The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, has announced that consultations are far advanced for the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to establish five (5) zonal offices in the country, by the end of the year.

These offices will initially be located in Accra, Sekondi-Takoradi, Koforidua, Kumasi and Tamale, all in the Greater Accra, Western, Central, Eastern, Ashanti and Northern Regions respectively, whilst the other five regions will benefit later.

This initiative will enable the PPA in its decentralization process to get closer to the entities and will also afford it the opportunity to closely and effectively monitor procurement activities at the local levels.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu made this known at the 3rd Public Procurement Forum in Accra, yesterday. The forum was under the theme- 'Effective and Efficient Monitoring of Public Procurement for Sustainable National Development.' It was aimed at deliberating on issues relevant to the success of Public Procurement in Ghana.

He asked the Authority to continue to implement initiatives to ensure continuous improvement in the performance levels of the entities, noting that this was the only way to ensure maximum value for the taxpayers' money. "Public Procurement accounts for not less than 50% of the national budget after deduction of personnel emoluments and about 80% of the national tax revenue. Therefore, it constitutes a huge expenditure component of the country's budget", the Finance Minister noted.

In his welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer, Public Procurement Authority, Mr.Adjenim Boateng Adjei revealed that the Authority in 2005 conducted a pilot assessment exercise of 100 Entities, comprising both high and low spending Institutions within the Greater Accra Region, while 213 and 515 Entities were assessed in both 2006 and 2007 financial years.

These, he said include, State-Owned Enterprises, Governmental Institutions, Health Facilities and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

Mr. Adjei was quick to announce that the results collated by these institutions were encouraging and believed that the data collected and analyzed would go a long way to inform policy formulation.

He identified very low value procurement, human resource needs, contract management and closer contact with the Entities as the main areas of concern that had come up and required the Authority's attention to formulate policies to improve these systems.