The Nation Newspaper

Tag: BPP

  • BPP trains 400 in standard procurement

    BPP trains 400 in standard procurement

    The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) yesterday kicked   off a three-week Continuous Procurement Capacity Development Training Programme (CPCDTP) for 400 personnel of parastatals, institutions, commissions and agencies of the Federal Government.

    The training, according the Director-General of BPP, Mamman Ahmadu, is to deepen the capacity of the personnel into the procurement cadre for a well-refined process.

    Speaking at the opening of the programme at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Oshodi, Lagos, Ahmadu said the initiative with President Bola  Tinubu’s road map to improve the economy with its Eight Points Agenda, among which is the rule of law and fighting corruption.

    Represented by the BPP’s Director of ICT/Data Base, Aliyu Aliyu,  the DG said procurement officers have a major role to play in achieving Tinubu’s vision of fighting corruption and getting the economic on a vibrant footing by following the standard procurement procedures in their dealings.

    He said part of the Tinubu’s priorities is inclusivity, adding that they should draw on all skills base to meet the president’s expectations.

    Citing the Public Procurement Act 2007, which empowers the agency in the harmonization of existing government policies and practices in setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria, the DG urged the participants to adhere strictly to the procurement process in their respective organizations.

    Such process, he said is a determinant factor for economic development, as government pursues for due process and value for money.

    He said: “This is a beginner’s course and does not amount to total professional training. Every officer must undertake continuous mandatory capacity development courses, which would be the basis for professional development.

    “This cadre is a professional one similar in nature to any other, and must be treated at such. We expect that procuring entities would consult with the BPP prior to recruitment and promotion of their certified procurement officers.”

    The BPP Director General, however, cautioned the participants to eschew unprofessional practices and share their experiences, challenges and successes for the greater benefit of the country.

    Read Also: House probes indiscriminate certification, non-compliance with audit by BPP

    He warned: “The BPP would not take lightly to complaints on officers found to be involved in underhand practices. As the regulator of procurement process in Nigeria, we will provide support to any officer who adheres to the principles of integrity, transparency, accountability and fairness in the discharge of his or her duties.”

    The BPP boss lauded the efforts of fellow anti- corruption partners – Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau, the Nigeria Police Force and other regulatory bodies for their continuous support and collaboration in the prevention and fight against procurement fraud.

    In his goodwill message, Managing Director of Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Mr. Fatai Idowu , urged the participants to brace up to the challenges the capacity improvement and development programme will throw up  for them, as their new role will create change in perception and new vision as change agents.

    The training would require them to be emotionally intelligent, in their drive for the pursuit of due process. Idowu urged them to deepen their engagement strategies with decision makers.

    Also speaking, the BPP’s Director of Training, Research and Planning, Mr Adebowale Adedokun, said the training programme will equip the participants to the evolving trends in public procurement.

    He said the programme will enhance the capacity of the participants to become certified in the cadre they are moving up to.

  • House probes indiscriminate certification, non-compliance with audit by BPP

    House probes indiscriminate certification, non-compliance with audit by BPP

    The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the indiscriminate issuance of “Certificate of No Objection” by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and non-compliance with mandatory post-procurement audit.

    The House mandated the Committee on Public Procurement to investigate the allegations and report within six weeks for further legislative action.

    It also mandated the same committee to consider the bi-annual reports submitted in the last six years and make their findings known to the public.

    These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Peter Akpanke, during plenary on Wednesday.

    The House noted that by the provisions of Sections 6(1)(c) and 16(1)(b) of the Public Procurement Act 2007, the BPP is authorized to issue a certificate of no objection to contracts awarded by relevant procurement entity.

    The House also noted that the powers vested in the BPP were aimed at ensuring that the letters and spirit of the Public Procurement Act were complied with.

    This, it said, was to ensure the government gets value for money and contracts awarded were within relevant thresholds backed by budgetary allocation.

    Read Also: Reps laments deplorable state of Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta road

    The House further noted that the BPP has failed to comply with the mandatory post-procurement audit as required by Section 5(p) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

    It observed that the Bureau has consistently engaged in under-hand dealings in the grant of “certificate of no objection” thus abusing the power to make pecuniary gains and increasing incidences of abandoned and failed projects across the country.

    The House also observed that such gross abuses and violation of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 has been exacerbated by the recent increase in arbitrary nomination to procuring entities of winners for tendering processes.

