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Recall that on March 22, 2023, ROUNDCHECK published a close-check on the Ondo State Bureau of Public Procurement (ODBPP), where it found that the web address/website was inactive and inaccessible.
In the report, ROUNDCHECK reported that according to the Ondo State procurement law, Section 5(s), the bureau should provide a single internet portal to serve as a primary source of information on government procurement.
Therefore, the inactive website contradicts the procurement law, which undermines transparency and accountability.
Following this previous report, we revisited the website on 8th of April, 2023, to check for possible updates.
While we observe that the website is now active, further exploration of the pages and subpages revealed that there is still no content under some of them.
More Read
The subpages contain E-Procurement, E-Benchmarking, Vendors, News & Updates, Procurement Law, Procurement Manuel, Standard Bidding Document for goods, Standard Bidding Document for Procurement of Works, About BPP, Administration, OCDS Awards, Resources, Tenders, Careers, and Contact Us.
We also found that the link leading to the E-Procurement subpage is inactive, indicating that citizens cannot access the state government procurement portal for public information.
Furthermore, ROUNDCHECK observed that the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) Awards, which are in subcategories, are yet to be updated with relevant information to serve the public.
For example, we clicked on the Award Contracts, and the result shows that there are no content available under most of the subcategories found. Also, no content is found under the registered awards, for procurement officers, procurement plans, or history subpages.
The Ondo State Government contract awards dated 2019, 2020, and 2021, which also have subcategories of contract awards, contract awards to SMEs, and contract awards in November, are not updated.
While in the subcategories of the 2022 ODSG contract awards, contract awards in March, April, and June are yet to be updated, the contract awards in November and December are updated with public procurement information.
For the subcategories of the 2023 ODSG contract awards, contract updates for February, March, and April have also been updated.
Conclusion
In order to promote transparency, it was observed that the Bureau has made changes to its procurement procedures. The Bureau introduced a new system that allows vendors to submit their bids online, thereby reducing physical contact.
While this development is acknowledged, it is expected that the procurement webpage will be updated to provide access to information regarding the oversight of public procurement of goods and services in Ondo State.
