Public Procurement Review Software (goPRS)A Corruption Prevention Tool for Public Procurement Regulatory Authorities

SUPPORTED BY:

ICT Infrastructure & Data Centre Model

TACKLING CORRUPTION AT ITS SOURCE

Tackling corruption at its source The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has successfully developed advanced solutions to help combat and fight the menace of corruption at the Information Technology level. For this particular case of Public Procurement, UNODC has designed goPRS to help unify international and national efforts to combat public procurement corruption.The Public Procurement Review Software (goPRS) is a substantive system that addresses the monitoring and oversight of public procurement, and is designed specifically to automate the complex mandate of Public Procurement Regulatory Authorities (PPRAs).goPRS has also been developed in order to promote harmonization of international standards of public procurement and considers the provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), European Union directives (on government procurement and appeals procedures), the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the World Bank guidelines for procurement and consultants and other similar documents from international financial institutions.

goPRS is funded by BPPNigeria has lost several hundred billion Naira over the last decade due to flagrant abuse of procedures for the award of public contracts, inflation of contracts, lack of transparency, lack of competence-based evaluation, and lack of merit, which is the fundamental criteria for the awarding of public contracts. This finding has made urgent reform of the procurement system an imperative if Nigeria is to reduce the large scale corruption and waste that has reduced the efficiency of the Nigerian public sector. These reasons brought about the birth of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in 2001.BPP plays a significant role in ensuring efficient and integrity-based monitoring of the implementation of all Federal Government capital projects. The mission of BPP is to establish an open, transparent and competitive federal procurement system that is integration-driven, upholds spending within appropriations and ensures speedy delivery of projects, thus achieving value for money without sacrificing quality and standards. This mission is difficult to achieve without deployment of a Databank Management System (public procurement review software and adequate ICT infrastructure). Such a system will assist BPP in ensuring strict compliance with openness, competition, cost accuracy, rules and procedures that should guide contract awards within the Federal Government of Nigeria. Therefore any improvements in the public procurement system are expected to have a direct and beneficial effect on the overall economic situation of the country. For more information in this regard, please consult:

Engr. Emeka Ezeh, FNSE, Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement Phone: (+234-9) 625-2377 Email: emeka.ezeh@bpp.gov.ng Website: www.bpp.gov.ng

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REVIEW SOFTWARE

1MDA

(Ministry, Department or Agency)

2’DG

2Office ofthe DG

ONLINE REQUEST

3 ComplianceDepartmentANALYSIS (COMPLIANCE

)

ANALYSIS (DOCU

MEN

TS)APPROVAL

ONLINE REQUEST

The Public Procurement Workflow:

For a proper study of the process of public procurement, knowledge of the public procurement laws of a country is very essential. But public procurement is not confined within the limits of a country as there are many goods and services which are not available locally and thus cannot be domestically procured. Therefore, public procurement bodies need to have access to the international business world.

Efforts have also been made by several international organizations to help countries in updating, modernizing or elaborating instruments relating to public procurement. The aim is to ensure efficient, economic, transparent and fair procurement practices.

These efforts are as follows: 1. Model laws on procurement of goods, construction and services of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL);2. The Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO);3. Procurement Procedures under the World Bank;4. The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) initiated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC);5. European Union Directives on Public Procurement;6. Regional Arrangements, such as: a. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Procurement Rules b. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Transparency Standards on Government Procurement c. The Integrity and Anti-Corruption Initiatives of the African Development Bank d. African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating CorruptionVarious international organizations recognize that a fully-integrated IT procurement review system will involve a lengthy reform program, most effectively implemented through a staged approach with different considerations for each stage in the procurement process.

International Response to Public Procurement Corruption

Each State Party shall, in accordance with the fundamental

principles of its legal system, take the necessary steps to establish

appropriate systems of procurement, based on transparency,

competition and objective criteria in decision-making, that are

effective, inter alia, in preventing corruption.

UNCAC, Article 9,

Public procurement and management of public finances

A longer-term, but equally important potential benefit

[of IT] is that it allows a more strategic approach to procurement,

harnessing the data that IT can generate to allow the pursuit of

goals and performance to beguided by information and analyses

rather than by procedures alone. Benefits through internal

transparency, integrity support and efficiency savings can be

achieved. Internal transparency andtraceability - meaning better

records of each procurement process - gives the ability to monitor,

evaluate and improve not only individual procurement procedures

but overall system performance and trends.