    It added that where the procuring entity declines, the process is interjected and frustrated in bad faith and for flimsy reasons.

    The House expressed worries that if urgent steps are not taken to investigate the allegations and address any proven infractions, the BPP is likely to transform itself from a regulator to a disruptor and eventually endanger the entire public procurement system.

  • NSITF, BPP to validate contracting process

    The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has said the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007 will guide the award of contracts by the Fund with recourse to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to ensure  that the rules and regulations guiding such processes are complied with.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NSITF, Adebayo Somefun, who made this known in Abuja, also dispelled speculations that the Fund is currently engaged in a massive secret recruitment exercise.

    Somefun, who spoke through the General Manager Administration, Olusegun Basorun, said whenever the Fund recruits, it does not charge prospective applicants for job placements. He challenged anyone with credible evidence on such illegal charges to provide it.

    He explained: “For any government agency to collect money from job applicant, such vacancies must be advertised, which must tell the public how much to pay, whether such money is for scratch cards or something like that. It is a well-known fact that government had stopped payment for jobs by applicants. The National Assembly has frowned against such act.”

    He added that since the Treasury Single Account (TSA) came into operation, all government funds are automatically moved into that account.

    Dismissing the allegation that job racketeering is prevalent in the Fund, Somefun said: “Matters relating to recruitment form part of the schedule of the General Manager Administration, which include the authority to sign appointment letters as delegated.

    “But before such letters are issued, certain things must happen, one of which is the approval of the Federal Character Commission. The last time we recruited here was the first quarter of 2018, and since that time, no one has been recruited.

    “It is a criminal act to recruit without due process. The NSITF is a responsible organisation. All its recruitment exercises are guided by the constitution of the nation, extant rules and regulations particularly the Federal Government Circular of July 11, 2017.”

  • Promote accountability, BPP tells perm secs

    Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Director-General Mamman Ahmadu has charged permanent secretaries and other stakeholders in the procurement process  to ensure accountability in carrying out their responsibilities.

    Speaking at the Ninth Annual Public Procurement Retreat for Federal Permanent Secretaries in Lagos at the weekend, he said the consistency of the forum had improved public procurement process, and led to better public funds expenditure pattern and budget implementation.

    “To ensure  the success of the procurement reform, the BPP  is, in line with global best practices, embarking on new sustainable public procurement initiatives. For instance, the National Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO), the global award winning initiative which further emphasise the need for transparency, competition and level playing field among contractors, consultants and service providers, has placed Nigeria among the best public procurement regulators in the world,” he said.

    The BPP boss added that while the national upgrade, a version 2 of the Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSP) was ongoing, the Price-Checker platform, which harmonises prices of items is also in progress.

    BPP, he said, runs Research Centres at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and the University of Lagos, among others to boost capacity for key stakeholders in the public procurement practice.

    He urged the Federal Government to institutionalise the National Conference on Public Procurement (NACOPP) to provide a regular forum for advancing the course of procurement reform nationwide.

    Ahmadu disclosed that with support from the BPP and international development agencies, 25 states have so far established their procurement regulatory agencies to enable the agency continually meet emerging challenges.

    He said the yearly retreat helps BPP to take stock of progress in the reform and, most importantly, discuss the actions needed for budget implementation in public procurement.

    He reiterated the key roles being played by Permanent Secretaries, who he sees as the Accounting Officers, in the  implementation of the public procurement reform.

    “Federal Permanent Secretaries are recognised as the Accounting Officers in the Ministries under Section 20, Sub-Section 1 of the Public Procurement Act 2007 (PPA, 2007). This places them at the heart of the procurement process. They take responsibility for ensuring the compliance of MDAs with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007,” he added.

    Also, the Head Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, said the retreat has continually helped the participants in executing yearly budgets with ease and their public procurement knowledge.

    She said the implementation of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 was a call to probity, accountability, competition, value for money and quality in the expenditure of public funds.

    She said public funds are tailored towards the realisation of key objectives of government, such as provision of utilities and infrastructure.

  • BPP to save cost with digitised public procurement process

    The Director-General (DG) Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mamman Ahmadu said  the agency will deploy technology in public procurement to improve efficiency and save cost.

    He said digitisation is the way to go in public procurement process in line with global best practices.

