NPPA Equips Staff with Skills for Digitized Price Norm Reporting

The Management of the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) has conducted an internal training session aimed at equipping its staff with the necessary skills for digitized price norm reporting through the Electronic Government Procurement (E-GP) system.

The training, which focused on capturing, validating, and publishing price norm data, forms part of a series of preparatory sessions designed to strengthen staff capacity ahead of the full implementation of the Authority’s digital procurement reforms.

Speaking on behalf of the E-GP team, Consultant Alie Bangura underscored the importance of the training in preparing staff to transition from manual processes to a fully digital system for managing price-norm information. He noted that the initiative is critical to improving efficiency, accuracy, and transparency in public procurement.

During the session, participants were introduced to the E-GP portal as the official platform for entering, reviewing, and publishing price norm data. They were guided on how market data collected by field teams would be uploaded into the system, subjected to internal validation, and subsequently published for public access.

The training also provided a step-by-step demonstration on creating price norms within the system. This includes navigating the “Price Norm Add” feature, entering relevant details such as title, description, and start date, and generating item categories with unique identification codes. Participants were further shown how to select items from the Item Master database and include specifications such as country of origin and other key details.

Facilitators highlighted the significance of the Item Master as the central database for all items used in price norms. Staff were trained on how to upload items using CSV or Excel files, as well as how to manage the database by adding, editing, or removing entries. It was emphasized that updates to uploaded files automatically replace existing datasets, requiring careful maintenance to ensure data accuracy.

Participants welcomed the initiative and acknowledged the importance of strengthening internal capacity to support the effective rollout of the E-GP platform. The session concluded with an agreement to hold follow-up engagements to address technical concerns and system configuration issues as NPPA continues to advance its digital procurement infrastructure.