Procurement bureau deploys IT to block leakages

The Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr Mamman Ahmadu has said the agency is leveraging on Information Technology (IT), to block leakages and improve the public procurement process system in the country.

Speaking yesterday at the opening the six-day sectorial capacity building workshop on public procurement process, Ahmadu said the workshop was designed for officers in the directorate cadre and heads of procurement units in Federal Government agencies, parastatals and commissions on the implementation of the 2018 budget.

He said as part of the agency’s drive for innovation in running a sustainable public procurement process, it recently deployed an upgraded version of the National Database for Contractors.

He also said that the agency has deployed a National Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO), to ensure that public procurement information is publicly available so all stakeholders can engage with the entire procurement cycle.

He explained that the database was integrated with other sister government agencies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), and the National Pension Commission (PenCom), for real time data exchange.

“This data exchange is aimed at fighting corruption by eliminating the use of falsified documents in the bidding process. The exchange of data also aims to eradicate the patronage of portfolio companies, prevent companies from providing false claims in their submissions to gain undue competitive advantage.

“For instance, the number of personnel a company claims to employ in a bid to secure a contract should match the number making contributions in pensions, ITF and employee compensation scheme.”