Public order: 13,510 contracts executed in 3 years

2023-11-27 07:37:47

• For a total amount of more than 900 billion FCFA

• 38 companies excluded in 2022

• Numerous regulatory innovations in 2024

The Permanent Secretary of ARCOP, Modeste Yaméogo, insisted on improving the legal framework for public procurement to clean up the sector. (Ph. Yvan Sama)

Lhe 2020, 2021 and 2022 activity reports revealed their secrets on Friday November 10, 2023, in Ouagadougou, through a press conference initiated by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (ARCOP). The Chairman of the Board of Directors of ARCOP, Abdallah YC Traoré, underlined that in terms of statistics on public procurement, ARCOP had identified, in 2022, 3,142 public contracts for 162,165,475,575 FCFA. 5,379 contracts concluded in 2021 for a financial envelope of 266,509,538,543 FCFA, compared to 4,989 contracts in 2020 for a total amount of 498,149,613,846 FCFA. Over these three years, ARCOP has accumulated 13,510 execution contracts for a total amount of 926,824,627,964 billion FCFA. According to the speakers, in 2022, 38 companies were excluded from public procurement, 31 companies in 2021 and 29 companies in 2020. As part of the handling of disputes linked to the public procurement process, Abdallah YC Traoré declared that 127 sessions of the The Dispute Settlement Body (ORD) made it possible to examine, in 2022, 1,171 requests, including 1,032 in matters of litigation, 81 in matters of conciliation and 58 in matters of discipline. In 2021, the DSB held 116 sessions to hear 983 appeals, while in 2020, 115 sessions were held for 1,063 registered requests.

Perspectives

The speakers were accompanied by Roland Sow, member of the Board of Directors. (Ph. Yvan Sama)

In terms of prospects, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Permanent Secretary of ARCOP, Modeste Yaméogo, insisted on improving the legal framework for public procurement. Work to reread the law relating to the general regulation of public procurement and its implementing decrees was started in 2022, as well as the revision or adoption of certain relevant texts. They returned to the fact that in terms of continuous capacity building of public and private actors in public procurement, ARCOP carried out, in 2022, a study to develop training procedures and organized 14 training sessions at the profit of 454 participants.

It appears that ARCOP has adopted a national sustainable public procurement strategy for the period 2023-2027, accompanied by an implementation action plan covering 2023 to 2025. Abdallah YC Traoré noted that in the area of integrity of the public procurement system, ARCOP ensured, in 2022, the evaluation of the performance of public procurement actors, the processing of 4 cases of denunciation and the carrying out of an investigation into the recommendations of the independent audit mission. Compared to the two previous years, 6 cases of denunciation were processed and 3 investigative missions carried out on the quality of public works, in 2021, while the independent audit of public procurement contracts in 2018 and 2019, the processing of 7 denunciations received, as well as the conduct of 2 fact-finding missions were carried out in 2020.

Boxed

ARCOP calls on all stakeholders on the need to:

-substantial strengthening of the volume of public procurement at the decentralized and decentralized levels;

-stabilization of staff in charge of awarding public contracts to structures;

-carrying out an audit of structures (contracting authorities) which record a high number of well-founded complaints;

-definition of a public procurement policy in Burkina Faso;

-strengthening the powers of the ORD, especially by giving it the power to take decisions, when the general interest is at issue, within the framework of the examination of a conciliation file;

-regular administrative monitoring of the execution of contracts by the contracting authorities, in order to prevent failures.

Source: Press kit