Edo State Public Procurement Agency with support from the World Bank has deployed state-specific standard bidding tools and revised its procurement procedures manual to ease the contracting process in the state.
Recall that at the inauguration of the first Governing Board of the agency in 2014, the agency developed and deployed procurement procedures manual to provide an explanatory note to the state’s procurement law, but was unable to do same for the Standard Bidding Documents.
The state government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki has pursued far-reaching reforms in budgeting and open governance, which is strengthened with the deployment of the new tools.
In the circumstance, the Agency was constrained to adopt the Standard Bidding Documents developed by the Bureau of Public Procurement as a result of the similarities between the state procurement law and federal procurement Act.
The development and deployment of the Standard Bidding Tools which is a key reform agenda of the agency was realised through support from the Edo State Employment and Expenditure for Results Project (SEEFOR) with funding from the World Bank.
Commenting on the development, managing director/CEO of the Agency, Henry Imogiemhe Idogun, expressed gratitude to Edo SEEFOR, World Bank, the independent consultants and the technical staff, who worked assiduously to ensure deployment of the tools.
He noted that with the deployment of the tool, the staff and the Agency had joined the league of states with State Specific Standard Bidding Tools, a landmark achievement and a legacy that would make for efficient functioning of the agency.
He noted that the tools would ensure a more seamless procurement process, especially as the agency is set to migrate to e-procurement.
Idogun thanked Governor Obaseki for the support the agency had enjoyed under his leadership in the last three years.
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