By Mama A. Touray
The Director of Compliance and Practices at the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA) last week gave a brief lecture on the procurement law requirements as he continued his testimony on the Banjul City Council (BCC) compliance report before the ongoing Local Government Commission for Inquiry held at the Djembe Hotel, Senegambia.
Director Samba J.B. Tambura testified before the commission and said procurement law requires the Contracts Committee to review, verify and ascertain all procurements and that the Contracts Committee is responsible for the use of single source procurement method or any other procurement method.
He said the contracts committee is also responsible for overseeing the administration of all contracts and ensuring that the GPPA Act and the regulations as well as the conditions set out in the tender documents are met.
The findings of the 2019 review, according to him showed that there is no evidence that the Committee approved the use of single-source procurement, especially those above single-source thresholds under the Act and the Regulations.
“The committee did not ensure that it hold the procurement proceedings meetings and have minutes of the same prepared as required by the act. The review revealed that most of the procurements, especially big ones were conducted by individuals outside the procurement unit of the council,” he revealed to the commission.
He said the absence of regular procurement meetings by the Contracts Committee might lead to procurement being individualized for personal gains due to the lack of transparency in the procurement proceedings.
GPPA in their recommendations, he said, demanded the Contracts Committee to fulfill its obligation in line with the GPPA Act “The committee should ensure that it holds the procurement proceedings meetings and have minutes of the same prepared as required by the Act and the procurement Officer should attend those meetings”.
On the issue of awarding contracts without providing the details or specifications, he said the Contracts Committee must ensure that Solicitation documents containing all requirements by the Council are prepared and sent to all the potential suppliers to compete, for transparency purposes and fair opportunity to all the prospective bidders.
He further told the Commission that there is a high potential for biases and other forms of compromises. He added that the awarding of contracts without providing the specification gives rise to the discretionary awarding of contracts, which is wrong.
“It violates a very fundamental principle of procurement which is “equal treatment,” he noted.
Meanwhile, he said his office, GPPA urges area councils to submit draft contracts to GPPA to compare them with the bidding requirements before they are signed. He stated that the area councils failed to submit the draft contracts and they go ahead to grant contracts without GPPA approval.
In addition, he said there is a need for monthly returns as it enables them to detect violations while the contracts are being executed.
