As New Direction Clocks 1 Year… NPPA Chief Showcases Strategic Milestones

By Ralph Simeon Sesay
President Julius Maada Bio and his New Direction Government are on record for having promised to block all the leakages in the management of public funds during the March, 2018 elections. The emphasis was the rampant and flagrant violations of procurement processes and systems in the last regime.
The country lost huge sums of monies through flouting of procurement rules and regulations, sole sourcing and use of different prices by Ministries, Departments and Agencies was the order of the day.
Preliminary procurement processes and systems were left unchecked. Hence the end results of such procurement processes were lopsided and hurriedly done resulting to lack of value for money and loss to the public purse.
Taking cognizance of the fact that 70% of the public expenditure goes to the procurement of goods, works and services, it was a deliberate action by the New Direction Government to look at the conduct of Public Procurement processes in the country as an entry point to addressing the issues surrounding leakages and wastage of Government resources.
The appointment of seasoned procurement specialist, Mr. Ibrahim Brima Swarray, to take on this herculean task was not a mistake by President Bio.
In an exclusive interview with the nightwatch, the NPPA Chief Executive spoke about the strategic milestones of the Authority in the last one year.
The Chief Executive Officer started by noting that the Authority has been able to handle headlong the inherent issues facing procurement in the country, in line with the New Direction manifesto by first identifying the problems facing procurement.
He stated that his work started with wide media engagements in different radio and television stations in Freetown, with a view to preach against the issues confronting the conduct of procurement processes in the past as well as the way forward under the New Direction.
In such media engagement, the NPPA Chief continued that he was able to expose a number of issues, such as the lack of a uniform price norms for use by MDAs, the lack of properly developed procurement plans by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and the disconnect between the business community and the MDAs with regards the content of their annual procurement plans and programs, amongst others.
This, according to him, led to the immediate development of the Quarterly Price Norms for practicing procurement professionals deployed at the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies in ……..
The motive was to immediately put to a halt the huge differences in prices of goods and services by various procurement officers in MDAs thereby creating unnecessary bloated prices for Government.
‘’In the launching of these price norms, I did emphasize that Practicing Procurement professionals and the different procurement committees in MDAs should use these quarterly price norms as guides in their day-to-day transactions and that failure to use them would attract penalties,’’ he concluded.
Another laudable step the Authority took, according to Mr. Ibrahim Swarray, was to also look at the issue of providing guidance to the respective MDAs in the eventual preparation of their annual procurement plans.
It was deliberate on our part to guide the development of these plans and this was with a view to avoid the haphazard and unplanned procurement processes that have marred the sector, the NPPA Chief disclosed.
‘’The NPPA, cognizant of the fact that MDAs make different procurement requests right across the year for the procurement of goods and services, arrived at the conclusion that the development of realistic and achievable plans would solve this problem, the NPPA Chief emphasized.
He also disclosed that part of such efforts had also involved supporting the MDAs in terms of capacity in preparing these plans. These plans, Mr. Swarray further noted, were subsequently placed in the revised website of the Authority with a view to acquaint potential business people with the procurement plans of the respective MDAs.
This move, according to the Authority, was to also avail these business entities with the respective plans of the MDAs with regards the annual procurement of goods and services and the initiation of works.
‘’It was realized that, apart from the inability of MDAs to develop annual Procurement plans, they have also inculcated the method of changing the rules at the middle of the game, and hence the NPPA, as a way of checkmating this, decided to engage in reviews of procurement bids right at the start of the procurement process,’’ the Chief Executive Officer said.
This, according to the NPPA, was to be able to review all bid documents pursuant to the NPPA Act thereby avoiding a situation where in the end results of the process would be a true picture of what was initially contained in the bid process.
These steps, the NPPA Chief continued, immediately created sanity in the process and saved Government USD63, 279,427 an equivalent of Le537, 875,140,000.
Ibrahim Swarray also disclosed that, in order to increase the transparency and accountability posture of the Authority, it was necessary to create a medium which will be regularly bringing the public to speed with issues and happenings within the Authority.
According to him, this necessitated the development of the periodic bulletin. These period publications, he disclosed, are filled with a wealth of useful and update information on procurement activities.
The NPPA Chief also disclosed to this medium that, the Authority had staffing problems upon his assumption of duty. The entire Authority had seventeen (17) staff to run the day to day functions of the entity. This was largely not adequate. Immediate steps, according to him, were taken together with his team to recruit over forty (40) contract staffs, who are currently serving on pro bono basis.
He noted that this was to boost the Authority to be able to handle the huge issues around Monitoring and Evaluation, Capacity Building and Procurement, which remain the constitutional mandate of the Authority.
‘’In order to strengthen our mandate,” Brima Swarray noted, “We are on the verge of opening an additional office in Bo to add to the one in Makeni.The office is ready and fully furnished to start operations,” the NPPA Chief furthered.
He also disclosed that the Authority is pushing very hard with the E-Governance programme, which principally aims at improving transparency and competitiveness in the procurement process.
The World Bank and the Government of Sierra Leone, he noted, have launched the E-procurement system and a financial assistance has been committed by the World Bank to support this process.
‘’My Authority has started the process by undertaking an assessment of the existing infrastructure in the country, and our readiness for the transition from manual to the e-procurement platform,” the NPPA Chief continued.
The NPPA Chief also noted in the exclusive interview that, in order to sustain the gains already made and to push forward in handling the remaining challenges, the Authority has, in December, 2018, assembled over 200 participants drawn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Local Councils, the media and civil society at CATCO Hotel in Freetown. The rational, he noted, was to discuss on ‘Embracing Transformation to manage the future of Public Procurement in Sierra Leone.’
This action was further followed up with the development of a Strategic Plan by the Authority, spanning the period 2019-2023. This detailed plan will serve as a guide that will direct the Authority in driving key deliverables, Mr. Swarray noted.
The highly determined, young and vibrant Chief Executive noted that he has been enjoying the huge support and operational independence of His Excellency the President, Julius Maada Bio, who has been keen in sanitizing the sector thereby achieving value for money for other competing government priorities and programs.