Accra, May 11, GNA- Mr Frank Mante, Chief Executive Officer, Public Procurement Authority, says the Authority under the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) since 2021, has awarded contracts to public entities worth GHS 18,626,490.07.
Under the GHANEPS, Mr Mante said, 22,194 suppliers were registered, 198 contracts awarded, 2,234 suppliers trained, as well as trained 2,393 procurement officers across the country.
The CEO announced this at a public lecture in Accra on the topic: “Public Procurement Practices in Ghana,” organized by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Department of Management Sciences.
GHANEPS (Ghana Electronic Procurement System) is a web-based, collaborative
system, developed in accordance with the public procurement laws, to facilitate public procurement processes in Ghana.
The platform offers a secure, interactive, dynamic environment for carrying out procurement of all categories, complexity or value.
On the Authority’s reforms, he said the Public Financial Management Programme (PUFMRP) was launched in 1996 to improve overall public financial management in the country.
The PUFMRP was upgraded to Act 663 due to weaknesses in the procurement system, including absence of comprehensive public procurement policy, and absence of rules and regulations to guide, direct, train and monitor practitioners in the sector.
The rationale for the upgrade, he said, was to correct inaccuracies in the principal enactment to remove ambiguities and ensure clarity and take into account current international best practices.
He said the mandate of the Authority, among others, was to make proposals for policy formulation, monitor and supervise public procurement and ensure compliance and assist the business community to become competitive and effective.
Mr Mante advised the students to be conversant with the operations, policy and legal framework of public procurement to be able to practice professionally when given the platform to work.
Professor Ebenezer Adaku, Head of Department of GIMAPA Management Sciences, said the lecture became necessary after he had a stakeholder meeting with faculty and the students to understand how the Institute was serving them and how they wanted to be served in terms of teaching.
He said one of the issues raised at the meeting by the students was for faculty to make teaching and learning practical, hence the need to bring guests to share their experiences and how things work in the field of operations.
Prof Adaku said the aim of the lecture was to help the students appreciate public procurement practices from the practitioner’s point of view and bridge the gap between academia and industry.
Some of the students who spoke to GNA expressed satisfaction about the lecture, saying they had been enlightened by the operations of public procurement with practical examples.
GNA