An Appraisal of Single-Source Procurement in Ghana

Abstract

The engine that drives Ghana’s Public Procurement Policy is the Public Procurement Act, 2003(Act 663), as amended by the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016(Act 914). The use of single-source procurement method by public procurement entities is permitted under Act 663(as amended). The avowed purpose for the method is captured eloquently in section 40 of the Act and includes, inter alia, a situation where goods, works or services are only available from a particular supplier or contractor, or procurement that has to do with catastrophic events or one that concerns national security.

(a)The article throws a critical searchlight on the Ghanaian single-source procurement law (b)The methodology employed is a comparative one whereby the following models; United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (UNCITRAL) Model law (2011), Botswana and Uganda, are appraised with the Ghanaian version. The comparison reveals that the hub of the matter of the challenge facing Ghana’s public procurement is the elusiveness in determining the practical parameters for application of the single-source method. Having identified the weaknesses in the Ghanaian single-source procurement law and practice, palliatives are suggested resorting to single-source innovations in other jurisdictions.

Keywords: Appraisal, Botswana, Comparative analysis, Ghana, Innovation, Procurement, Single-Source, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, UNCITRAL

Subject: Procurement Law and Policy