By Abubakar Baba Ahmad.
About Fifteen Non-Governmental Organisations working in the Not For Profit Sector in Bauchi State are participating in a 2-day capacity building workshop on the International Standard practice on procurement processes.
The Convener and Lead Facilitator of the training Mr Ogunnupe Olushoga said the capacity building workshop seeks to help organisations mirror their activities in line with the Nigeria Procurement Act by fine-tuning their policies and procurement activities to fit national and international standards.
Ogunnupe Olushoga said the workshop will also help procurement, admin, finance, compliance and programme officers to align their procurement practice with national laws and global donor policies, as well as build a fraud resistant -audit ready and value driven procurement system.
“So our training today is to increase the capacity of the not-for-profit sector partners or workers and all those organizations that work under the not-for-profit to bring them up to international standards in procurement practice and to also help them to mirror their activities with the Nigerian Procurement Act, which is not mandatory for them, but compels them to have their policies and procurement activities to be in tune with how it’s supposed to be by national policy and also by international standard that fits into World Bank and other donor agencies that come into partnership with them”, the Procurement Advisor explains.
He further disclosed that the new global, national, state laws and frameworks on procurement aligns with the need to safeguard the environment in rendering services by being eco-friendly, energy efficient in all procurement processes and services.
According to the Convener, organisations have a responsibility to thoroughly vet any vendor or service provider before engaging them in any activity especially foreign donor partners to avoid going against their established laws, policy and principles.
Speaking to Radio Nigeria on the sidelines, a Legal Procurement Consultant Barrister Patricia James listed some of the exiting laws that would guide organisations in procurement matters to include the Public Procurement Act 2007, Bauchi State Public Procurement Law 2020, and ISO 20400: Guidelines for Sustainable Procurement.
Others according to her are World Bank Procurement Regulations 2023, Transparency International (2021) Coruption Risks in Public Procurement, Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply CIPS 2020 Ethical Procurement among many others.
“In an effort to ensure that there is fairness and competitiveness around the procurement process and everything, they should try as much as possible to see that they align themselves with these rules and regulations”, Barrister Patricia notes.
Barrister Patricia used the medium to advise procurement officers to always ensure open competition, transparency and fair dealings to all vendors to avoid defaulting in the procurement process especially as it relates to three methods of procurement to include open bidding, restricted tendering and selective bidding.
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