    Speaking at the third zonal stakeholders workshop on the Development of the Category Matrix for the National Database of Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSP) in Lagos,  he said Nigeria has also joined the rest of the world to ensure best global practices in public procurement process is adhered to.

    Represented by Head of Regulations and Database, Aliyu E. Aliyu, said going digital will allow for more participation, efficiency and transparency to ensure that the public procurement reform receives the needed attention and to deliver ultimately for the good of the country.

    He  streesed the need for all the professional bodies to be fully get involved in the reform process. He stated that the Public Procurement Act (PPA, 2007) Sections 5j, 5q and 6j  dictate the need for Classification, Categorisation of Federal Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSP) in order to enhance specilalisation, high performance in public procurement and reduce cost of tendering.

    Former Senior Special Assistant to former President General Olusegun Obasanjo  and the Head of the defunct Budget Monitoring And Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU), Kunle Ade – Wahab, said  the registration and categorisation exercise is to help design a template to ensure where a contractor/consultant will be able to exercise his core competence for the purpose of right placement in whatever class or category he belongs for the purpose of openness and fairness.

    In this regard, objectivity will be a watchword and the rules of the game declared without any shade of ambiguity.

    Managing Director, Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN), Abolaji Ogunsanya, called for the inclusion of indigenous  engineers in the development of the public procurement process for the sake of infrastructural development of the nation.

    General Manager, Lagos State Bureau of Public Procurement, Fatai Idowu Onofowote said the fact that public procurement has come to stay in Nigeria and the business of government must be done through “due process” stating that Lagos State is happy to align with the Federal Government in the use of modern technology in the development of the Categorisation Matrix.

     

  • BPP to deploy modern technology in procurement

    The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) will henceforth use modern technology in public procurement to further the reform process.

    Its Director-General, Mamman Ahmadu, made the promise at the Zonal Stakeholder Workshop on the Development of the Category Matrix for the National Database of Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSP) in Abuja yesterday.

    He said since  the whole world is going “E” in the public procurement process, Nigeria has joined the rest of the world to ensure that the best global practices in public procurement process is strictly adhered to by going digital. He said going digital will allow for more participation, efficiency and transparency to ensure that the public procurement reform receives the needed attention and to deliver ultimately for the good of the country.

    Ahmadu advocated for all “professional bodies to be fully involved in the reform process.” He said: “The Public Procurement Act (PPA, 2007) Sections 5j, 5q and 6j dictate the need for Classification, Categorisation of Federal Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSP) in order to enhance specilalisation, high performance in public procurement and reduce cost of tendering.”

     

  • SGF to induct Board chairmen, members on Corporate Governance

    The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha will on Thursday 26th July, 2018 open an induction programme for recently appointed Board Chairmen and Members, on Corporate Governance in their agencies.

    A statement by Lawrence Ojabo, Director Press in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said that it aims at establishing and promoting good board governance culture rooted in the Federal Public Service Precepts, Policies, Procedures, Protocols and Organisational values.

    Read Also:SGF denies composition of Buhari 2019 presidential support committee

    “The Heads of EFFC, ICPC, BPP and a retired Head of the Civil Service of the Federation will facilitate the programme, which ends on Saturday 28th July, 2018”

    Agencies invited to the programme are Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF).

    Others are Galaxy Backbone, National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRIMI) and Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).

  • BPP begins unified e-govt procurement implementation

    The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has commenced the process of implementing a unified e-Government Procurement (e-GP) system.

    The e-government procedure will integrate existing systems to provide a centrally and unitary collaborative government procurement platform for all public procurement at the federal level.

    It was gathered from a BPP document that the “official implementation of the e-GP system will follow a phased approach to cover the entire public procurement lifecycle in line with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, related regulations and government ICT policies, and other standards.”

    Based on the phased implementation approach, the BPP says it “has developed a number of innovative information technology (IT) solutions to improve public procurement practices and enhance its oversight functions. These IT solutions, some of which have been deployed since 2010 and have undergone series of upgrades and are being presented to the public today are the National Database of Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (ND-CCSP). It said the system helps in verifying the credibility and competence of Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSPs) doing or intending to do business with Federal Government of Nigeria.

    It also helps in categorising and classifying consultants, contractors and service providers based on their capability.

