Public contract tenders to be launched in January

The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Public Contracts, Abba Sadou, has restated his commitment to pursue contracts awards and execution reforms. He was speaking to the press in Yaounde on December 1, 2015 after hours of grilling at the Ngoa-Ekelle glass house where he defended his Ministry’s 2016 draft budget that stands at FCFA 22. 7 billion down from FCFA 23.4 billion in 2015.

Prominent on the chart for 2016 is the continuation of reforms that seek to speed up contracts award and the smooth execution of Public Investment Budget. The Ministry intends in 2016 to continue activities related to the dematerialisation of the first phase of the e-procurement project through the programming and award of certain contracts online. Like in 2015, the Ministry of Public Contracts, MINMAP, will by mid this month, programme all contracts of the 2016 fiscal year, which according to Abba Sadou, will enable the launch of tenders from January 2016, for a maximum of eight months for the execution of contracts.

Minister Abba Sadou has sworn to intensify control missions to ensure the effectiveness and quality of services delivered, see into the respect of deadlines and contractual clause in particular within the framework of physical implementation of projects and the finalisation of the revised Public Contracts Code.

In 2015, the Ministry through its central, regional and divisional tender’s boards awarded 2,805 contracts –about 88.5 per cent of programmed contracts. It also reveals that 248 projects were earmarked for the three-year Emergency Plan, and contracts awards plans were already disclosed to the project oweners concerned. Over 90 of such contracts have already been signed and notified. Abba Sadou stated that the efficient implementation of programmes during 2013-2015 enabled the State to make budgetary savings of more than FCFA 300 billion.