Your Excellency, President Joseph Boakai; Honorable Minister Ngafuan, Members of the Cabinet and platform guests; Honorable Bodger Scott Johnson, honored Commissioners, and the PPCC family; members of the diplomatic corps; distinguished officials; ladies and gentlemen:
Thank you for the opportunity to join you today.
On behalf of the World Bank, I would like to heartily congratulate the Republic of Liberia on today’s launch of the E-Government Procurement System. Today marks a catalytic new step in modernizing public procurement systems in Liberia and delivering more transparent and efficient public administration.
E-GP can be a game changer for Liberia. It will automate processes, streamline activities, and help to promote a fair, transparent, and competitive system for managing public funds in Liberia. This has potential to transform public procurement in Liberia, moving from manual to digital processes. E-GP represents an upgrade that will improve efficiency and governance – as well as aligning with international standards.
This is why E-GP matters for Liberian citizens nationwide. By helping to improve procurement planning and associated systems, E-GP will enable enhanced efficiency and integrity in public procurement. It will help make information about public transactions more readily available and will help to rationalize and make the most of public spending. This is at the heart of the GOL’s new ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID), which seeks to strengthen public institutions and financial management.
The World Bank has been honored to support Liberia’s journey to the implementation of e-GP over the past few years, commenced under the Public Financial Management and Institutional Reform Project (PFMRISP), fully funded by IDA. I’ll share a few insights on the Bank’s past support, and future efforts to support the successful rollout of E-GP.
First, the E-GP vendor was competitively hired by the government using World Bank Procurement procedures, with a two-phased contract. The first phase of the Public Financial Management project (PFMRISP) is now completed. A second phase will soon commence under a new project, the Governance Reform and Accountability Transformation (GREAT) Project. The WB has also financed the recruitment of a qualified E-GP Manager, who works closely with the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission to ensure seamless implementation of the program.
* We are excited that the e-GP Portal is now “live.” The World Bank is working with the government of Liberia on the revision of the procurement law that provides the legal mandate to implement e-procurement. The vendor has completed the design and configuration, installation, and roll-out of the e-procurement platform to six (6) MACS of the Government of Liberia under Phase 1, other MACS will be onboarded under the GREAT Project.
* Finally, a key aspect of successful rollout is “change management.” Procurement reforms deep investments in public awareness. This has already commenced, and the PPCC will be reaching out to the general public and key stakeholders of the public procurement ecosystem of Liberia to promote participation and inclusion. We encourage this public awareness program, which will help Liberians nationwide appreciate the enormous benefits of efficiency and transparency that e-procurement brings.
Last, I’d like to thank the World Bank team for walking alongside the GOL during this journey. You’ve shown a lot of heart and commitment.
We look forward to continued close engagement with PPCC and the Government of Liberia to make E-GP a “win” for Liberia and a key enabler of the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
Thank you, and congratulations again!
