The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) says it has saved the country a total of ¢1.9 billion within the last 21 months.

Chief Executive of the Authority, Adjenim Boateng Adjei said, a couple of purpose-driven initiatives were introduced to enhance value addition to their operations.

These, he told journalist at a Meet-The-Press Tuesday, that resulted in the establishment of the Due Diligence/Value of Money Unit.

“This initiative has contributed significantly to enhance credibility in our operations leading to the ultimate realisation of significant savings for the country.

“I am pleased to announce that the PPA as a result of the introduction of these initiatives has between April 2017, [and] December 2018…this amount of money has been freed to finance other areas of the economy,” he said.

According to him, the Authority has also established a Special Procurement Investigation Unit to conduct random investigations into the procurement activities of entities.

Among the anomalies uncovered in the investigations conducted so far are Bid/Tender Rigging, which is collusion among tenderers.

“There was also Bid/Tender Suppression, where competitors are coerced to agree not to participate; complementary Bidding/Tendering, a situation where competitors submit token tenders to favour one of them.

“PPA also found anomalies in Bid/Tender Rotation, where competitors arrange to win contracts in turns as well as with Customer/Market Allocation which sees competitors divide customers among themselves on a regional or territorial basis,” he said. 

Initiatives to be rolled out

Mr Boateng Adjei also disclosed that in line with recent trends in public procurement reforms, the Authority will soon issue guidance on the need for negotiations to establish the “Best and Final Offer” (BAFO) procedures, the Bid Declaration and Gender Mainstreaming Initiatives in Public Procurement.

The Best And Final Offer (BAFO) procedure in procurement is a multi-stage procurement process in which an Entity invites Bidders/Proposers that have submitted substantially responsive Bids/Proposals to submit their Best and Final Offer. 

“In fulfilment of Goals 5 and 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, which seeks to attain Gender Equality and Sustainable Production and Consumption, this initiative will be designed to set aside particular products, services and works for 12 marginalized groups in society in order to promote socially sustainable procurement and development in the country,” he said. 

Despite the initiatives to save the country money, Mr Adjei said all is not rosy at the Authority as it battles financial challenges.

“As an Authority, we are faced with a myriad of challenges as far as our operations are concerned. For instance, the lack of funding for our programmes and activities and the delays experienced with fund releases even where prior approval for government funds have been secured results in delays in programme implementation and the performance of critical regulatory functions.

“The Authority has had to depend on donor funds to run most of our programmes within the dictates of the donors’ terms and pace,” he said. 

According to him the allocation to the Authority to carry out its regulatory functions has been grossly inadequate over the years.