Lagos Eases Procurement With Software

• Lagos Eases Procurement With Software

The Lagos State Government has deployed electronic procurement software to the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency to facilitate ease of doing business in the state.

A statement on Wednesday said that Kehinde Kassim & Co., a partner to Biddingo International, was selected to develop the e-procurement system, after a rigorous and transparent contractor-selection process, to work with the agency.

The statement said the e-procurement system, which was tailored to the operations of the state and aligned with global best practices, was deployed in March 2019, with the launch of the Contractor Registration and Management module.

The module, according to the statement, also provides a platform for e-solicitation, e-tendering, e-evaluation and workflow module.

The Managing Partner, Kehinde Kassim & Co., Kehinde Kassim, described procurement in government as a channel through which the private sector transacts with the government as service providers and provided a measure of how taxpayers’ money was utilised.

He said this was the reason that the World Bank and other international agencies placed so much importance on the transparency of public procurement process as well as providing support to aid the process.

The statement added that the agency had started managing its internal and external operations with other Ministries Department and Agencies and vendors through the electronic portal.

It read in part, “Vendors invited for the sensitisation workshops organised by the agency are of a general view that the software is long overdue. The contractors expressed their delight that they can now register or renew their application with the agency from the comfort of their homes or offices. They further confessed that the software has also improved turnaround time as well as decision time for their application.

“Within the first month of the rollout of the contractor registration module, a good number of vendors have registered online, in new registrations and renewals, significantly boosting revenue to the agency. The implementation of the e-procurement system has put an end to the era of the possibility of missing files and typical suspicions of contract documents being slipped under carpets thus enhancing transparency which forms one of the key objectives of the agency.

“The next phase of the e-procurement system is the implementation of e-solicitation and workflow module aimed at transforming how the agency interacts with the MDAs. Beyond aiding the achievement of the agency’s objectives, it has improved operational efficiency, effective cost management, reduced bureaucratic bottlenecks, and time-saving for the agency, contractors and MDAs.”

Kassim expressed the commitment of his company to the development and deployment of software that would facilitate the ease of doing business with the public and private sector in Nigeria.