    The BPP said it is “in collaboration with Corporate Affairs Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service, National Pension Commission, Industrial Training Fund and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund has upgraded the ND-CCSP database to ensure compliance by Contractors and Consultants through real-time integration and exchange of data among the government agencies.”

    The objectives of the ND-CCSP include facilitation of the specialisation and professionalism of contractors, consultants and all service providers; to improve productivity and effectiveness of doing business with the government; and to increase the level of competition and reduce time required for evaluation of bids.

  • BPP challenges NIQS members on corruption

    The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has employed a transaction adviser on  contracts.

    By this, BPP hopes that the cost of construction projects would be reduced.

    Its Director-General, Mamman Ahmadu, made this known when the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) executives, led by its President, Mr. Femi Onashile,  visited him in Abuja.

    The BPP chief praised the NIQS for its readiness to partner Federal Government’s agencies to reduce construction costs and ensure compliance with best practices.

    According to Ahmadu,  corruption cuts across ministries and agencies, saying it was high time professionals, particularly cost experts in construction, did more than talking to check corruption.

    He urged professional bodies to punish members found guilty of corruption.

    Onashile canvassed the adoption of stricter project monitoring.

    He said by limiting BPP’s oversight to due diligence at pre-award stage of projects and not  monitoring the projects, corruption would thrive.

    “For BPP to make better impact in delivering value-for-money, it must take its oversight influence beyond the pre-award of contracts; even throughout the construction phase of the projects. This is to ensure that approvals are not circumvented through the possible corrupt compromise of either quality standards or the specified sizes of such projects or both to reduce the actual costs without passing the cost reduction to the government,” Onashile said.

    He implored the BPP to develop an alternative contract form, adding that while the current one was working well for civil engineering projects, it was not in building projects.

    Acknowledging BPP’s effort in fast-tracking due diligence and ensuring faster take off of projects, the NIQS chief called for the engagement of more quantity surveyors in the agency to enable it discharge its oversight effectively.

    “We believe as experts in cost and procurement management of capital projects from conception to completion, we have vital roles to play in prudent costing of projects, procurement management and project monitoring to ensure better earned value for money,” Onashile added.

  • PENCOM, BPP and stakeholders’ trust

    Some recent events and developments should prove simultaneously instructive and rejuvenating for Nigeria’s pension industry. The situations being referenced undoubtedly bear consequence on the element of trust which is the most vital asset for such a sensitive and crucial sector of the economy.

    The matters and references under focus here include the on-going public hearing of the Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating the activities of the erstwhile Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms. The inquiry is supposed to cover the activities of the task force from 2010 to the time of its dissolution and any other successor agency. Then, there is the initial response by the Acting Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) Aisha Dahir-Umar to a recent invitation of the Economic and Media Forum of the Global Africa Journalists Association in which she remarked thus: ‘’I think that the entire pension industry in Africa’s largest economy is ready to embrace world class standard practices. But particularly for us at PenCom, we are determined to become a point of proud and envious reference in pension matters internationally’’. Then thirdly and equally significant was the recent report that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) rejected the plan by PenCom to cancel the acquisition process for the building of a Pension Administration System (PAS) estimated at N3.9 billion.

    All of the three matters referenced trigger larger questions relating to one vital irreducible issue: the security and the life-savings especially of the ordinary Nigerian worker who has made painful and diligent contribution to pension schemes on which to depend particularly in their old age. This is the critical aspect of the entire matter that must never be trifled with or minimized by the powerful technocrats and political elites who sometimes treat pension funds as resources to be recklessly expended for other purposes. Too often, influential Nigerians who have appropriated and expropriated public funds safely tucked away in foreign financial institutions- the very elites who have taken care of their own future, have tended to treat the tearful savings from the starvation wages of the Nigerian workers as some funds that could be toyed with for selfish benefits-not by any means for the good of the contributors to the pension funds.

    The immediate foregoing discussion pointedly links us to the first of the three references underlying this article. The investigation by the Ad Hoc committee of the House of Representatives is a nightmarish reminder of the gross abuse and brutal rape to which pension savings were subjected under Abdulrasheed Maina. Maina was the head of the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms beginning in 2010. The sheer mindlessness and systemic pillage causing the disappearance of billions in pension funds under the so-called reform task force was the definition of a grave tragic comedy-to have even situated Maina and the word reform in a single sentence was a violent contradiction of terms.  The story of Maina’s rapacious gang with the possible implication and collusion of very high federal civil servants and the banks remains a repugnant and indelible stain on the profile of Nigerian pension industry.

