Due diligence undertaken by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has saved the country GHC1.9 billion within 21 months (April 2017 to December 2018).

Mr Agyenim Boateng Adjei, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PPA, said the amount would help solve other pressing needs of the economy.

He recounted that in 2017, shortly after his appointment, a couple of purpose-driven initiatives were introduced to enhance value addition to the operations of the Authority, which resulted in the establishment of the Due Diligence/Value of Money Unit.

This initiative, he said, had contributed significantly to enhancing credibility in its operations leading to the ultimate realisation of significant savings for the country.

Mr Adjei made the disclosure on Tuesday when he took his turn at the Meet the Press Series Engagement in Accra.

The press engagement was to enable the CEO to address the nation on some of the programmes and activities of the PPA as well as other critical issues confronting the Authority especially in its operations and communications with the general public.

Mr Adjei said public procurement could be described as the acquisition of goods, works and services to meet organisational needs using public funds; adding that in Ghana, its practice had undergone a number of reforms over the years.

“We have also established a Special Procurement Investigation Unit to conduct random investigations into the procurement activities of entities,” Mr Adjei stated.

He said among the anomalies uncovered in the investigations include Bid/Tender Rigging - Collusion among Tenderers, Bid/Tender Suppression, where competitors were coerced to agree not to participate, and Complementary Bidding/Tendering, where competitors submit token tenders to favour one of them.

The rests are Bid/Tender Rotation – Competitors arrange to win contracts in turns, Customer/Market Allocation – Competitors divide Customers among themselves on a regional or territorial basis, and Low Balling - Submission of low Bid/Tender in anticipation of losses being mitigated by variations.

Mr Adjei noted that in compliance with provisions of the Act as amended, the PPA had rolled out a comprehensive training programme on Contract Administration aimed at equipping staff of the entities with skills to ensure that contracts they signed were properly implemented with very little or no variations.

He said in an attempt to address the seeming challenges facing supply chain professionals to effectively manage the procurement activities of entities, the Authority found the need to partner with an institution with the requisite expertise and experience to join forces to develop a comprehensive Competency and Certification Programme.

He said the programme was to ensure the professionalisation and licensing of practitioners in the country; declaring that “in this regard, the Authority has incorporated a Centre of Excellence named – Supply Chain Support Services (SCSS), which will work closely with Commerce Edge to deliver the requirements of this programme”.

He said major stakeholders within the procurement and supply chain community in Ghana shall be closely involved.

These include Office of the Minister for Procurement, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply, Chartered Institute of Supply Chain Management and tertiary institutions running procurement and supply chain courses.

Madam Ama Dokuaa Asiamah Agyei, a Deputy Minister of Information, said the Government was a listening government, which would continue to ensure transparency in its programmes.