Reported by: Prince Saah
Monrovia, Liberia – Liberia’s Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) has reaffirmed its commitment to digitalizing public procurement while deepening regional cooperation, as officials of Sierra Leone’s National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) concluded a study tour aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability, and efficiency in public financial management.
Speaking Thursday, August, 6, 2026, during the engagement, PPCC Executive Director Bodger Scott Johnson said Liberia’s procurement reform journey has been “deliberate, progressive, and transformational, emphasizing that the government has continuously strengthened the country’s legal, institutional, and operational procurement framework to improve governance and service delivery.
According to him, the reforms are intended to promote competition, fairness, transparency, accountability, and value for money while aligning the procurement system with international best practices and Liberia’s development priorities.
He disclosed that Liberia adopted a phased approach to implementing its Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system rather than pursuing an immediate nationwide rollout.
The PPCC director narrated that the first phase began with six major spending institutions, including the Ministries of Public Works, Health, and Education, the Liberia Revenue Authority, and the PPCC, to test and refine the digital platform.
Following the successful pilot, he said an additional 50 government entities were integrated into the system, bringing the total number of participating institutions to 56.
Also, Johnson noted that procurement directors within those institutions have been provided essential ICT equipment and training to enable them to effectively operate the electronic procurement platform.
He explained that the initial implementation phase helped improve operational procedures, strengthen technical support, and build user confidence, lessons that informed the expansion of the system.
The head of PPCC stressed that technology alone cannot transform procurement without investing in people, adding that the Commission has established dedicated training facilities where procurement practitioners receive continuous capacity-building.
He further highlighted the Commission’s extensive engagement with the private sector through vendor registration and training programs.
According to him, suppliers and contractors are trained to register electronically, access procurement opportunities, submit bids online securely, receive procurement notifications, and manage contracts digitally through what the Commission calls the “e-GP Clinic.”
Moreover, Johnson recalled that Liberia officially launched the electronic procurement platform in February 2025 under the leadership of President Joseph N. Boakai describing the launch as a demonstration of the government’s commitment to transparency, accountability, digital governance, and public sector modernization.
He said the system now enables participating institutions to prepare procurement plans, publish bidding opportunities, issue bid documents, receive electronic submissions, conduct evaluations, process approvals, award contracts, and generate real-time procurement reports from a single integrated platform.
The PPCC boss noted that the electronic platform has significantly reduced paperwork, strengthened audit trails, improved compliance monitoring, enhanced competition, and expanded access to procurement data for informed decision-making.
Johnson also encouraged continued knowledge-sharing among African procurement institutions, stressing that regional cooperation remains essential for improving governance systems across the continent.
Speaking on behalf of the visiting delegation, Fodie Konneh, CEO of Sierra Leone’s National Public Procurement Authority said the study tour was intended to strengthen collaboration between Liberia and Sierra Leone in public procurement and public financial management.
Konneh described procurement as the foundation of sound public financial management and emphasized that closer cooperation between neighboring countries would contribute to stronger institutions and regional development.
He said Sierra Leone chose Liberia because of its progress in implementing electronic procurement and hoped to learn from Liberia’s experiences, challenges, and best practices as Sierra Leone advances its own digital procurement reforms.
Also, the head of the delegation expressed interest in benchmarking the PPCC’s institutional operations, training programs, and electronic procurement implementation to identify practices that could be adapted within Sierra Leone’s procurement system.
He further emphasized the importance of African-led solutions through regional bodies such as the African Public Procurement Network, calling for stronger collaboration among African procurement institutions to promote transparency, innovation, and sustainable public financial management across the continent.
