11 Jun 2024

Procurement officers from the Ministry of Justice have been implored to do their job in an efficient, effective and economic manner.

Serowe District Council secretary, Mr Mogorosi Kokoro, who was officiating at a five-days procurement officers workshop and retreat in Serowe on June 10, said the public was interested in witnessing developments in their areas, which makes public procurement important.

Mr Kokoro stated that the mandate of the procurement office was to develop, manage and issue guidelines regarding the procurement of goods and services to ensure proper management.

He said public procurement was an important agenda for government, which was shown by the public procurement reforms, which resulted in the new Public Procurement Act of 2021.

The Act came into effect on April 14, 2022 and it is still to be unpacked for the implementers to apply it, he said.

“The main aim of the new Public Procurement Act is to procure goods, works and services from citizen and citizen-owned companies. It focuses on citizen empowerment through initiatives such as Local Procurement Scheme (LPS), Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) and other initiatives that aim to uplift the lives of the citizens through public procurement,” he said.

Mr Kokoro told the officers that huge sums of money were spent in procurement, as such they should be capacitated on the new Procurement Act and regulations so that their job would be guided by knowledge and understanding of it.

He said as the Ministry of Justice their duty was to ensure that all their procurement staff understood the Procurement Act and regulations so as to adhere to the principles of transparency and good governance in public procurement.

However, he indicated that there were a number of stumbling blocks in executing procurement on time, within budget and scope, which hampered service delivery.

Mr Kokoro said the ministry had in the past two financial years, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, failed to spend all the money allocated to it, especially on development projects, resulting in funds being returned to the government coffers at the end of the financial year.

He said the ministry returned close to P600 million, which could have been spent in the financial year 2022/2023, adding that such affected service delivery to the citizens they were entrusted to serve.

Another challenge, he said, was that they still received procurement submissions such as Invitations To Tender evaluation reports that were not compliant to the Procurement Act and regulations, resulting in delays in adjudication and approvals.

He also noted that some procuring entities did not submit their procurement on time to the office of the Oversight, which led to retroactive approvals.

He said the Procurement Oversight Unit had developed systems and tools that would enable the procuring entities to carry out procurement processes in accordance with the new Procurement Act.

“It is important to ensure that the procurement process is conducted according to the act in order to reduce complaints and improve chances of getting value for money,” he said.

He said the ministry wanted to see goods, works and services delivered on time, within budget and in the right quality.

He said effective procurement function depended on the knowledge, skills, integrity and professionalism displayed by procurement professionals in carrying their mandate.

For his part, the Director of Procurement Oversight, Mr Ofentse Julius, said the objectives of the workshop and the retreat was to exchange ideas, share experiences and learn from one another. Ends