From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Rehabilitation of some selected roads in Osun State would begin soon as contractors emerged through the public procurement software, the state government has disclosed.
The public procurement software was used in the award of contracts to further showcase the public financial management of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
Noting that, without interference, the software advertised, processed bids and selected the most qualified contractor for the award of the rehabilitation of selected roads in Osogbo/Irepodun/Orolu Federal Constituency, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, said the state has been taken on a higher pedestal in transparency.
Oyebamiji said the governor insisted on the introduction and usage of the software because he believed in public financial management and the need to be transparent and credible in the award of contracts to get the best.
According to him, Governor Oyetola, from his 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 institutionalise transparency and accountability.
‘Through the software, Governor Oyetola has helped the state to join the committee of states using a globally accepted and time tested procurement platform to carry out procurement activities to aid ease of doing business and enhance credibility and time management.
‘Every step of the procurement process leading to the award of the contract 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 have been built into the system, removing human intervention. All bidders seat in their office and watched 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 heralds for the state the digitalisation 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, Bello Adegboyega, said every contractor now knows that they stand a better chance of participating in the procurement process as soon as they register on the database, stressing that time-wasting and paperwork are now eliminated.
