The Ministry of Finance has introduced a new electronic government procurement system (E-GPS) to address the existing shortcomings and to facilitate fast tracking procurement decisions, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.
At the launch of the new E-GPS system at the Ministry of Finance today (29), Samaraweera said that Sri Lanka annually spends around a quarter of government expenditure on public procurement, which amounts to nearly 15% of the GDP. Considering the magnitude of that total annual expenditure, it needs closer attention and scrutiny from all the stakeholders in the public management systems as procurement plays a major strategic function.
"Corruption, misappropriation and mismanagement of public assets must be tackled with a policy of zero tolerance, which from my point of view, remain difficult in our part of the world because of systemic weaknesses," Samaraweera said.
The Minister pointed out that in Sri Lanka, the decisions of implementing many important projects are lagging behind because of the manual system that links to the decades’ old complicated governance mechanisms.
"Now in the first quarter of the 21st Century, Sri Lanka as a modern nation, must look forward to utilize new technologies to make our decisions faster, transparent and more accountable. I am convinced that this new E-GPS will save nearly Rupees 30 billion to the Treasury, while improving the public financial management to a greater extent," the Minister added.
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