Enhancing public procurement system: Suppliers not on electronic system risk contract loss

Suppliers, consultants, contractors and all other procurement entities which have not enrolled onto the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) will soon not be able to do business with the government. 

This means that they would not be able to have their challenges resolved as quickly as they would want to, neither would they be assured of payment after delivering those services.

The GHANEPS is an integrated system that provides one stop shop solution for procurement entities, improves transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, seamless system and helps to monitor all contracts awarded to entities for tax benefits to the government.

The Deputy CEO of the Public Procurement Authority, Ghana (PPA), Kwame Prempeh, who gave the hint said with the introduction of GHANEPS, procurement process had become paperless and there would be no need for the traditional printouts of tender documents, hence the need for all who want to do business with the government to sign on . 

He was speaking at an evening lecture on the Overview of the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) for members of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) held at Thursday.

GhIE Lecture

The lecture took place at the Engineers Centre, Roman Ridge, Accra.

It is a periodic event held by the professional body to help its members to be abreast of issues concerning their industry and also related to their businesses and operations.

Moderated by Joyce Asante, an Electrical/Electronic Engineer, the lecture  was attended by a host of members of the Institution of Engineering as well as some past and present leaders of the GhIE.

These included a past President of GhIE, Leslie Alex Aryeh, , Executive Director of GhIE, David Kwatia Nyante, some Council members of GhIE, Engineers.

GHANEPS roll out

The Deputy CEO of PPA explained that since GHANEPS was rolled out in 2019, over 660 procurement entities had been trained and enrolled on the system.

He also indicated that they PPA had a roll-out plan to train and enrol 15 entities onto GHANEPS per month and the roll out carried out on regional basis.

Through that exercise, all PPEs in a region are taken through the process within a period of approximately three months.

He further explained that multiple roll-outs were conducted for regions where the number of entities were in excess of 50.

So far, Greater Accra has seen the most roll-outs.

Mr Prempeh added that with the linking of the  Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) with the GHANEPS platform, procurement entities stood a better chance of having monies due them paid on time by the government after delivery of the goods and services.

This, he emphasised, would also help to limit the amount of contracts given without approval, which created a lot of arrears for the government.

Efficiency

The President of the GhIE, Kwabena Bempong, said the introduction of the GHANEPS in the procurement processes, would to a large extent, curb the human element, and thereby also minimise the situation where people try to block the system or take advantage of the system.

“When it comes to procurement in general, the underlining word is fairness, value for money and to ensure that there is transparency.

When these things are missing, then the integrity of the procurement process becomes questionable.

So, with the introduction of the GHANEPS, the procurement process will be enhanced and reduce the situation where people do due to the human interference, try to abuse the system and service providers,” Mr Bempong said.