The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) says it will begin the implementation of an electronic monitoring process in the award of contracts and tenders in June 2017.

The Authority has also set up a value for money audit team to undertake due diligence and value for money audit on all procurement processes before final approval is given.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, made the disclosure when he paid an unannounced visit to the PPA offices on Thursday to familiarize himself with their operations and also have firsthand knowledge of any challenges they might have.

This is the latest of Dr Bawumia’s unannounced visits to government institutions, after earlier visits to the Registrar General’s Department and the Tema Port.

Interacting with staff of the PPA, Vice President Bawumia pointed out that one of the surest ways to tackle corruption in public offices was to tackle corruption in the procurement process.

Dr. Bawumia explained that having an e-procurement procedure allows members of the public to track any tendering and procurement application in real time.

“Starting in June, we are going to begin e-procurement, which means that every procurement process will have its own unique identification number. You can go to the website to know the stage of every procurement process,” he said.

The government, Dr Bawumia said, was happy with the development as it would be another plank in the fight against corruption.

Mr. Agyenim Boateng Adjei, Chief Executive Officer of the PPA indicated that the value for money audit would be mandatory for all, including companies that do not ordinarily submit their procurement processes to the PPA.

This is expected to help reduce corruption by increasing transparency in the tendering process, improve coordination between ministries and agencies to develop uniform standards, and increase competition between private sector firms for public sector contracts, Mr Adjei added.