) on Tuesday met with stakeholders to officially launch the review and re-designing of existing Standard Tender Documents (STDs) for the procurement of goods, works and services.

The meeting was to provide a platform for stakeholders to make suggestions for the review and re-design of the national document.

Mr Samuel Sallas-Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of PPA, said since the introduction of the STDs, the world of procurement had moved on and many changes had occurred in the way tender documents were formed, including changes in specifying requirements of how goods, works and services are procured.

“Our Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) has to keep pace with such changes. In addition to such changes, certain operational difficulties have been identified with some existing STDs,” he said.

Mr Sallas-Mensah said the review had become necessary at a time the public was demanding greater accountability and transparency in the conduct of procurement with public funds. He said the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (ACT 663), was being amended to reflect current developments.

“It is therefore necessary to align our procurement documents and processes with such developments,” he said. He said the review and re-design of the PPAs STDs formed part of a 2.7 million dollar support from the Swiss government to assist Ghana to initiate a project that would introduce sustainability criteria into her public procurement regime.

The support would also help in strengthening monitoring and evaluation in Ghana’s Public procurement system.

Mr Sallas-Mensah said since its inception in December 2010, the Swiss/Ghana project had been progressing steadily with the inauguration of a multi-stakeholder Ghana Taskforce on Sustainable Public Procurement (GTF) that had embarked upon intensive sensitisation exercises on the need to consider and apply sustainable criteria in Ghana’s procurement.

He said the GTF was working on the development of a comprehensive policy document on SPP for use in Ghana.

Mr Sabastian Jerry Ackotia, Director of Policy and Strategy, said the review and re-design of the STDs would ensure clarity, modernisation and value for money.

He said some stakeholders had complained about the lack of clarity of certain aspects of the existing STDs and have also argued that the documents did not include new issues that have come up on the global scene regarding sustainable best practices in public procurement.