Crown Agents delivered a new course entitled 'e-procurement: Strategies for Success' in July at our International Training Centre.
The course was aimed at public sector clients interested in implementing e-procurement and drew 13 participants from 8 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe representing parastatals organisations, finance ministries, line ministries and procurement oversight bodies.
The course explored with delegates various aspects of e-procurement including :
- The e-procurement maturity model involving a step by step approach;
- The effective implementation of a Procurement Management Information System;
- How e-procurement can support efficient and accurate control over spending and therefore can assist aid recipient economies to attract increased funding from international donors.
- The benefits of improving the collection of detailed spend data;
- Strengthening the transparency of the procurement process;
- Achieving time and cost efficiencies in the procurement process;
- Generating increased competition for government procurement contracts and the resulting opportunity to achieve a significant reduction in the cost of goods and services;
- The importance of an effective change management strategy involving people, process and technology;
- Best practice for the purchasing of an Procurement Management Information System and implementation strategies and action plans.
This new course provided participants with an interactive training experience utilising group discussion, relevant case studies and a workshop approach and also featured live product demonstrations of two current e-procurement packages. The delegates made enthusiastic contributions towards the course and it also provided a unique opportunity to share experiences and ideas on e-procurement from various different countries and organisations.
The feedback received from participants was very encouraging:
"It acted as a catalyst in enhancing my current skills of managing Procurement Management Information System (PMIS). The course allowed me to gain knowledge of the pre-requisites for e-Procurement as well as creating an optimal PMIS and e-strategy."
Mrs Shikha Chopra, IT Consultant, , Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India
"I now have an in depth knowledge of the whole concept of e-procurement including details of readiness assessment which brings in the issues of requirements and specifications."
Mr Daniel Osei-Boakye, Procurement Manager, Land Administration Project, Ministry of Lands, Mines and Forestry, Ghana