The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is now using special software to keep track of the public procurement system and the methods used by entities to conduct their procurement activities.
In a release yesterday, the PPC stated that it recently collaborated with the National Data Management Authority (NDMA) to develop and implement a Procurement Monitoring Software to enable the Commission to effectively monitor the public procurement system and the implementation of procurement activities by procuring entities.
The specific goal of the system, it says, is to allow procuring entities to submit their annual procurement plans to the Commission in compliance with the requirement stipulated in the Procurement Amendment Act No. 14 of 2019.
According to the Commission, this software will allow procuring entities to electronically upload their annual procurement plans and quarterly procurement expenditure data to enable monitoring and analysis by the Commission in keeping with its functions listed in Article 212 AA.(1)(a) to (m) of the Constitution.
The PPC disclosed that prior to the implementation of the software, it successfully facilitated six training workshops with staff of procuring entities from December 2019 to February 2020 to present the features and functionality of the Procurement Monitoring Software and allow for their feedback. Over 60 persons drawn from 28 procuring entities have been trained to upload the required data, navigate the system’s interface and generate reports.
The Commission spoke of receiving significant and useful feedback from the participants, which enabled the software developers at NDMA to make enhancements and improvements to the overall performance of the software.
The Procurement Monioring Software is expected to be in operation across all procuring entities by the end of May 2020, following which a second round of training would be conducted online in time for its use after the 2020 National Budget is approved.
The PPC expressed its confidence that the implementation of the Procurement Monitoring Software will bring significant benefits to the public procurement system in terms of modernisation and efficiency in the execution of procurement activities across all procuring entities, the release added.