UNCITRAL, Model Law Guide, Paragraph 49

goPRS Overview

goPRS has the potential to significantly reduce corruption and abuse as well as enhance value for money and administrative efficiency in terms of both time and costs. goPRS will increase the integrity of the procurement process and private business and financial institution confidence and willingness to participate. Increased competition will improve the quality and cost of the performance of government contracts.

goPRS is a unique fully integrated software designed specifically to: 1. Facilitate interactions between Public Procurement Regulatory

Authority (PPRA) and Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in a country;

2. Improve PPRA’s internal review and monitoring of the procurement approval process;

3. Kick-off PPRA’s oversight on budget appropriations versus reported procurement actions;

4. Manage and publish internal databases (vendors, price list, etc.) to support the procurement process.

Handles Petitions

Arranges Training

Issues Approvals

Performs Audits

Act Procurement

Posting

Projects

Goods / Price Database

Vendors Database

Black / Debarred Lists

Procurement Requests

BPP

Vendors Database

Goods / Price DatabaseMDAs

Projects

Black / Debarred Lists

Audits

Procurement Posting

Functions and Features

Issues Approvals

Handles Petitions

Publications and Reports

PPRA

BPP

Vendors Database

Goods / Price DatabaseMDAs

Projects

Black / Debarred Lists

Procurement Requests

Audits

Procurement Posting

Functions and Features

Issues Approvals

Handles Petitions

Publications and Reports

Arrange Training

MDAs

Issues Publications & Reports

Each State Party shall, in accordance

with the fundamental principles of its

legal system, take appropriate measures

to promote transparency and accountability

in the management of public finances.

Such measures shall encompass, inter alia:

(a) Procedures for the adoption of the

national budget;

(b) Timely reporting on revenue and

expenditure;

(c) A system of accounting and auditing

standards and related oversight;

(d) Effective and efficient systems of risk

management and internal control; and

(e) Where appropriate, corrective action

in the case of failure to comply with

the requirements.

UNCAC, Article 9. Public procurement

and management of public finances

Key Features of goPRS

Oversight goPRS is being developed as a tool to enhance the ability of a PPRA to oversee and monitor individual procurements and to review specific contract awards which fall above prior review thresholds (the issue of cumulative contracts needs to be borne in mind i.e. where framework agreements are used). Information Technology has the potential to increase the efficiency of the procurement process in terms of both time and money and to ensure that each procurement follows the UNCITRAL principles of accountability, fairness, transparency and equality.

Monitoring goPRS is being designed to organise data and information to provide MDA’s with the information needed to better manage the procurement process as a whole. By identifying inefficiencies, gaps and redundancies in procurement procedures, efficiences in both time and money can be achieved. Importantly, MDAs will be able to reference pricing data and access information on the eligibility and qualifications of specific bidders.

Prevention and Detection goPRS is designed to systematically gather data and knowledge of corruption patterns and modalities in procurement by focusing on understanding the actual experience of corruption, its forms and the areas of vulnera-bilities. Different from opinion-based methods, goPRS is an evidence-based approach that collects and analyzes data on patterns of unexpected prices or other information to provide more solid and actionable evidence of possible corruption and its nature. The goal of goPRS is not to simply score or rank, but rather to produce information for analysis, management and decision-making to obtain greater value for money and to deter fraud and corruption.

ELECTRONIC ELECTRONIC ELECTRONIC ELECTRONIC ELECTRONIC ELECTRONIC CASE FILECASE FILECASE FILE

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AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING & TRACKING &

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STANDARD STANDARD STANDARD STANDARD STANDARD STANDARD FEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURES

REPORT REPORT REPORT REPORT REPORT REPORT WRITERWRITERWRITERWRITERWRITERWRITER

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MODULEMODULEMODULEMODULEMODULEMODULE & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES CATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUE

DATA DATA DATA IMPORTIMPORTIMPORTIMPORTIMPORTIMPORT

WORKFLOW WORKFLOW WORKFLOW ENGINEENGINEENGINE

ANALYTICAL ANALYTICAL ANALYTICAL ANALYTICAL ANALYTICAL ANALYTICAL COMMODITY COMMODITY COMMODITY & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES & SERVICES

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACTION PROCESS

ANALYSE - PPRA

APPROVE - PPRA

REQUEST - MDACommunication from MDA -

Requesting Certificate of «No Objection» to PPRA

CONTACT DETAILSFor more information about goPRS, please contact:

Websites: unodc.org, goprs.unodc.org, goidm.unodc.org

Version 1.1, September 2012

Julia Paschal Davis, Director, Center for Public Procurement Law and PolicyInternational Law InstituteThe Foundry Building1055 Thomas Jefferson St, NWWashington, DC 20007 USA

Office phone: (+1-202) 247-6006Fax: (+1-202) 247-6010Email: jdavis@ili.org

Alain Nkoyock, Chief, Corporate Networks UnitInformation Technology ServiceDivision for ManagementUnited Nations Office on Drugs and CrimeVienna International Centre, Austria

Office phone: (+43-1) 26060-5979Mobile phone: (+43-699) 1459-5979Email: alain.nkoyock@unodc.org