PPA Urges Entities to Enroll on GHANEPS to Continue Doing Business with Gov't

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Kwame Prempeh, has hinted that very soon suppliers, consultants, contractors and all other procurement entities which have not enrolled onto the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) cannot do business with the Government and for that matter, face challenges in the line of their operations, and cannot be assured of payment after delivering those services.

Mr. Kwame Prempeh made this known when he was delivering an evening lecture on the Overview of the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) for members of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE) on Thursday, August 10, 2023 at the Engineers Centre, Roman Ridge, Accra.

According to the Deputy CEO of PPA, with the introduction of GHANEPS, procurement process has become paperless and there would be no need for the traditional print-outs of tender documents.

The GHANEPS is an integrated system that provides a one-stop shop solution for procurement entities, improves transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, seamless system and helps to monitor all contracts awarded to entities for tax benefits to the government.

He explained that since GHANEPS roll-out period from 2019 to 2023, over 660 procurement entities have been trained and enrolled on GHANEPS.

The PPA has a roll-out plan to train and enroll 15 entities onto GHANEPS per month.

Roll-out is generally done on regional basis with all Public Procurement Entities (PPE) in a region taken through the process in a period of approximately three months.

Multiple roll-outs are conducted for regions where the number of PPEs are in excess of 50.

So far, Greater Accra has seen the most roll-outs.

Mr. Kwame Prempeh added that with the linking of Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) with the GHANAPS platform, procurement entities stand a big chance that their money would be paid on time by Government after delivery of the goods/service provided.

This will limit the amount of contracts given without approval, which creates a lot of arrears for the government.

The President of Ghana Institution of Engineering, Ing. Kwabena Bempong, speaking to the media at the PPA evening lecture, said when it comes to procurement in general, the underlining word is fairness, value for money and to ensure that there is transparency.

When these things are missing, then the integrity of the procurement process becomes questionable, he said.

So, with the introduction of GHANEPS in the procurement processes, the human element is taken out, so the issue of people trying to block the system or take advantage of the system is taken out, he indicated.

Present at the PPA evening lecture included: the Past President of GhIE, Ing. Leslie Alex Aryeh, the Executive Director of GhIE, Ing. David Kwatia Nyante, some Council members of GhIE and engineers from across the country.

It was moderated by Ing. Joyce Asante, an Electrical/Electronic Engineer by profession.