The National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) has on the 11th May, 2023, launched the Second Quarter 2023 Public Procurement Price Norm at the Main Conference Hall, Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Tower Hill, Freetown.

According to section 14 (j) of the Public Procurement Act, 2016, the NPPA should on a quarterly basis publish the prices of commonly used items in the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) in other to ensure value for money in the procurement of goods, works, and services.

The Acting Deputy Director of the Procurement Directorate at the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Unisa Dumbuya started by thanking the board, management and staff of the NPPA for the immense transformation of the public procurement landscape and the continuous improvement of the Public Procurement Price Norm. He continued by encouraging public procurement practitioners to continue the usage of the price norm because it is a law and pleaded with the Authority (NPPA) for three things.

Firstly, he asked the Authority to publish the price norm on time because of the instability of prices of commodities, secondly, to ensure that prices in the price norm are differentiated in line with the different International Commercial Terms (INCOTERMS), and finally, to review the 25% price adjustment allowed by the Authority for goods, works, and services because of the present economic situations in the country.

The representative from the Board of the NPPA, Thomas Legg stated that the publication and usage of the price norm is a law and therefore, every public procurement practitioner should ensure the strict use of it. He added that the Authority has been ensuring the publication and strict usage of the price norm since the new administration of the NPPA sets in. He advised procurement practitioners to use the price norm in a way that it will ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the public procurement system.

He acknowledged the instability of prices of commodities in the market but pleaded with public procurement practitioners to inject fairness in the usage of the price norm. He ended his statements by encouraging public procurement practitioners to continue using the price norm and make contributions to it.

The Chief Executive of the NPPA, Ibrahim Brima Swarray started his statements by thanking the board, management, staff of the NPPA, public procurement practitioners, the fourth estate (the media), and other key stakeholders within the public procurement sector for the immense supports he has received from them within these five years. He stated that without them he would not have succeeded. He reiterated that the price norm is a law and as a result of this, every public procurement practitioner should ensure the strict usage of it. He said that the Authority has done immensely well in the fight against corruption and positively transformed the public procurement sector because of the unflinching supports he has received from His Excellency (H.E) Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio over the years. He further pointed out that only Sierra Leoneans are going to make Sierra Leone and thus, every procurement practitioner should play a role in its development.

He further warned those MDAs that are sending restrictive and sole source bidding requests to the NPPA to stop doing that and promised he will not approve their requests because he sees no reason why they should be asking for such procurement methods (sole source and restrictive bidding) at this moment in time.

He ended his statements by calling on all stakeholders in the public procurement sector to continue to support the NPPA in the positive transformation of the sector and thanking the audience present for gracing such an important event. The event was climaxed with a question and answer session, as was reported by the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) directing the general public to contact the Legal and Corporate Affairs Directorate at the National Public Procurement Authority, OAU Drive, Tower Hill, Freetown for more information on the said matter.