Procurement bureau kicks off electronic process to check graft, servce delivery

The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has keyed into the trending electronic mode of processing activities, in a move aimed at checking graft and ensure competitiveness and service delivery.

BPP, which is the regulatory authority responsible for the monitoring and oversight of public procurement in the country, at the weekend, flagged off the implementation of what is described as Electronic Government Procurement (E-GP).

According to BPP in a statement made available to The Guardian, the implementation of the e-GP system will follow a phased approach to cover the entire public procurement lifecycle in line with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, related regulations and government ICT policies, and other standards.

It said that based on the phased implementation approach, the BPP has developed a number of innovative IT solutions to improve public procurement practices and enhance its oversight functions.

These IT solutions, some of which have been deployed since 2010 and have undergone series of upgrades and are being presented to the public today includes National Database of contractors consultants and service providers; Nigeria Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO) and the price checker.

It said the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO) is about opening up public procurement in Nigeria through increased disclosure of procurement information to all stakeholders with a view to ensuring improved transparency and competition, prevent corruption, enhance active citizen participation towards achieving better service delivery and improved ease of doing business in Nigeria.

“This NOCOPO portal, conceived by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in line with Section 5(r) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, was co-created with Civil Society Organizations in fulfillment of Commitment II of the Nigeria National Action Plan (NAP) of the Open Government Partnership, which is “Full implementation of Open Contracting and adoption of Open Contracting Data Standard in the public sector”.

The NOCOPO will integrate with the entire e-GP components to ensure effective disclosure of procurement information and stakeholders’ engagement.

“The Bureau of Public Procurement’s NOCOPO won global Government Innovation Award in Open Contracting.