The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has organised a four-day workshop to train management and procurement officers in the Western Region, on Ghana's E-procurement System (GHANEPS).

The GHANEPS is an electronic procurement platform for online procurement activities to promote wider participation, save businesses time by speeding up order to delivery times and is a more sustainable way of doing business for government.

The launch of the system some two years ago made Ghana the first in West Africa to be more transparent and restored public confidence in the public Procurement system.

Mr Frank Mante, the acting Chief Executive Officer of PPA at a short closing ceremony said the platform would also to a large extent tackle malpractices of cartel formation and ensure safety of all information provided by users.

It was again a better option, to curb irregularities and unnecessary expenses incurred in normal procurement processes.

The Government was committed to its digitization agenda with GHANEPS as a typical example.

All 36 public entities in the Western Region have been enrolled on the GHANEPS including; the Regional Coordinating Council, all MMDAs, Tertiary Education Institutions, public hospitals, and the Railway Company.

Mr Mante said GHANEPS was linked with various departments of the public sector for effective procurement processes.

He said the online procurement system was also connected to Social Security and National Insurance Trust, Ghana Revenue Authority, and Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System.

Mr Mante said the implementation of the second phase of GHANEPS, which had necessitated the training was to extend its tentacles to all other public sectors in the country adding that the Programmes rolled out involved three stages; boarding, Training and Post Go-Live Support (PGLS).

He said registered public entities who failed to make use of the online system would be sanctioned adding, "all stakeholders acknowledge that effective implementation is required in order to make the system more workable and hence the online system must be encouraged".