A Critique of the Procurement System in The Gambia

Abstract

The landscape of public procurement in The Gambia has reached the new height of unimaginable travesty where unethical practices such as bribes and corrupt practices coupled with non-adherence to the procurement procedures regarding the bidding process have become an entitled-inducement or bidders risked losing potential government contracts and bids. Public procurement activities and programs on goods, works and services, and for connected matters in the Gambia are regulated by the Gambia Public Procurement Act (2014). This Act specifies the rules of procurement. Despite the enactment of the GPPA Act, there have been a plethora of revelations in the forms of allegations being made in the public space regarding unfair bidding processes, victimization, corrupt practices and bribery in the bidding processes of government's procurement and contracts programs. The rationale for enacting the GPPA Act 2014 is to regulate the affairs and processes of public procurement on government contracts. The paper investigates the procurement practices and processes in The Gambia using the most recent April 2020 flawed procurement of basic commodities. The paper is developed using the qualitative research method and reports, articles, and discussions formed the basis of the obtained sources of reference to advance the discourse and create a new body of knowledge, thus opening the nerve centers for a needed empirical study on procurement management in government contracts. The paper highlights the challenges in the procurement system, and proffer recommendations on needed critical reforms and for the applications and enforcement of the provisions of the laws and regulations of the procurement in The Gambia.