Monrovia – The Public Procurement and Concessions Commission(PPCC) with support from the UNDP’s Strengthening National Capacities for Development (C4DE) Program has commenced another round of the Introductory Certificate in Public Procurement–CIPS Accredited Level 2 training for 100 public procurement practitioners representing government agencies and county level institutions.
The training is taking place in the Conference Hall of National Elections Commission in Sinkor.
The first session commenced on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 and will run through Friday, June 17, 2016, while the second session runs from June 20 to 23, 2016. Each session will enroll 50 participants who are mainly procurement officers and directors from the selected institutions of government.
The conduct of this training is a part of the PPCC’s capacity-building interventions aimed at addressing the human resource constraints faced by many government institutions in the administration of procurement, with the view to enhance the levels of effectiveness and efficiency in public procurement.
The training is being conducted in joint partnership with the UNDP and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), headquartered in the United Kingdom. CIPS Level 2 is a foundation course to prepare participants for advanced trainings within the field of public procurement.
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, UK is one of the leading bodies representing the field of procurement and supply chain management.
The UNDP’s support to this initiative is pursuant to a study conducted in 2012/13 which revealed that there is a huge capacity deficit in the field of public procurement which must be adequately addressed to ensure the effective and efficient administration of procurement across the government.
As a result of this study, the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) and its partners conducted two waves of training in public procurement using the UNDP-CIPS curriculum.
The trainings were held from October 20-23, 2015 and October 26 – 29, 2015 respectively. A total of 90 participants from government ministries and agencies were enrolled in the training and certificated following successful completion of basic class room training and work based assignment.
Delivering a special remark at the start of the training on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, PPCC’s Chief Executive Officer, James Dorbor Jallah, said PPCC will continue to champion the cause for a professionalized public procurement system with a view to strengthen institutional capacity within procuring entities.
“The Public Procurement and Concessions Commission envisions providing this training to all qualified public procurement practitioners over the next few years, as the certification to be obtained thereafter will become a requirement for practice within the public sector” Mr. Jallah accentuated.
He indicated that following certification from this training, a professional standards body will be established to regulate admission of practitioners and practice within the public procurement system.