Fed ministry of works tackles BPP over inflated contracts allegation

The federal ministry of works and housing has picked hole in the Bureau of Public Procurement’s (BPP) alleged savings of N26 billion through the revision of the inflated contracts awarded by the ministry in 2018.

In a statement issued by Hakeem Bello, media adviser to Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, the ministry said the phantom savings could only be a ‘subjective assessment’ based on rates quoted by contractors, reviewed by ministry and sent to BPP for certification.

“Being a department of the same government, ordinarily this should not warrant a reply; however the misleading nature of the Reporting in the media and the statements credited to BPP compel a response for the purposes of clarification and enlightenment of the public.

“Any person who takes time to read the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, which created the BPP will understand that no contract can be awarded until BPP certifies that it has NO OBJECTION.

“Therefore there was no infaled contract because BPP clearly stated that it reduced the costs, and according to BPP she “… saved over N26 Billion…”

The ministry noted that until BPP published its rates which the then ministry of power, works and housing has demanded in writing, there can be no objective basis for determining whether any savings were indeed made if only BPP knows its own rates for procurement.

“Once rates are published and design is known, quantities can be ascertained and costs can be determined.

“This is the field of quantity surveyors and construction economists, and the minister of works and housing has not made any secret about his call for a revision of the Public Procurement Act to resolve this and other gaps in the Law”, the statement said..

The ministry further explained that during the first term of the government, it commissioned the compilation of a service wide rate of major items of procurement from the largest to the smallest for BPP to consider, adopt or amend and publish.

“This is the type of Reform that the Minister advocates and welcomes to improve uniformity, Transparency, Accountability and value for money in public procurement”, it further stated.