The Public Procurement Act, 2007, establishes the National Council on Public procurement with functions which include; considering and approving the monetary threshold for public procurements; a prior review of thresholds for the application of the provision of the Act, with regard to public procurements; and the consideration and approval of policies on public procurement, and approval of changes in the public procurement process as provided for under Section 2 of the Act.The objectives for the establishment of the Bureau of Public Procurement are to harmonise existing government policies and practices on public procurement and purchases and ensuring probity, accountability and transparency in public procurement processes. Also, the Bureau is saddled with the establishment of strict pricing standards and benchmarks for the implementation of public procurement by concretising general standards for procurement of goods, services or the award of contracts by all Federal Government agencies and ministries, as provided by Section 4 and Section 17 of the Act.The Bureau of Public Procurement is saddled with the functions of certifying federal procurements and purchases prior to the award of such contracts. Also, it has the responsibility to supervise the implementation of established procurement policies and more importantly prevent fraudulent and unfair procurement and where necessary apply administrative sanctions such as the refusal to issue a Certificate of "No objection" for contract award. This is in a bid to ensure that there is the removal of wastage in the process of awarding public procurement and consequently to discourage corruption in the process.The above responsibility of the Bureau as provided in Section 5 [c], (n), (o) is pivotal in curbing phenomena such as inflated contracts, award of contracts to ghost contractors by providing that all Federal procurement goes through adequate evaluation and scrutiny by the Bureau and as such must receive approval before such procurement is awarded out and approved.It can be argued that the Act being a federal legislation which applies to all Federal agencies and ministries presupposes the fact the Federal Government whether acting through its agencies, ministries or through the Federal Executive Council must comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007 to ensure standards and credibility in the process of award of federal contracts and transparency in the processes of public procurement.Where the Federal Government acts in contravention of its own laws, it amounts to a flagrant disregard for due process and the rule of law. And any act done or procurement executed outside the rule of law as provided by the Public Procurement Act, 2007 will be void ab initio, for a failure to comply with a condition precedent to the award of public purchases, procurement and contracts, with the exception of special goods, works and services involving national defence or security, going by the provisions of Section 15. Government must not be seen to disobey, flout or disregard its own law.Furthermore, the various contracts for the Petroleum downstream sector particularly those contracts surrounding and arising from the fuel subsidies, did they comply with the due process laws' No.For purposes of emphasis, nothing authorises or excempts the FEC weekly contract rituals from complying with the above laws on due process. In fact, it will not only be mischievous but the height of perfidious gimmickry and gormlessness to exclude Federal Government contract awards from the reach of the due process laws.Fred Agbaje Esq.Legal PractitionerPedro Road,Shomolu, Lagos State.
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