ACT - Sierra Leone

1 THE public procurement ACT, 2016 ARRANGEMENT OF 1 II ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTIONS OF NATIONAL PUBLICPROCUREMENT of National public procurement of of members of of of of of of of of report of of to obtain and prohibition of disclosure of III procurement COMMITTEES AND procurement staff to be procurement Review IV GENERAL PROVISIONS ON procurement of and modification of bidding and prequalification for description of goods, works and for bids and other of processes for rejection of all notice of contract of unsuccessful of administration and reports of procurement of public of bidders and of bidders and of V METHODS OF of procurement competitive competitive competitive for restricted for for procedures for request for procedures for sole-source VI BIDDING to of.

2 Evaluation and comparison of of bid evaluation of of of bid and signature of for consultant s based on quality and based on VII COMPLAINTS to by head of procuring by Independent procurement Review VIII DISPOSAL OF STORES AND to IX C H E D U L EiiACTS upplement to the Sierra Leone Gazette Vol. CXLVII, No. 10dated 25th February, 2016 Short 12016 Sierra LeoneThe public procurement Act, an Act to make provision for the continuance inexistence of the National public procurement Authority, to furtherregulate and harmonise public procurement processes in the publicservice, to decentralize public procurement to procuring entities, topromote economic development, including capacity building in thefield of public procurement by ensuring value for money in publicexpenditures and the participation in public procurement by qualifiedsuppliers, contractors, consultants and other qualified providers ofgoods.

3 Works and services and to provide for other related matters.[]ENACTED by the President and Members of Parliament in thispresent Parliament of com-mencement .SIGNED this 11th day of February, ERNEST BAI KOROMA, 1 public procurement Act2016No. 1 public procurement Act2016 PART I PRELIMINARY1.(1) This Act shall apply to the procurement of goods, worksand services, including any procurement financed in whole or in partfrom public or donor funds by the following bodies or organizations-(a)Government Ministries, departments andagencies;(b) local councils;(c)sub-vented agencies;(d)state-owned enterprises which utilise publicfunds;(e)universities, colleges, hospitals, companiesand other institutions which are whollyowned by the State or in which the State hasat least 25% interest; and(f)any entity in the private sector which is giventhe responsibility for carrying out activitiesusing public funds.

4 (2)Where this Act conflicts with the procurement rulesof a donor or funding agency, the application of which is mandatorypursuant to or under an obligation entered into by the Governmentof Sierra Leone , the rules of the donor or funding agency shall prevail;but in all other respects, procurement shall be governed by this Act.(3) Where the Minister responsible for defence ornational security, with the approval of the Defence Council,determines that a procurement related to national defence or nationalsecurity requires the application of special measures, the applicationof the rules and procedures set out in this Act may be modified by theNational public procurement Authority, but the modification shall begoverned only by defence or national security considerations.

5 (4)For the purposes of subsection (3), procurement ofitems such as general stores, uniforms, stationery, office equipmentand standard vehicles shall not be classified as national defence ornational security procurement .(5)In implementing this Act, including the compositionof boards, committees and other organs provided therein, regardshall be had to compliance with the Government s policy of promotingthe appointment and full participation of In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires Authority means the National public ProcurementAuthority referred to in section 3; bid means, a proposal or quotation submitted by abidder in response to an invitation by a procuringentityaccording to the type of procurement methodbeing used.

6 Bid security means the bank guarantee or other formof security submitted by a bidder together with a bidto secure the obligations of the bidder participatingin a bidding proceeding, including the obligation tosign a procurement contract if the bid is accepted, inaccordance with the requirements of this Act andthe bidding documents; Board means the Board of the Authority; collusive practices means a scheme or arrangementbetween two or more parties with or without theknowledge of the procuring entity, designed toestablish prices at artificial, noncompetitive levels; consultant means the provider of intellectualservices, including consultants services; contract means an agreement between a procuringentity and supplier, contractor or consultant resultingfrom procurement processes; 1 public procurement Act2016No.

7 1 public procurement Act2016 contractor means a natural or legal person undercontract with a procuring entity to be a provider ofcivil works; corrupt practice means, corrupt practice as definedin the Anti-Corruption Act; employer means the contracting party benefitingfrom a works contract (usually the procuring entity); force account means the conduct of procurementproceedings by any procuring entity with self-supervision, utilising the entity s own resources; fraudulent practice means a misrepresentation oromission of facts in order to influence a selectionprocess or the execution of a contract; goods means objects of every kind and description,including commodities, raw materials, products andequipment, and objects in solid, liquid or gaseousform, and electricity, as well as services incidental tothe supply of the goods, if the value of thoseincidental services does not exceed that of the goodsthemselves; head of procuring entity means the chief executiveofficer of the entity such as the Minister of a Ministryor the overall head of a procuring entity.

8 Independent procurement Review Panel means theIndependent procurement Review Panel establishedby section 20 for the purpose of conductingindependent administrativereview of challengesto award decisions and complaints arising under thisAct; interest means, any Government Stake, Share,Portion, Claims investment, stock or equity in anyinstitution;45 intellectual services means any activity of anintellectual nature that does not lead to a measurablephysical output; performance security means the bank guarantee orother form of security submitted by the supplier,contractor or consultant to secure their obligationsunder the procurement contract, in accordance withthe requirements in the bidding documents; member means a member of the Board; Minister means the Minister responsible for finance: pr ocur em en t m ea ns t he a cqui si ti on by an ycontractual means of goods, works, intellectualservices or other services; procurement committee means the group within theprocuring entity, comprising officials within andoutside of the entity, referred to in section 18.

9 Procuring entity means any organ of the State orregional and local authorities as well as statutorybodies, public sector corporations which are majorityowned by the Government, public utilities usingrevenue collected by the sale of public services, aswell as any other natural or legal person to whompublic funds have been allocated for use in publicprocurement; procurement unit means the department formallyestablished within the procuring entity to carry outth e procur ement activit ies of t hat en ti ty inaccordance with the functions set out in section 19; public funds means any monetary resources of theState budget, or aid and credits under agreementwith foreign donors, or extra-budgetary resourcesof procuring entities, used in public procurement ;No.

10 1 public procurement Act2016No. 1 public procurement Act2016 public office means, public office as defined in theconstitution of Sierra Leone ; public officer means, public officer as defined in theConstitution of Sierra Leone ; regulations means the regulations issued by theNational public procurement Authority to fulfill theobjectives and to carry out the provisions of thisAct; services means any services other than intellectualservices; supplier means a natural or legal person undercontract with a procuring entity to supply goods,construct works or provide intellectual and otherservices; vote controller means Permanent Secretary of aGovernment Ministry, Chief Administrator of a localcouncil, Managing Director or a General Manager,Executive Director or other head of a State-ownedenterprise, or head of a Government department,agency or commission; works mean s all works associa ted with theconstruction, reconstruction, demolition, repair orrenovation of a building, structure or works, such assite preparation, excavation, erection, building,installation of equipment or materials, decoration andfin ishi ng, as wel l as ser vi ces in ci dent al t oconstruction such as drilling.