Open Public Procurement Contracting (SL0021)

Status quo or problem/ issue to be addressed
This commitment addresses corruption and misuse of government funds, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and lack of opportunities for businesses in public procurement and public expenditure.
Main objective
The main objective is to improve accountability of procurement management in Sierra Leone.
Brief Description of Commitment (140 character limit)
The government will improve citizen and business access to open, timely, and credible information about public procurement and promote their engagement in monitoring public procurement processes.

Commitment 10. Open Public Contracting

Commitment Text: The government will improve citizen and business access to open, timely, and credible information about public procurement and promote their engagement in monitoring public procurement.

Milestones:

1. Publish on yearly basis all contracts entered into by Government above the threshold for the preceding year: 2015, 2016
2. 8 Ministries (MOFED, MAFFS, MOHS, MEST, MMR, MWHI, MOE, MTA) will proactively publish on NPPA websites contracts entered into with private contractors above the threshold on regular basis (Contract entered between January to December of each year from 2016 to 2018)
3. A forum comprised of public officials, civil society leaders and National Public Procurement Authority to promote open contracting will be established

Responsible institution: National Public Procurement Authority.

Supporting institution(s): Transparency International, Open Contract Partnership, Society for Democratic Initiatives, Budget Advocacy Network, Network Movement for Justice and Development, and Education for All.

Start date: July 2016                                                                                  End date: June 2018

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aimed to improve accountability and transparency in public procurement to minimize corruption and protect public funds. Public agencies’ procurement of goods and services is a major source of corruption in Sierra Leone, according to annual reports of the Auditor General. [68] By increasing the disclosure of information around these procurements and involving citizens in public procurement discussions, the commitment would improve transparency and accountability, which reduces corruption and protects public funds.

Status

Midterm: Limited

There was limited progress on the commitment by the midterm. The National Public Procurement Authority only published contracts awarded during 2016, but not 2015 as required by the commitment. Some ministries mentioned in the commitment did not include their contract information on the website. The forum to bring public officials, civil society and the National Public Procurement Authority was not held. For more information, please see the 2016−2018 midterm report. [69]

End of term: Limited

For Milestone 1: The National Public Procurement Authority’s (NPPA) website did not publish contracts below a certain threshold entered into by government in 2015.

For Milestone 2: Some contracts between the government and private contractors, and above the threshold required by law, were published on NPPA’s website. [70] However, a public notice from NPPA showed that other government ministries and agencies were not cooperating with the requirement to publish all contracts above the stipulated threshold. For instance, in August 2018, NPPA issued a call to all public agencies asking them to publish invitations for contract bids on NPPA’s website. NPPA also issued another notice asking public agencies to publish all contracts above the stipulated threshold on NPPA’s website. In these notices, NPPA said the publications were meant to increase transparency in the award of government contracts and raise public awareness of government contracts. [71]

Milestone 3: A CSO involved with the commitment, the Network Movement for Justice and Development, confirmed that the forum to bring together public officials, civil society, and the NPPA was not held by the end of the implementation period. [72]

Did it open government?

Access to information: Major

Information on the government’s procurement contracts were not being published at the time the action plan was adopted. Disclosure of these contracts was intended to increase transparency of public financial management. The researcher who conducted the February 2017 Sierra Leone Open Contracting Light Assessment and a member of the Steering Committee said the public access to government procurement information was a major opening of government. The government has increased access to information including awarded contracts and cancelled contracts. In the past, no such information was published. [73] However, as indicated in two press releases, limitations remain in the government’s efforts to bring procurement information to the public: agencies were not publishing invitations for contract bids on NPPA’s website; and not all public agencies were publishing all contracts above the stipulated threshold on NPPA’s website. [74]

Carried forward?

The government had not released the third action plan at the time of this report. The commitment should not be carried forward into the next action plan as contracts entered into by government agencies, above the legal threshold, are being published on the National Public Procurement Authority’s website. Public agencies are also being required to announce invitations for bids, and also submit annual procurement plans.

[68] http://www.auditservice.gov.sl/report/assl-auditor-general-annual-report-2016.pdf.

[69] Charlie Hughes, Sierra Leone Mid-Term Report 2016-2018 (OGP, 9 Jul. 2018), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/sierra-leone-mid-term-report-2016-2018-year-1/.

[70] National Public Procurement Authority (Sierra Leone), “Contract Awards” (2019), https://www.publicprocurement.gov.sl/index.php/contract-awards.

[71] http://www.publicprocurement.gov.sl/index.php/public-notice-for-uploading-on-nppa-website. Note, however, that the original link has been out of service.

[72] John Momo (Head of Program, Network Movement for Justice and Development), interview with IRM researcher, 3 Sept. 2018.

[73] John Momo (Head of Program, Network Movement for Justice and Development), interview with IRM researcher, 3 Apr. 2019.

[74] http://www.publicprocurement.gov.sl/index.php/public-notice-for-uploading-on-nppa-website. Note, however, that the original link has been out of service.