Reps probe BPP over failure to enforce power

THE House of Representatives on Wednesday resolved to investigate the failure of Bureau of public procurement to enforce its powers.

The House then mandated the Committees on Public Procurement and Anti-Corruption to investigate the allegation of failure of the Bureau on Public Procurement (BPP) to exercise its powers on public procurement processes and report back within six weeks for further legislative action.

The House resolution followed a motion sponsored by Hon Afe Olowookere where he explained that the bureau must be alive to its responsibility.

According to him, the “bureau of Public Procurement was established in 2007 and vested with powers to harmonize existing government policies and practices on public procurement in order to ensure probity, accountability and transparency in the procurement process, establish pricing standards and benchmarks and ensure the application of fair, competitive, transparent, value-for-money standards and practices in the procurement process

He however noted that the “situation where government contracts and projects that are of similar nature and content sited in the same vicinity are given out by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) at prices that are at variance with what can be considered as standardized prices or thresholds under the principle of international best practices, thus inhibiting Government’s efforts in fighting corruption

To this end, he said, the “widespread breach of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 by the MDAs without any proven corrective measures taken or sanctions imposed by the Bureau of Public Procurement renders its existence a waste on the finances of Government.

The motion scaled through when it was put to vote by the Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara.