Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2017, Publicación: 107ª reunión CIT (2018)

Convenio sobre las cláusulas de trabajo (contratos celebrados por las autoridades públicas), 1949 (núm. 94) - Ghana (Ratificación : 1961)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Scope and purpose of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s reference in its report to the adoption of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914) (hereinafter the 2016 PPA), amending Part Two of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) on procurement structures. The Committee notes that the amendments added the requirement that procurement shall use the appropriate standard tender documents stipulated in the Sixth Schedule, with the minimum changes acceptable to the Procurement Board (section 50(1) of the 2016 PPA). There is no mention of the labour clauses required under the Convention, nor does section 59 on the evaluation of tenders contain any such reference. Recalling paragraphs 98 and 99 of its 2008 General Survey on labour clauses in public contracts, the Committee observes that these general references do not meet the core requirement of the Convention under Article 2, which calls for the mandatory insertion of appropriate labour clauses in the public contracts covered by the Convention. Finally, the Committee notes that, according to section 15(1) of the 2016 PPA, the minister responsible for finance may declare an entity, a subsidiary, an agency or a natural person to be a procurement entity, if the public procurement procedures are deemed unsuitable due to the strategic nature of the procurement. The Committee further notes that such entity is legally and financially autonomous and operates under commercial law (section 15(2)(a) of the 2016 PPA) at the ministerial, departmental, agency, metropolitan, municipal or district levels (section 19(1) of the 2016 PPA). The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to take all necessary measures to bring its national legislation into conformity with the Convention, and encourages it to avail itself of the technical assistance from the Office, if it so wishes. It is also requested to provide information on the terms of the clauses to be included in the standard tender documents as referred to in section 50 and the Sixth Schedule of the 2016 PPA. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted to ensure that bidders in a public procurement process are made aware of the terms of the clauses required. It further requests the Government to provide information on the nature and outcome of consultations held with the social partners prior to amending the Public Procurement Act of 2003.

Application in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country including, for instance, extracts from official reports and information on any practical difficulties in the application of the Convention.