National Blood Service CEO referred to A-G over alleged procurement breaches
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) has referred the Chief Executive Officer of the National Blood Service to the Attorney General's office over alleged breaches of the Public Procurement Act (PPA).
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Dr. Shirley Owusu Ofori, was sighted in the 2022 Auditor General's report of undertaking a single source or restricted tendering without prior approval by the Public Procurement Authority.
The committee chaired by the Member of Parliament for Ketu North, James Klutse Avedzi, also noted that the National Blood Service failed to embark on a ratification exercise to enable the PPA to give it a retrospective approval to legitimise the sole source adventure.
Dr Ofori told the committee that indeed, a letter has been written to that effect seeking a retroactive approval which is yet to be done.
The chair of the Committee said failure to get it done, the CEO will be surcharged with the amount involved.
But while waiting for that, he referred the CEO to the Attorney General's office for prosecution.
Mr Avedzi bemoaned the penchant of almost all the agencies under the ministry of health for undertaking sole sourcing when there are no emergencies or disasters.
Some of the sole sourcing by some of the agencies is as high as GHS 3.7 million without recourse to the PPA.
The Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) and its accompanying regulations, provide a framework for the procurement of goods, works, and services by public entities.
Restricted tendering is a procurement process where the organisation identifies and invites only a limited number of suppliers to submit bids for a particular project or contract in an emergency situation or during a disaster.
Mr Avedzi questioned what could prevent such agencies from inviting three quotations from interested people for competitive bidding.
