Chief executives of public institutions in Ghana have been warned they could face sanctions if they allow their organisations to buy goods, commission works or obtain consultancy services from suppliers not registered with the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
The warning was issued by Samuel Arkhurst, representing the Ministry of Finance, at the 12th annual Public Procurement Forum on Monday, November 9.
Mr Arkhurst said chief executives had a direct duty to ensure their institutions followed the procurement rules and checked that every supplier appeared on the PPA’s official register before contracts were awarded.
He described the use of unregistered suppliers as a breach of procurement regulations and called on public-sector leaders to bring their organisations into immediate compliance.
“Under the PPA Act as amended, you bear responsibility for ensuring that every supplier your organisation deals with is on the PPA’s registered supplier database. For any chief executive that stands by while his or her organisation does otherwise, it will be an act of non-compliance with the rules of the land. If you have not been compliant until now, I will urge you to turn over a new leaf from today. And remember, the law has sanctions, and the sanctions are in sections 96, 97, and 98 of the PFM law as amended.”
The warning comes as the PPA increases the procurement limits available to heads of public institutions, in a move intended to reduce delays in approving contracts.
The threshold for procuring goods without referring transactions to Entity Tender Committees has risen from GH¢100,000 to GH¢800,000 for entities in Categories A, B and C.
The limit for using the Request for Quotation procurement method has also been increased from GH¢100,000 to GH¢800,000.
PPA Chief Executive Frank Mante said the revised limits would give public institutions more flexibility and allow procurement processes to move more quickly by reducing the need for approval under the previous arrangements.
He added that the Authority was strengthening its monitoring of both competitive and non-competitive procurement to support transparency and compliance with the law.
“The new threshold is that from 100,000 for category A, B, and C, that has been moved to 800,000 for procurement of goods, which means you can even now procure goods without going to the Entity Tender. Similarly, in terms of the use of the procurement method, we have request for quotation method of procurement, which has also a threshold of 800,000 cedis. Previously it was also 100,000 cedis, but that has now been moved up, which means that a lot more can be done very fast, you know, to reduce a lot more of the bureaucracies that we used to have.”
The PPA is also promoting broader use of the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS).
The platform is intended to widen competition, limit human interference and make public tendering more accessible to suppliers throughout the country.
It should also enable suppliers to take part in tender processes remotely, cutting the cost and inconvenience of travelling long distances to submit bids.
