By Francis Kamara
Chief Executive of the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) Ibrahim Brima Swarray on Monday 20th December 2021 updated the press on the happenings within the institution as of January 2021 to date.
He mentioned that since he took up office in 2018, the press has been helpful by disseminating NPPA information appropriately leading to majority of Sierra Leoneans now more interested in procurement business even though the level of understanding is not that high.
Mr. Swarray went on to say that a lot of news stories have been published by journalists over the past few weeks bashing at him and thereby creating contradicting stories – and that recent events have made the institution realize that they have a great role to play in ensuring that media houses and journalists are educated properly on procurement, to prevent further misunderstanding. He added that the NPPA has made a commitment to provide training for journalists, to make sure there is a strong understanding of the processes and procedures, and the stance of NPPA on public procurement issues, as this will help to make the job of the journalist much easier.
He affirmed that in the start of the year 2021, the institution had set a targeted goal of things they wished to achieve before the climax of the year. He mentioned that the NPPA was able to launch the first quarterly Public Procurement Price Norm on 4th February 2021.
He also went on to say that the NPPA was able to engage with stakeholders and end users about the relevance of electronic procurement. The sensitization of the electronic government procurement is to curtail the tension hardcopy documents used to create, moving from hand to hand leading to so many challenges. But with electronic service, there is transparency and reliability, as all documents will be inputted electronically into the system. The sensitization started in Kenema in which they went to all the provincial headquarter towns in Sierra Leone and ended in Freetown. He added that the NPPA have already developed a tender document which will be advertised to see how best they can have service providers that can provide the service for the nation. He assures that the process will kick start in 2022 and that Sierra Leone will go digital in terms of procurement and processes.
He furthered by affirming that in March 2021, he was opportune to represent the NPPA at University of Makeni (UNIMAK), to launch the Association of Procurement and Logistics Students (APLOGS).
He added in April 2021 the NPPA launched the 2nd Quarterly Price Norm and also the NPPA Bulletin was launched in order to publish and give insight on the activities of the National Public Procurement Authority. According to Mr. Ibrahim Brima Swarray, the National Public Procurement Authority have saved almost 1.58 trillion Leones from going into bad contracts in the space of three years. He assured that the public bulletin will give vivid information to journalists and the entire public about what the NPPA received, reviews that were done and what were the results.
He added that since he took office in 2018 there were only three offices, but as of 2021 the NPPA have established settlements in Bo, Makeni, and a newly established building in Kenema, as this help ease the tension of people traveling all the way to Freetown from the provinces in order to do public procurement transactions.
Earlier this year, a team from the NPPA participated in a governance innovation boot camp and they emerged as champions by winning a proposed $30.000, in which the money is yet to be received by them. He added that because of their innovation skills, they are developing a new software to be used in the next procurement assessment report.
He also added that few staff were given the opportunity to attend a procurement training in the United States in which Sierra Leone was ahead of almost all other African countries in terms of Procurement in Africa.
Mr. Ibrahim Brima Swarray challenged all Sierra Leoneans to be willing to accept change and join hands in helping move the country forward. He urged citizens to be accountable for public funds and public resources, and also journalists to report the right information and help bring those accountable to justice.
He added that by 2022 the major focus of the NPPA is to do monitoring on all public procurement services. He mentioned that a data base supplier registration system is being developed for business people, in which they will charge all business owners to pay a certain amount to register their various businesses.
