The National Public Procurement Authority has ended a one day forum towards developing a curriculum for practicing procurement professionals and other people working on interested in the public procurement process in Sierra Leone.
The process which attracted practicing procurement professionals from all Ministries, professionals working the areas of procurement in both the public and private sectors was held at the CATCO hotel in Freetown as the result of continuous efforts by the new leadership at the NPPA to build and transitioned the Authority to be able to effectively manage public procurement in the country amidst the current challenges and demands of the profession.
The Principal of the Civil Service Training College who chaired the programme espoused on the importance of curriculum development for institutions and explained in detailed the curriculum design process, the different types of curriculum including the institutions they will fit for.
He added that, it is significant that, the NPPA is able to identify which type of curriculum they will want to develop the NPPA.
He earlier on thanked the NPPA for what he referred to as they planning for a lifetime. He also extend thanks to the Capacity Directorate for appointing him as Chairman for the one day forum and for also according to him taking a step towards developing the capacity of staff of the Authority.
Other speakers underscored the point that the issue of designing a curriculum is critical to the overall development of the Authority. They all entreated the NPPA to open-up the discussions with a view to get a curriculum that will speak to the needs of the NPPA and others working in public sector procurement in the country.
Sylvester Hinga, Director of Administration and Human Resources, NPPA who read a statement on behalf of the Chief Executive NPPA, Ibrahim Swarray who is engaged in other assignments abroad noted on behalf of the Chief Executive that, the holding of the Curriculum forum was consistent with section 14, 2 (c) of the Public Procurement Act 2016 which according to him requires the Authority to ensure the continuous capacity and development of its personnel.
The NPPA boss stated that, based on this demand, the Authority is determined to upgrade the capacity of not only its staff but other practicing procurement professionals in the country.
‘’…NPPA is aware of the fact that, public procurement constitutes the largest domestic market in Sierra Leone and that a well managed public procurement system will significantly contribute to sustainable development in this country,’’ the NPPA Chief indicated.
Mr. Swarray underscored the point that, despite several trainings program have been conducted over the years by the NPPA a lot still remains to be done in terms of shaping the knowledge of staff in the public procurement process.
The NPPA Chief observed that, one way of developing the professionalism of people working in the sector is to develop a public procurement curriculum which can be used by tertiary institutions supervised by the NPPA.
The National Public Procurement Authority held the one day forum to solicit professional expertise towards developing a detailed and sustainable curriculum that will stand the test of time and be used as a blueprint for training institutions in public procurement, create awareness in public procurement and also raise the level of professionalism of the sector amongst others.