LAHORE – Punjab Agriculture Department has launched a Procurement Management Information System (PMIS) for transparent and efficient management of public procurement, leading to good governance and delivering value for taxpayer’s money.
The launching ceremony of PMIS was held at a local hotel which was attended by Agriculture Secretary Wasif Khursid.
Addressing the event, Wasif said PMIS will improve performance, fairness, transparency, efficient economy, accountability and better service delivery in public procurement.
The ICT based platform, he said, was fully compliant with Punjab procurement rules. The system, he added, will offer top management to improve its procurement and financial planning and it will also provide real time monitoring and progress report of all procurement operations.
PMIS will reduce procurement cycle time and associated administrative costs, he said, adding it will strengthen internal control and reduces risks.
The spokesman for Agriculture Department says current public procurement regime in Punjab came into force in 2009 for improving procurement governance in the province. Despite best efforts, enforcement of Public Procurement Rules has remained a challenge. On evaluation of audit reports and objection raised by PPRA on day-to-day procurements by procuring entities, a set of repetitive violations can be identified. These frequent mistakes are mainly due to capacity gaps and lack of understanding of Public Procurement Rules among public officials, which results in non-compliance, audit paras, and even allegations of misappropriation on the procuring entities.
A most viable solution is to ameliorate the situation is using an ICT tools to manage procurement.