The inability of local entrepreneurs to follow guidelines on competitive tendering stipulated in the Public Procurement Act usually affected them in national and international tendering.
Commodore Steve Obimpeh (rtd), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Public Procurement Authority (PPA) who made the observation, said: "Local entrepreneurs usually fail to win bids during tender because they do not adhere to guidelines on the Margin of Preference stipulated in the Act."
He was addressing a training session for heads of department and agencies on the Public procurement Act at Dodowa on Thursday.
Commodore Obimpeh urged them to be conversant with the law on procurement to eliminate waste and make good savings for the government.
He explained that the Act sought to provide both administrative and institutional arrangement for public procurement to ensure that state resources were harnessed judiciously.
Commodore Obimpeh noted that public procurement was critical to government's expenditure because it accounted for more than 70 per cent after personnel emoluments.
He said gross misunderstanding and misapplication of the Act had made heads of institutions to falter during its implementation and to curb this, the PPA had since its inception made efforts to build the capacities of stakeholders.
"Over the past three years, the PPA has trained more than 8,000 public procurement functionaries and about 1,500 personnel in oversight institutions such as the Internal Audit Agency and the Auditor General's Department," Commodore Obimpeh said.
Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning in an address read on his behalf said weak legal framework, codified procedures, regulations and capacity of procurement staff were some of the weaknesses in the public procurement system.
He called for the allocation of sufficient funds for training of procurement staff.