payment from MACs. IFMIS can therefore no longer function on GovNet. Negotiations are underway to
find a sustainable solution to this challenge.
Expected Result 3: Development of Concept of Operations
Prior to the Digital Liberia project, the Liberian government did not have an institutional framework
governing connectivity in MACs. To address this shortcoming, Digital Liberia developed a Concept of
Operations to outline the steps and procedures for provisioning and procuring government internet
service across ministries, agencies, and commissions. The guidelines help ensure that the government’s
IT staff have adequately assessed their requirements, including all necessary information in the statement
of requirements for procurement, and understand how to monitor the performance of the ISP. Digital
Liberia finalized the concept in FY 2018, incorporating the Public Procurement and Concessions
Commission’s revisions to internet procurement procedures. Responding to feedback that the title
“Concept of Operations” was not frequently used in the Liberian context, Digital Liberia changed the
title of the document to Guidelines for Internet Connectivity for IT Professionals. Digital Liberia trained
IT staff from 46 ministries, agencies, and commissions on how to use the guidelines, which are now
available on the e-Liberia website and PPCC website for use by IT professionals in the government.
Expected Result 4: Develop SOPs, tender templates, provisioning guidelines, etc.
Liberia’s PPCC is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Public Procurement and Concessions
Act and issuance of any regulations, establishment, and modification of procurement structures,
processes, and procedures. Procurement of specialized goods, works, and services such as internet
often have separate standard bidding documents to provide additional details, guidelines, and standards
that are tailored to the procurement type. The general PPCC standard bidding documents did not
address the needs of internet procurement, which was particularly concerning given that some
ministries, agencies, and commissions were procuring internet from the government ISP with no
competition, through a singular aggregated procurement issued by the Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications and paid through a centralized payment.
PPCC staff had the skills required to ensure government ownership of the tools before Digital Liberia
involvement. What they lacked, however, was the ability to draft standard bidding documents and an
understanding of how to ensure service quality and adherence to payment procedures. Digital Liberia
helped fill this gap by supporting PPCC to develop internet procurement guidelines, standard bidding
documents for internet procurement, an Internet Procurement Evaluation Report, and a frequently
asked questions brochure (see Exhibit 2). PPCC commissioners gave final approval of procedures in FY
2018.
Additionally, Digital Liberia established the framework for a reserve price from the government ISP to
ensure value for money. The framework was necessary as the government ISP has a monopoly for the
provision of internet. The reserve price ensures that the prices charged to government are reasonable
and fair. Because documents were jointly created in work sessions with key PPCC staff, they
understood the documents enough to roll them out to ministries, agencies, and commissions
themselves. All documents are available on the PPCC website as common user items.
EXHIBIT 2. EXPECTED RESULT 4 DELIVERABLES
Document
Guidelines for
Procurement of
Internet
Purpose
Established pricing protections which ensure that charges for services are within the range identified on
an annual basis through the PPCC market review of common goods and services procured by the
Government of Liberia and posted on their website. Guidelines include the possibility of the government
securing pre-negotiated rates with Libtelco on behalf of all entities. These procedures would not modify
the process of each entity requesting Libtelco’s provisioning of services based on their institutional
requirements in the Statement of Requirements.
DIGITAL LIBERIA FINAL REPORT | 18
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