West New Britain has recently changed its online requisitioning of claims and procurement processes.
The Provincial Treasury was given the responsibility of online requisitioning of claims in 2021 after the implementation of the IFMS system. Following the system's implementation, the provincial administration made an executive decision to delegate the task of uploading financial claims to its Online Authorized Requisition Officer.
However, the task of uploading financial claims has been transferred back to the administrator, and the Division of Finance has purchased five computers for its officers involved in online requisition claims to ensure efficient processing of claims.
These changes are intended to improve the turnaround time of uploading and processing claims, resulting in the smooth flow of service delivery.
Acting Provincial Finance Manager, Elizabeth Palibutu, expressed that the West New Britain Budget for 2024 has been approved, and the accounts have been opened. This year, the procurement processes have been delegated back to the West New Britain Provincial Administration to implement the budget.
The administration will be responsible for the procurement and uploading of claims, and they have been provided with a checklist to ensure compliance with the PFMA.
Before uploading, the claims go through a compliance check, examination, and other necessary procedures at the provincial finance office to ensure compliance with the required compliance check.
Personal claims are held back, and goods and services required for the purchase order are given to the Administration to upload on behalf of the provincial finance office. After uploading, the claims are sent back to the office for compliance check again.
The Provincial Finance Office has both offline and online officers. The online compliance check is conducted by the Provincial Finance Office staff, who go through the full stream to ensure all compliances meet the required compliance check. The claims are processed once the compliance check is complete.
In previous years, there was a backlog of claims since only one person, i.e., the Commitment Clerk or the Uploading Officer, was responsible for processing all the administration claims.
However, now the task can be shared among all the admin officers, which will lead to a better turnaround time for the processing of claims.
The changes are expected to improve the efficiency of the procurement processes and lead to better service delivery in West New Britain.