By Egufe Yafugborhi

DIRECTOR-General of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mamman Ahmadu, has urged stakeholders to show commitment to ongoing review of Draft Standard Bidding and Contract Documents being used for Procurement of Good, Works and Service to bring about an enhanced process that addresses current challenges.

Ahmadu who made the appeal yesterday at the ongoing stakeholders workshop on Review of Draft Standard Bidding and Contract Documents convened in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said a lot has happened in the procurement space locally and internationally to warrant adjustments in the existing process developed in 2009, and updated 2011.

Represented by Eze Obasi, Director, Special Procurement, the BPP DG, told stakeholders: “BPP in line with Section 5(m) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 is mandated to prepare and update standard bidding and contract documents at achieving objectives of transparency, competition, cost effectiveness and professionalism in public sector procurement and disposal of public assets in line with global best practice.

“Notably, the global economic meltdown, Covid-19, rapid advancement in technology, advancement in procurement practice globally, in addition to application of existing documents over the years have thrown up lessons borne out of the challenges encountered by both public sector and private sector’s actors in the conduct of public procurement in the country.

“The development of new procurement documents and the revision of existing ones is aimed at addressing the inadequacies observed by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government in use of current documents developed in 2009 and last updated in 2011.”