SHORT TITLE
Public Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016
OBJECTIVE OF THE BILL
The objective of the Bill is to:
SCOPE
The analysis of the Bill was done before the Committee consideration and reporting
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
Clause 2 proposes to amend Section 37 of Public Procurement Act 2004 by inserting “Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract of agreement where a contractor fails to deliver a contract within the target period with express permission from the relevant authority, the contractor shall be entitled to a grace of ninety (90) days after which shall be liable to pay a damage not exceeding 5 percent of the contract sum”
ANY SIMILAR EXISTING BILL
There are several Public Procurement Act (amendment) Bills before the National Assembly namely - Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amend.) Bill, 2016 sponsored by Hon Oluwole Oke (HB 475); Public Procurement Act (Amend) Bill, 2016 sponsored by Sen. Sam Egwu (SB 232); and Public Procurement Act 2004 (Amend.) Bill sponsored by Hon. Abbas Tajudeen (HB 541). Two other Bills on PPA amendment before the National Assembly are Public Procurement Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016 (SB 238) sponsored by Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe and Public Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (HB 815).
Each Bill is amending a different section of the Principal Act are at different stages. While SB 232 and HB 475 (see full names above) have been passed at the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, HB 541 sponsored by Hon. Abbas Tajudeen has not yet passed at the House of Reps. The other two (SB 238 & HB 815) are still at first reading stage at the time of this analysis.
CONCLUDING ISSUES
This Bill seeks to amend the Public Procurement Act to provide for damage against the contractor on issues relating to delay in completion of contract and to specify deadlines. The sort of amendments to the Public Procurement Act that Nigeria needs are the ones that would reduce the processing time and make implementation easier; not complex or more complicated.