Fatai Idowu Onafowote
The General Manager, Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, PPA, Mr. Fatai Idowu Onafowote, has revealed that the Agency has deployed five e-Procurement Solution Modules to the procurement processes of seven additional Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of the State.
This followed the success achieved with the deployment of e-Procurement Solution Modules in the procurement processes of three MDAs, of the State in September last year.
In a chat with media correspondents in his office, Onafowote stated further that five e-Procurement Solution Modules: e- Publishing/e-Notification, e- Tendering, e- Bidding, e-Evaluation and e-Notice of Award were, this week, successfully deployed to the procurement processes of the Ministries of Agriculture, Housing, Transportation, Waterfront Infrastructure Development as well as the Office of Drainage Services, Office of Environment Services and the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board.
The General Manager pointed out that the deployment of the Modules to the procurement processes of the seven additional MDAs of the State by the Agency is in keeping with one of the key pillars of the T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu Administration in the State which is aimed at “Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy”.
According to him, with the deployment of the e-Procurement Solution Modules to the MDAs, the procurement processes of the affected MDAs would henceforth be on a fast track, thereby driving innovation and development across different sectors in the State in line with the objectives of the present Administration in the State.
The General Manager added that authorities of the affected MDAs are, therefore, expected to cut-over all their manual-based procurement activities unto the electronic platform, stressing that all requests for approval instruments and module-related activities initiated from the MDAs would henceforth be done through the Platform.
Onafowote also stated that the deployment of e- Procurement Solution to the procurement processes of the MDAs coupled with a workflow process that leads to the generation of Approval Instruments, including Certificate of Compliance, Letter of No Objection, among others was designed to reduce to the barest minimum the need for physical interaction between the staff of the Agency and those of the affected MDAs, noting that Contractors, Suppliers and Service Providers could also easily transact business with the State Government online from the comfort of their homes or offices, thereby enhancing the ease of doing business policy of the State Government.
He also disclosed that prior to the deployment of the e-Procurement Solution Modules to the procurement processes of the seven MDAs, Procurement Officers of the affected MDAs had been given the necessary training by the Agency to enable them efficiently and effectively operate the new system.
It would be recalled that the e-Procurement Modules were deployed to three pilot Ministries – Education, Health and Works and Infrastructure – in 2019 for their procurement processes. Following this development, the Agency and indeed, the State Government have been commended by Stakeholders, including a team of the World Bank Procurement Specialists, who visited the State twice last year for an assessment of its procurement processes, particularly the implementation of the e-Procurement System.
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