OPM organized a five-day procurement training to thirty one participants from eastern Dzongkhags starting from 9^th to 13^th of September, 2019 at DYT Hall, Samdrup Jongkhar. The training was facilitated by Mr. S.Sriram, a programme support analyst and Mrs. Yangzom, a procurement specialist with the objectives to provide a comprehensive understanding and awareness of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) procurement process called NOTUS (No Objection Tracking Utility System) and electronic-Government Procurement (e-GP) System recently adopted in the country.

Procurement training was considered vital for the project implementation as proper procurement saves time, assure and deliver quality services, provides transparency and accountability within the system.  In order to familiarize the participants with the system, they were given hands-on training on bids and tendering.

The training was attended by Procurement officers, Engineers, Livestock production officer, Accountants, and Marketing officers from six eastern Dzongkhags, Agriculture Research and Development Centre (ARDC)- Wengkhar, Regional Livestock Development Centre (RLDC)- Kanglung, Regional Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives (RAMCO)-Mongar and Office of the Programme Management (OPM).

NOTUS and e-GP procedures were considered equally important to manage the procurement procedures effectively and efficiently. With these procedures put in place, it is expected that duplication and other unnecessary procedures would be avoided in the future procurement procedures.

Updated by: Chhimi Lhamo, GKMO