The fact that it is online and web-based ensures transparency and efficiency which are among the core objectives of public procurement. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria and has the potential of being used across Africa.

The innovation was launched in 2012 and so far there are about 50,000 contractors, consultants and service providers registered on the system. The idea started with the urgent need to address the problems of unprofessionalism, lack of competence and specialization by contractors which led to the incessant cases of abandoned and uncompleted projects in Nigeria. It was realized that a solution to that was to develop a database that will capture information of all contractors to include their contact, business category, financial strength, previous jobs executed, the experience of the personnel.

The information provided by the contractors will then be used to categorize and classify the contractors. We have now been able to successfully categorize and classify initial batches of registered and verified contractors. Some of the achievements recorded include having a centralized database of about 50,000 contractors so far. Our monitoring and evaluation for the project revealed a significant success, however, we have embarked on improvement and are now developing a version 2 of the application to capture all observations and address the deficiencies of the current system.

The innovation was conceptualized by the Bureau of Public procurement. However, the Bureau partnered with other relevant stakeholders including Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers, Professional Regulatory Bodies, etc. Their input was useful in making the project a success.

The system is owned by the Bureau of Public Procurement. Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) contributed to molding the concept as they are the implementers of the projects. The contractors were also sensitized on the need to key into the idea. The input by Professional regulatory Bodies was also useful as they mostly deal with the contractors on a professional level. In all, the different contributions and input by the stakeholders made the innovation successful.

• Some of the results achieved include cost saving by contractors through single registration with the Bureau as opposed to multiple agencies.
• Categorization based on business specialization and expertise and classification based on financial/technical capacities and turnover of completed jobs will greatly enhance professionalism and effective project management.
• reduced incidence of failed and abandoned projects as contractors will be required to provide verifiable job completion status reports from agencies to maintain status in the system.
• Elimination of ghost and phantom contractors as particulars and ownership details are captured in the database.
• Interested stakeholders and the general public have access to details of contract performance records of Contractors in the database thereby enhancing greater transparency in public procurement.
• Increased diligence in adopting the use of restricted tendering by procuring entities as the database can be queried to access the list of all registered contractors for any particular category of procurement.
• An overall reduction in the procurement cycle as procuring entities can utilize the database for pre-qualification of bidders.

Some of the initial challenges encountered include resistance and lack of support from political leaders as the system is seen as disruptive of the status quo which encourages corruption. However, with continued engagement and sensitization, they gradually supported the project. Another challenge was computer literacy among contractors who use the system.

I think there must be political will first and foremost. Then there must be strong institutions as well as IT infrastructure. On the same vein, finance is equally critical. Finally, change management must also be considered as people are always apprehensive to change and not ready to relinquish the status quo.

This innovation is not too complex or complicated. It mainly involves automating normal manual processes. Hence, it has the potential for replication to solve similar problems or issues. We are ready to share experience

We would like to share our experience and the fact that Africa can be great with the adoption of innovation and technology in governance. Our message is mainly that technology can be used as a tool to fight corruption, entrench good governance by ensuring transparency, efficiency, and accountability. We would also want to show that political will and commitment is critical and can make or mar any initiative.

We see it as a revolutionary tool for entrenching good governance in Africa and beyond.