A two day national value for money (VFM) workshop was held in Accra at the Novotel conference facility in mid 10th and 11th August 2010. The workshop began with a brief introduction delivered by Mr Sam Brandful, Country Manager, Crown Agents Ghana and Mrs Effie Simpson Ekuban, Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Ghana (MOFEP). The Chief Director stated that many millions of dollars of savings have resulted from the VFM audit programme which has been undertaken by Crown Agents over the past 10 years. In addition to the cost savings, the VFM audits have resulted in improved technical specifications, performance criteria and contract terms.
The Crown Agents VFM audit programme, undertakes audit reviews on the contract documentation for high value capital procurement projects for the government of Ghana. These projects are financed by long term, low interest credit agreements from foreign governments. Due to the nature of the funding, the procurements are 'single sourced', which resulted in the need for independent external auditing to ensure transparency and value for money.
For the first three years the programme was funded by the Department for International Development, and in 2003 the programme continued under funding from MOFEP, which is still on going.
During the 10 years the programme has been operating, a total of 119 requests for VFM audits have been received by Crown Agents. The total value of the audits which have been undertaken to date is US$ 3.67 billion, which is an average of US$ 367 million per annum over the 10 years. However throughout the last 2 years, the average annual value of contracts which have been assessed has increased significantly to US$ 745 million per annum. Crown Agents has recommended savings totalling US$ 530 million since the start of the programme, of which US$ 405 million has been during the period January 2008 to date.
In 2009 Crown Agents discussed a proposal to hold a stakeholder workshop during 2010 with MOFEP. They welcomed the proposal and agreed to fund the conference facilities and promote the workshop within the various Ghanaian ministries. Invitations were sent to the 20 ministries and departments which had been involved with the VFM audit programme, with a total of 47 delegates were chosen to attend the workshop representing a wide spectrum of the benefiting government departments.
During the intensive workshop with Mr Bernard Moro, Crown Agents' Project Manager and Mr Anthony Vander Willigen, Crown Agents' Technical Advisor, were facilitators and a delegate from the Public Procurement Authority of Ghana (PPA) gave an account of the functions of the PPA and procedures relating to single sourcing. This was followed by a number of formal presentations on topics including; concepts of value for money, documents required for VFM audits, employer's requirements and price estimating. The workshop was conducted in an open, participative manner and there was a high level of interaction between the delegates and the facilitators. Two case studies were undertaken by delegates who engendered further active discussion, not to mention some differences of opinion, which served as a sound learning experience. The delegates gave very positive comments on the training and the benefits gained.