Supply Company Board In Revamping Drive

…As It presents proposal to Finance Minister for onward transfer to Cabinet The Management and Board of Ghana Supply Company Limited (GSCL), formerly Ghana Supply Commission has made a formal presentation to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on how the government could support the company to deliver its purpose of existence.

The chairperson of the Board, Mrs. Tabitha Quaye, who was accompanied by Nana Kusi Appiah, Managing Director of the company, also conferred with Dr. Kwabena Duffour on how to make the GSC viable.

The resuscitation of the company, the Board Chairperson said, would require the sector ministry to give adequate capacity and support to the GSCL to play an effective role in the procurement market in Ghana.

The Public Procurement Act 663 upon its passage completely disabled the GSCL from playing it’s hitherto function as the gateway for overseas and local suppliers to feed the ministries among others.

The decentralization of the procurement process has its inherent problems and disadvantages such as disunity or price variations, lack of standardization of goods variations in cost of delivery, loss of rebate on lump sum purchase, unwarranted disclosure of information on security items procured by individual entities – into the public domain and improper evaluation of tender bids among others.

Section 14 (1) of the PPA Act 663 provides a leeway for the Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Planning to use its prerogative and prescribe a different procedure for procurement as a matter of national interest and expediency.

The proposal or request for the GSCL to be offered the singular opportunity to procure certain identified common items is not alien to Ghana alone. For instance, in the USA, the Federal Supply Service of the General Services Administrator provides federal institutions with products, services and specific programmes to meet their supply, service, procurement, vehicles, and purchasing, leasing and property Management requirements.

By the provision in the P.P.A Act 663, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, therefore has the legal capacity to identify common user items and items of security nature to be procured only by the GSCL.

When the GSCL is made operational especially with clearing and forwarding of items that are of security implications, it would be easy to control and monitore such items from a central point. Apart from that, the appointment of GSCL as procurement agent by the government would help to manage its donor funds such as the European Union or Spanish loans and grants. In addition to that, the appointment of GSCL as procurement agent for some agencies such as the Bank of Ghana and Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) would address the lack of capacity to undertake procurement of items of which timing is essential for the MDAs as contained the PPA 2003 (663).

Further, the GSCL would facilitate the tender evaluating processes of procurement entities and would enable it to procure refined Oil or fertilizers for the Ministry of Agriculture with support from the Banks.

In the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the 2009 financial year that was presented to Parliament on Thursday, March 5th, 2009, the Minister of finance and Economic Planning said among others, that as a measure to reduce cost of government operations, the Ministry will explore the possibility of formulating policies to remove various bottlenecks following the implementation of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (663)

The Public Procurement Authority has already developed frame work agreements with suppliers of some identified common use items such as A4 Photocopier papers by pooling the procurement of public institutions in order to obtain better prices through economies of scale in volume purchases. It is expected that the services of an identified public institution would be required to facilitate the process.

The rich experience, expertise and the human resources of GSCL can be used for the above purpose as a procurement agent for the entities in the procurement of common used items within the dictates of the PPA 2003 (663)Section 14a.