NPPA Sets to Roll Out Electronic Procurement in 2021

BY JONATHAN HINDOLO KURABU, D CATALYST

During a well-attended and auspicious occasion in Bo, Ibrahim Brima Swarray , Chief Executive Officer of the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA), disclosed to a battery of journalists that he is very focused and determined to transform the public procurement landscape in the country moving it away from being paper work and bringing it to the modern system of electronic or E-Procurement.

**CEO and Team at the Stakeholders meeting at the Galliness Paradise in BO**

The NPPA Boss made that disclosure during a five days stakeholders workshop at the Galliness Paradise in the Southern city of Bo.

He informed the attentive audience that during his campaign messages ,President Julius Maada Bio, told the wider citizenry that he will ensure that all financial leakages will be blocked and transparency enhanced in the utilization of public funds .

Ibrahim Brima Swarray furthered that the engagement they are having is geared towards examining how much they have achieved so far with regards the utilization of public funds and to strategize accordingly to transform public procurement from the old manual system of paper work to a digitalized electronic form and underscoring the importance of it in the light of transparency and reduction of burden on Government spending.

With E-Procurement, he stated, the country will save billions of Leones taking into cognisance the huge amount of money spent yearly on procurement for stationeries alone .

He pledged his commitment to ensure that procurement is transparent emphasizing the strict compliance to the Act

‘’We are at the final stage to see how we can develop the tender document and how the service provider would develop the software,’’ he disclosed.

The tender document which will be followed up by an advertisement in major newspapers will be rolled out after due diligence is done and major spending institutions including Ministry of Education, Ministry of Heath will be used to test the workability of the E- procurement.

Director of Financial Management Systems, Ministry of Finance, Simon Jonjo lauded NPPA for such a novelty adding that procurement is taking a unique growth in Sierra Leone especially so when the world is now transitioning to E- Procurement.

Board Chairman, NPPA ,Alfred Albert Kandeh ,recalled 14 years ago when the concept of procurement was introduced in Sierra Leone noting that the introduction of E-Procurement is a testament of how far the institution has gone.