11 Oct 2015

The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday (October 9) signed a service level agreement (SLA).

The executive chairperson of PPADB, Ms Bridget John said the objective of the agreement was for the PPDAB and the ministry to recommit to improving efficiencies in the procurement of works, services and supplies to ensure that quality services were delivered on time.

 “Through this SLA, we seek to align expectations and bring about certainty in the procurement process whilst clarifying roles between parties at every stage,” said Ms John.

She said the PPADB commits to adhere to performance service standards and to uphold principles guiding public procurement such as transparency, completion, fairness and equitable treatment of bidders.

Ms John said the agreement highlights the importance of confidentiality during key stages of procurement such as evaluation and adjudication and places emphasis on procurement planning and adherence to published procurement plans.

She emphasised that the procurement unit should be adequately capacitated for the Ministry of Trade and Industry to achieve best value procurement, and that the integrity of all procurement personnel should never be put to question.

“As we are all aware, the procurement mandate is sensitive, stakeholders’ expectations are deep and often conflicting, hence procurement personnel should strive to execute their mandate well amidst criticism that may sometimes be fuelled by narrow self-interest,” said Ms John.

She pledged the boards support to the ministry, particularly that the ministry was given a mammoth task of developing local industry and reducing over reliance on imports.

“Procurement is thus very key in supporting the mandate of the ministry hence we need to engage more to find effective ways of achieving socio-economic objectives of the government,” Ms John said.

She said the board was piloting the integrated procurement management system where tenders would be issued and submitted online, adding that the initiative would minimise opportunities for corruption.

Ms John said Batswana have expectations that policies such as the citizen economic empowerment, the economic diversification drive and local procurement scheme would take them to another level.

For her part, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ms Peggy Serame appreciated the PPADB’s support for hand holding them to ensure effective implementation of the procurement process.

She said the PPADB has held numerous workshops to capacitate MTC members, secretariat and members of the procurement unit. She added that some staff members were trained and rotated so that they could execute the procurement without being corrupt. Ends