TETFund cautions institutions against violation of public procurement process

Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has declared its commitment to the provision of quality intervention projects that generations of Nigerians would benefit from.

And to sufficiently achieve the commitment, the fund insisted that beneficiaries of its intervention would be fully compelled to comply with the dictates of the Public Procurement Process as enshrined in section 20 (1) of the Bureau of Public Procurement Act. 2007.

Executive secretary of the TETFUND, Arc. Sunny Echono, who issued the directive in Kano, maintained that adherence to such procedure becomes pertinent to ensure competitiveness, professionalism, accountability, transparency, and cost-effectiveness in the award of TETFund-sponsored contacts.

Echono spoke at the opening of a three-day capacity-building workshop on the Public Procurement Process for TETFund beneficiary institutions held in Kano.

The TETFund boss reminded that the Federal Government’s introduction of the Bureau of Public Procurement was meant to instill sanity and curtail malpractice in the procurement process, adding that, for beneficiary institutions to take full advantage of the government intervention, strict compliance to public bidding and award remains sacrosanct.

Echono stressed that the rationale behind the capacity building on BPP Act includes flagrant disregard of the process by some accounting officers of tertiary education institutions across the country.

He noted that while the majority violated the guiding framework out of ignorance, the fund considered it necessary to partner with the office of BPP to bridge the knowledge deficit.

“As encapsulated in the mission and vision of TETFund, we are proud to be a world-class interventionist agency. Accordingly, the fund is committed to the provision of quality intervention projects that generations of Nigeria would benefit from. Therefore, we must ensure best practices are attained in the execution of intervention projects.

“By the mandate of TETFund, beneficiary institutions are expected to comply with the process of BPP for the award of contracts. Let me remind you that the government developed policies to minimise open abuses of BPP standard rules, processes, es and procedures in the award and execution of contracts. Institutions are thereby enjoyed to comply.

“While TETFund is fully conscious of the enormous task and responsibility of the Bureau, several officers of our tertiary institutions are not conversant with the reforms in the BPP Act. And so, such ignorance has hindered the smooth delivery and timely completion of TETFund intervention projects in tertiary institutions across the country. Hence the workshop is to familiarise participants with the BPP,” Echono explained.

Earlier, the Director General of the Bureau for Public Procurement, Abuja, Mammam Ahmad, expressed concern over unfolding irregularities in bidding processes and award of contracts in the tertiary education institutions across the country.

Specifically, the DG BPP frown at institutions that deliberately avoid open tender bidding for procurement and weak evaluation of bidders that more often saw the emergence of unqualified bidders who would not deliver a quality project.

He insisted that the Bureau is ready to fight the culprits of the irregularities in other to change the ugly trend.

Ahmad warned the accounting officers of institutions to ensure judicious management of resources and avoid bad procurement practices that could lead to litigation, project abandonment, inefficiency, and inflation.

He said the essence of the BPP Act was to enhance probity, accountability, transparency, and uphold cost-effectiveness and professionalism in the public procurement process in the institution’s projects.

“The Bureau is concerned that several tertiary education institutions tend to avoid open tender in bidding for their procurement process. Also, the adoption of weak evaluation often results in unqualified bidders in the bidding process eventually emerging winners of the contract.

“Some tertiary education institutions also engage contractors to procure equipment when this contractor does not process manufacturer authorisation. These are challenges we are going to address in the retreat. We are here to build the efficiency of the accounting officers and other critical stakeholders in the procurement value chain. The essence is to equip the officers with vital skills that are necessary to ensure that good procurement practices are entrenched in the institutions,” Ahmad noted.