PPA to fully digitise procurement by 2023

All public procurements process to be done electronically by October 2023

PPA hints of sanctions for entities not on GHANEPS platform

GHANEPS platform developed with full consideration for the necessary security concerns

The Public Procurement Authority (PPA), as part of processes to accelerate the quest to fully implement the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS), has engaged members of the national steering committee to enhance their expertise on the platform’s functions.

The authority explained that entities must take advantage of all the support and grace period of transition, stating: “Very soon, sanctions will apply to those who do not use the system, and training will no longer be free”.

The group is mandated to oversee the successful operationalisation and digitisation of the GHANEPS initiative.

Membership of the committee, who are drawn from the public and private sector as well as civil society organisations, have been tasked by the PPA to ensure that the entire public procurement processes in Ghana are fully digitised by October 2023.

Full digitisation of procurement processes, according to the PPA, applies to all methods of public procurement: including tender publication, tender submission by service providers, tender opening, tender evaluation, award of contracts, and management of contracts will all be done electronically.

Speaking to B&FT at the capacity building workshop for the national steering committee of GHANEPS, Deputy CEO of PPA Kwame Prempeh indicated that the system can further be used to electronically dispose of goods through auction processes.

The GHANEPs, which was launched in April 2019 with the second phase beginning in November of the same year, aims to onboard all government entities to the system by the October 2023 deadline.

315 stakeholder engagements have so far been held by the PPA, with 303 of the entities fully gone through the training. 275 of those entities which have gone through training, according to the PPA, are already set up and live on the GHANEPS platform.

A member of the GHANEPS steering committee, Kwame Jantuah, assured that the system has been developed with full consideration for the necessary security concerns.

“Inasmuch as the system is robust, it is also designed to ensure that CEOs, and MDs of government institutions who may have personal interests in procurement processes, are checked with all risk-mitigating factors of the GHANEPS,” Mr. Jantuah indicated.