The visiting Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has met with the senior management team of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), to discuss issues related to the work of the PPCC, and how such work can be used to promote transparency and greater accountability in the public procurement and concessions awards processes.
The Board hailed the PPCC for the tremendous efforts in ensuring adherence to the public procurement laws of Liberia and challenged the Chief Executive Officer, JargbeRoselineNagbeKowo and the entire PPCC to remain steadfast by developing mechanisms that would engender the growth of the private sector; expand the human resource strength of the PPCC, work with local universities to offer graduate and undergraduate degree programs in public procurement, and develop programs to encourage peer-learning and experience-sharing in public procurement.
The Board vowed to remain engaged with the PPCC team to modernize public procurement and ensure compliance to the procurement laws of Liberia.
In appreciation of the Board’s visit to the PPCC yesterday, Cllr. Kowo, mentioned the gains that have been made by the PPCC to increase transparency, accountability, and ensure value for money in public procurement.
Cllr. Kowo cited the study tours visits to Rwanda, Botswana and Republic of Georgia in Eastern Europe, the development of E-GP Strategy that provides information on the status of public procurement and possibilities for public procurement modernization in Liberia, and the conduct of several capacity building programs, as areas that have been fully funded by the African Development Bank.
She narrated that the knowledge gained from those engagements has propelled the way for the establishment of a robust Electronic Government Procurement (E-GP) system that will address the anomalies and increase compliance to the governing procurement laws of Liberia.
The PPCC boss also mentioned the current effort to review and draft new amendments to the PPCA, the training of PPCC staff in electronic procurement and change management programs held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and in Istanbul, Turkey; and informed the visiting team that the trainings were funded by the World Bank, as part of efforts to modernize public procurement in Liberia.
Cllr. Kowo prayed the AfDB Board of Directors to make further interventions and strengthen the PPCC capacity to address some key areas, such as compliance monitoring, provision of training hall to mentor and train procurement officers and other executives, as well as to support the transition effort from paper based to electronic government procurement (E-GP) system.
