PPADB fosters seamless procurement process
Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday November 19, 2014 15:55
The government organs are the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT) Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC).
Speaking during the signing ceremony, the Executive Chairperson of PPADB, Bridget John noted that the objective of this SLA is for the PPADB and the procuring entities to recommit in a binding manner to speed the procurement of Works, Services and Supplies to ensure that services are delivered to the nation within a reasonable time.
“The idea is to align expectations and bring about certainty to the procurement process whilst clarifying roles between parties at every stage of the procurement process.
“We are therefore committing to performance service standards and upholding principles of public procurement, ” said John.
John further noted that this agreement will help reduce situations whereby the projects are delayed even though the budget has been approved, which is normally the issue due to the inefficiency of the person who won the tender.
“We have seen it fit to agree with Procuring Entities through this SLA on procurement timeliness to facilitate the effective use of the budget and timely services.” she added.
John also urged other Procuring Entities to come forward and sign this SLA for the benefit of the government and the public as this would help reduce the blame and shift game that is always the case when a project fails.
However John noted that the board would continue to support procurement capacity building at Ministries to ensure that competent people are assigned.
She also highlighted that they will continue to run procurement workshops for officers as well as provide other avenues for training on procurement as demonstrated by their MOU`s with Public Service College, Botswana Accountancy College (BAC) and the USTDA.
On her part the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Communications Tsaone Thebe emphasised that they might be different organisations but have the same aim of servicing the public, adding that this SLA will help to improve their performance.
“”This is a noble initiative and believe that it will take us somewhere. I urge all of us who signed today to be a leading example.
“From here I am going to call all those who are involved in the procurement and enlighten them about this agreement,” said the Director General for DCEC, Rose Seretse.
Commenting on this issue the PS for MEWT Neil Fitt urged all the procuring officers to take this initiative seriously and abide by its rules, as it will make a difference if adhered to.
He said they should not lose sight of the fact that they are all expected to deliver.