ODBPP TRAINS SMEs ON COVID-19 AND OTHER EMERGENCY PROCUREMENT GUIDELINES
Earlier this year the World Bank initiated moves to help cushion the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. This led to the synchronizing of the review of budgets to reflect priorities while reducing luxuries to the barest minimum in all 36 States of the federation. A major aspect of the reviewed budgets was to cater for projects that could be handled by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in view of the fact that they were the hardest hit during the pandemic. The deadline for the review of the budget was June 30, 2020. Ondo State was one of the States that made the cut.
This success led to the next stage which included other components including tax and public procurement. The aim was to churn out guidelines and policies that will ease contract award process and reduce the stringent conditions such that the SMEs, the incontrovertible largest contributors to and drivers of the economy will not remain comatose and, by extension, the economy will be active and bullish.
To surmount this task, which also had a deadline of September 30, 2020; the Ondo State Bureau of Public Procurement (ODBPP) organized a 2-pronged training programme for over 150 SMEs at the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) Hall on 23rd – 24th and 28th – 29th September, 2020.
To accomplish the all-important task, the Governor of Ondo State Arakunrin Oluwarotimi, SAN, had magnanimously approved the release of funds for the training programme. This enabled the Bureau to engage a consultant, Colt System Consulting, to develop 3 holistic documents for use from the Training to implementation of the procurement processes. These are:
- Ondo State Public Procurement Guide for SMEs and Bidders.
- Emergency Guidelines for the Procurement of Goods, Works and Services by Procuring Entities in Ondo State for Covid-19 and Other Emergency Situations.
- The SME Guidelines For Public Procurement in Ondo State.
In addition, the consultants were to also facilitate the Training of the SMEs.
The Training was declared open by the Director General of the Ondo State Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr. Tolu Fadahunsi, who charged the participants to pay attention and take maximum use of the privilege availed by the Training, considering that all SMEs could not have been invited. He charged that the Training had nothing to do with politics but purely economy because the planners of the Training had correctly envisaged that SMEs, unlike large-scale enterprises, did not have the internal mechanisms and shock absorbers to cope with the devastating effects of the pandemic and, as such, the Training was organized for SMEs to cushion the impact of Covid-19 on their businesses. He added that the World Bank and the State Government were also interested in the participation of SMEs in public procurement and thus created this special window for them to participate in bidding for government contracts.
Resource persons included Dr J.K Naiyeju, Dr Yomi Adetula, Mr Akintunde Omomofe and Mr Kayode Ajomole. Topics fielded included:
- Public Procurement and SMEs Development in Nigeria/Ondo State
- SMEs Development: Re-Inventing Business Model Through Innovation and Information Technology.
- Overview of Public Procurement in Ondo State.
- SME Guidelines for Public Procurement in Ondo State.
The participants had the privilege to ask various questions that bothered them and also for clarity. The organizers provided lecture materials, lunch, certificates of participation and transportation stipend to all the participants while assuring them of due consideration and level ground when the Ondo State Government rolls out the projects.
The participants confessed that they had been able to acquire knowledge on how to access public procurement opportunities and government contract.
Covid-19 protocols were observed throughout the Training programmes.
