By Binta Jaiteh
Gambia Public Procurement has reviewed the Final Draft compliance Report of Basse Area Council (BAC) for the year ended, December 2019 and present it to the National Assembly select committee on Regional Government and lands, Ombudsman and IEC.
Jainaba Jallow John, Assistant Training Officer said: “in reference to Section (12) of The Gambia Public Procurement (Amendment) Act 2018, The GPPA is mandated to conduct annual compliance reviews on procuring organizations and accordingly inform the National Assembly and Cabinet on their respective compliance levels.”
“In the execution of this aspect of its mandate, staff of The GPPA conducted a review exercise at Basse Area Council (BAC) on the 12th October, 2020 to determine the Organization’s level of compliance regarding procurement transactions conducted from January 2019 to December 2019. The specific objectives of this procurement review were: To verify whether the procurement and contracting procedures, processes and documentation followed by Basse Area Council was in accordance with the GPPA (Amendment) Act 2018, GPPR 2019,” she added.
According to Madam John, the Basse Area Council adhered to the generally accepted principles of economy and efficiency, equal opportunities, transparency, integrity and fairness, and promotion of local industry.
“To review the capacity of Basse Area Council to handle procurement efficiently, comment on the quality of procurement and contracting, and identify reasons for delays if any. Furthermore, to establish whether adequate systems are in place for procurement planning, implementation and monitoring and whether reliable documentation is maintained as required by the law. To make recommendations for improvement in an action plan which will be followed up within a specified time frame to establish whether these improvements have been implemented,” she continued.
She said to determine the extent to which the council has obtained value for money in executing its procurement functions and to assist in clarification of areas where council may have misunderstood the requirements of the legislation;