05 Jul 2016

The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) has marked a significant milestone in the modernisation of public procurement and asset disposal by launching phase two of the Integrated Procurement Management System (IPMS).

Officially launching the IPMS, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Mr Solomon Sekwakwa said the IPMS comprises of e-Bidding, capacity building, asset disposal and dispute resolution all intended to improve customer service and accessibility.

Phase one of IPMS was launched in March 2013 and it comprised of contractor registration.

“In January 2016 we witnessed the opening of a PPADB regional office in Francistown aimed at bringing services closer to customers in the northern part of the country. This development was meant to address the inconvenience suffered by clients who have to travel long distances to access PPADB’s services from Gaborone,” he said.

He noted that in recognition that the Board was unable to open offices in major centres across the country due to affordability, the use of technology in delivering services to the people was long overdue hence the introduction of IPMS.

“Government is working tirelessly to improve the ease of doing business in the country and to promote e-Government services hence e-procurement which is part of the IPMS,” he said, adding that the development is aligned to the overall objectives of government.

Mr Sekwakwa noted that a significant investment has already been made by government in the provision of ICT infrastructure to ensure that there was adequate bandwidth to facilitate e-business.

“Relevant laws have also been enacted including the Electronic Transaction Act to support the adoption of technology,” he added.

He said such efforts demonstrate government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for modern, convenient and customer friendly e-services to thrive.

Mr Sekwakwa went on to encourage both the public and private sector to increasingly offer their services online and for people to be receptive of such changes.

He indicated that the primary objective of IPMS is to improve efficiency and transparency in contractor registration, procurement and asset disposal system.

“I am reliably informed that Botswana is the first country in Africa to develop such a comprehensive procurement system which is impressive,” he said.

Mr Sekwakwa informed stakeholders that the e-bidding module consists of ITT creation and vetting, bid submission, key pair management system for security purposes, evaluation and adjudication.

“This covers the process from preparation of tenders, it’s issuing, up to the award stage, all done online,” he said, adding that other modules such as capacity building, report writing and asset disposal are also key in supporting the execution of the Board’s mandate.

Speaking on some of the advantages of having an online system, Mr Sekwakwa said IPMS would improve transparency with audit trails to counter corruption in tenders, increase competition as more bidders would have access to tender documents and savings on travelling and administrative costs for prospective bidders.

He further said PPADB has put in place a customer resource centre and a service desk in both Gaborone and Francistown offices, as well as free Wi-Fi at PPADB offices to facilitate the uptake of IPMS.

Mr Sekwakwa urged stakeholders to support the roll-out of IPMS by ensuring there is suitable network and internet connectivity across the country.

“Procuring entities should also be equipped with appropriate hardware and other resources to make use of IPMS,” said Mr Sekwakwa, also indicating that PPADB has partnered with Botswana Post to take services closer to customers.

“Services that can be accessed from postal offices include collection of contractor registration fees (both application and certificate payments) and collection of tender participation fees,” he noted.

Mr Sekwakwa also announced that bidders would no longer pay to access tender documents.

“Bidders will be able to download online tenders for free and read them first to establish interest in responding to such tenders. It is only when bidders have read the tender documents and start working on responding to tenders that they will be required to pay the usual amount for tenders,” he concluded.

For her part, executive chairperson of PPADB Ms Bridget John said said the launch of IPMS would help them keep tenders clean and would also help the bidding community access PPADB services outside the confines of brick and mortar.

Ms John said , “all efforts will be made to ensure that the system is accessible to users and does not create barriers to procurement,” she concluded. ENDS