By Kingsley Omoyeni
It was yet another feat for the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in the area of public financial management as the Public Procurement Agency’s Software was put into use in the award of contract for some selected roads in the State.
Without interference, the software advertised, processed bids and eventually selected the most qualified contractor in the award of the rehabilitation of selected roads in Osogbo/Irepodun/Orolu Federal Constituency taking the State on a higher pedestal in transparency.
Speaking shortly after witnessing the bidding and selection process, Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji said Governor Adegboyega Oyetola insisted on the introduction and usage of the software because of his beliefs in public financial management and the need to be transparent and credible in award of contracts to get the best.
He said Governor Oyetola, from the first day in office made it clear that he has come to serve the people of Osun through a transparent and open government, hence the Governor’s move to institutionalize transparency and accountability.
The Commissioner added that through the software, Governor Oyetola has helped the State to join the committee of states using globally accepted and time tested procurement platform to carry out procurement activities to aid ease of doing business and enhance credibility and time management.
Explaining how the software selected the winner for the rehabilitation of the selected roads, the Commissioner said, ” Every step of the procurement process leading to the award of the contact was done online including the bid evaluation process where all the bidders logged on to a zoomed account to witness the process.
“At the end of the day, the system automatically threw up the ultimate winner based on some preset criteria which has been built into the system, removing human intervention. All bidders seat in their office and watch as each of the bids were evaluated until the software automatically generated an award letter to the winner.
“This is the first time we will be having something of this magnitude in Osun and it also herald for the State the digitalization of the entire procurement process going forward, something which we are so proud of as a government”. Oyebamiji stated.
Also speaking, the General Manager, Osun Public Procurement Agency, Mr Bello Adegboyega said every contractor now knows that they stand a better chance of participating in procurement process as soon as they register on the data base, stressing that time wasting and paper work are now completely eliminated.
