FG, states unveil portal to check wastage in parastatals

The Federal Government and some states have put in place a measure to check wastage during procurement by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

The Federal Ministry of Finance-introduced price checker portal is to enable vendors to upload their products and prices for consideration by the agencies.

At a workshop yesterday in Bauchi, the Technical Assistant, Efficiency Unit of the ministry, Mike Ibiam, disclosed that the gathering drew participants from fellow organisers, Bureau of Public Procurement, as well as vendors and workers from the North East zone.

According to him, the unit was established in November 2015 to ensure efficient use of resources and block leakages in the MDAs.

He added that the initiative was to address incessant cases of price variations on similar items procured by the parastatals.

Besides tidying up loopholes, Ibiam explained that the measure would promote transparency and accountability in government spending, as institutions would prioritise expenditure to make more funds available for capital projects.

“The main objective is to build a scalable and sustainable system that would address the business needs of getting real-time information on the price range of non-customised goods from a central repository for MDAs, both at the federal and state levels,” he stated.

To the Senior Procurement Officer, Bureau of Public Procurement, Jamilu Abdullahi, the portal would generate an electronic market survey report that serves as a guide for contract negotiation and award.

He said: “ Vendors will now upload their goods and prices as well as the descriptions of their products so that whoever is doing market surveys will get much information about their offerings.

“Other benefits of the price checker include managing costs, improving efficiency in operations and developing strategies for enhancing government revenues.”