Madagascar/ an e-GP Platform to Improve Procurement and Its Execution Process

In the frame of improving public procurement system and the dematerialization of its process, the Madagascar Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (MPPRA) has got since Friday, October 17, 2021 an e-GP platform developed thanks to the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through its budgetary management project for inclusive growth for the attainment of sustainable development goals being implemented thanks to the partnership with the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

For Mr. Razafy Harison Vonjy, the Director General of the MPPRA, the elaboration of that online platform for the public procurement management comes as a solution to the challenges encountered. Some of these challenges are, inter alia, the reduction of corruption risks (traceability with a unique login), less paperwork, improvement of transparency, increase in the number of candidates for each specific notice and the increase in the equal chance for the candidates to tenders.

Based on the information collected on the information website of the MPPRA, this new online platform aims at enabling through its various functions, the automation of the different steps in procurement and its execution such as the editing of the public procurement annual plan via e-planning; the automation of tender dossier editing via e-dossier; online payment management via e-payment, tender submissions online via e-submission; the computerization of bid evaluations via e-evaluation; the computerization of contract editing via e-contract and even the management itself of contracts by e-management.

The other aim of the platform is to allow data exchanges between different entities involved in the procurement process, namely the National Procurement Commission, the Central Bank of Madagascar, the tax Department, the Treasury Department, primary banks and mobile banking operators.

Thanks to e-GP, economic operators, especially those of the private sector, can submit electronically their bids; it’s also a great opportunity for the civil society to consult contracts awarded by the public administration.

In Madagascar, stakes in public procurement are considerable; published figures in 2020 showed that the amount made by public procurement was about MGA 1, 800, which is equal to USD 462.5 million according to the official site of the MPPRA. And only 30% of the dossiers are managed by the computerized system software for the management of public procurement. The remaining 70% of the process are manually submitted.

« The e-GP ownership by all the stakeholders of the procurement process will define its real effectiveness and will be a pledge for change”, said Ms. Natasha van Rijn, the UNDP Resident Representative.

The Madagascar Public Procurement Regulatory Authority being in charge of the fair application of the general principles governing public procurement including free access to public procurement, equal treatment of candidates and transparency in the procedures, it counts a lot on the capitalization of the resources offered by technology innovations and the experiences acquired in the management of public procurement in Madagascar to operate the modernization of methods and tools in use. It also avails itself to learn as it was the case during their participation in knowledge and experience sharing session on “e-GP: Current Status, Opportunities and Challenges” organized by the Technical Secretariat of the African Public Procurement Network, a network Madagascar belongs to as a member country.