African procurement leaders commit to implementing innovative technologies

Heads of Public Procurement Regulatory Authorities in Africa signed a declaration to commit to implementing innovative technologies.

Thirteen heads pledged to improve procurement processes with the use of technology following the Global Pubic Procurement Conference held in Washington DC.

The meeting to sign the Digital Revolutions in Public Procurement declaration was led by the Inter-American Development Bank and the African Development Bank.

The heads signed the pledge under the agreement that technology would introduce further efficiency, competition, and transparency to the procurement process.

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“Africa is at the crossroads of development. This conference provides an important networking opportunity and is an eye-opener for many African countries in modernising their procurement function,” remarked Saer Niang, representing the Procurement Regulatory Authority from Senegal.

“The African Development Bank’s new procurement framework encourages the application of new technologies and promotes the use of electronic procurement,” commented Lead Procurement Policy Officer at the bank, Ashraf Ayad.

“Our countries in Africa are at different levels of adopting electronic government procurement and any other form of new information system, which will facilitate and make much more efficient countries’ procurement activities.”