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The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has moved to tackle abandoned and substandard public projects, insisting that government procurement must go beyond contract awards to deliver lasting value to Nigerians.
Director-General of the BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, disclosed this Thursday in Abuja at a strategic engagement with professional bodies on public procurement reforms.
Adedokun said the Bureau was strengthening collaboration with professional bodies to ensure that public procurement was professional, transparent, competitive, technology-driven, ethical and focused on value for money.
He said procurement failures often begin before contracts are awarded, citing weak needs assessment, inadequate designs, poor specifications, unrealistic cost estimates and inappropriate project planning as some of the factors responsible for poor outcomes.
According to him, the Bureau’s reform agenda covers the entire procurement cycle, from planning and budgeting through tendering, evaluation and contract award to contract management, project delivery and performance measurement.
He said professional bodies had a critical role to play by providing the technical expertise, ethical standards and accountability required to improve the quality of public projects.
Adedokun stressed the need for multidisciplinary teams involving engineers, quantity surveyors, architects, accountants, lawyers, ICT specialists, and supply-chain practitioners, among others, to work together throughout the procurement process.
He said the BPP was also strengthening Standard Bidding Documents and professional capacity development while advancing digitalisation, open contracting, data analytics, price intelligence, procurement monitoring and audit, contract management, local content and implementation of the Nigeria First Policy.
The BPP boss said the success of procurement should no longer be measured solely by whether due process was followed or a contract was awarded.
“We must move beyond asking: ‘Did we comply with the procurement process?’ Compliance is essential, but not sufficient.
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“We must also ask: ‘What value did this procurement create for Nigerians?'”
He added that a road that deteriorated shortly after completion could not be considered value for money simply because the tendering process was properly conducted.
“A hospital filled with unusable equipment is not a successful procurement, and an abandoned project cannot be considered successful because the contract was properly awarded,” he said.
Earlier, the Chief of Staff to the BPP Director-General, Nasiru Bello, described professional bodies as critical stakeholders whose expertise and ethical standards directly affected the quality and integrity of public procurement.
Bello said the engagement was designed to provide stakeholders with updates on ongoing reforms, discuss practical challenges and develop stronger cooperation among the Bureau and professional bodies.
He said the Bureau expected the engagement to advance transparency, accountability, professionalism, efficiency and value for money in public procurement.
Bello urged the professional bodies to return to their respective associations with a renewed commitment to strengthening professional standards and accountability.
“Public procurement is public trust. We cannot afford to fail this country,” he stated.