    The new zeal of some leaders of the various sub-sectors in the nation’s pension industry can only be catalyzed and strengthened with encouraging actions of the apex Nigeria’s political leadership, the legal institutions and parallel regulatory and supervisory agencies. The current matter involving the BPP and PenCom is thus organically sprouted in the environment where reform is gaining eminence in pension management. The action of the BPP definitely calls for clarity beyond the curious veil of hazy technicalities. For the sake of objectivity, one seeks to know if the BPP as an agency which is supposed to ensure probity and ethics in the process of procurement attempting to stifle a rigorous review of a contract by the same agency that initiated and owns the project. Is there something smelly and sinister in the contention by the BPP that the commission cannot review an approximately hefty N4 billion project if PenCom believes that there could be some substantial reduction in the cost of the same project? A considerable number of experts in the pension industry insist that the same project could be executed for about 70 per cent less of the approximate N4 billion. This is the encapsulated genesis of a disturbing story.

    Consequent on her appointment as the Acting DG of PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, decided to conduct a review of the various on-going projects of the agency. It was under such consideration that Dahir-Umar cancelled the annual one-billion naira guzzling jamboree tagged World Africa Pension Summit. It was evident that her predecessor and the senior staff who ran the programme could not provide any credible memo or evaluation to justify the fiesta which had held consecutively in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It was clearly a drain on PenCom’s resources and unquestionably a stratagem for other purposes. DG Dahir-Umar is acting exactly as she remarked in her response to the invitation by the Economic and Media Forum of the global journalists’ association that, ‘’Nigerian pension industry must be awakened to global standards of ethics and transparency and thereby engender the trust and confidence of stakeholders in the industry’’.

    Other projects under Dahir-Umar’s predecessor, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu which has drawn the scrutiny of ethics and transparency groups include the establishment of a N2-billion PenCom TV and the acquisition of an approximate one billion-naira prostate cancer treatment machine. The medical equipment has reportedly been gathering dust and has also been inoperable since it was procured. It will be enlightening to know if the BPP gave certificates of “no objection” to the acquisition of the equipment involved in the aforementioned projects, and if so, what tests in prudence and transparency were the projects subjected to?

    Along the same trajectory of thought, I propose that the stakeholders particularly the contributing workers are entitled to know the crux of the matter in the current contention over a N4 biilion project between PenCom and the BPP.  And this is the matter: PenCom under previous D-G Chinelo Anohu-Amazu had selected a foreign company to build a Pension Administration System (PAS) estimated at N4 billion for the agency. But the current acting DG DahiR-Umar had requested that the BPP allow for a review of the contract citing unduly high estimates and security concerns. But the BPP insisted that the project must not be delayed for any reason despite the legitimate questions crying out for clarification.

    Why is the BPP engaging in bureaucratic acrobatics and beclouding a serious issue with arcane language-stubbornly taking a position as if the bureau’s certificate of “no objection’’ were a holy writ that cannot be subjected to common sense evaluation?  Is the BPP speaking for the foreign company regarding the cost of the project?  One should believe that the bureau has no other motives in this matter. The BPP should therefore let the contracting firm directly respond to the question of over blown estimates.  More intriguing is the fact that there’s no prohibiting provision which prevents PenCom from reviewing or cancelling the contract, except for the curious zealousness of BPP. Based on the reverent nature of the task for which it obligated, prudence and transparency should be the permeating mantra of BPP and not the current perception or misconception that the bureau is projecting in the current PenCom controversy.

    BPP must allow one of the agency at the summit of the nation’s pension industry to undertake necessary reforms and initiatives for the accelerated growth of the sector.

    In casting an overall look at the three dimensions of the focus of this discussion- if the Ad Hoc committee of the House of Representatives  can send a no-nonsense signal for the regime of supervision in the pension industry, if the new leadership at PenCom stays dedicated to its words and actions regarding ethics and professionalism and if such agencies as the BPP will allow new ideas like those of Dahir-Umar to flourish – then we might to be coming close to declaring the dawn of a new era in the nation’s pension sector and a rejuvenating  guarantee for the life-savings of ordinary Nigerian workers.

     

    • Prof Onoh-Stevenson writes from Edinburgh, Scotland.