Design of a Digital Procurement Management System for a Government Agency in Abuja

Government procurement agencies in Abuja face persistent inefficiencies arising from fragmented paper-based procurement processes, limited vendor tracking, and inadequate audit trail documentation. This study describes the design and implementation of a digital procurement management system for a federal government agency in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. The system was developed using Laravel (PHP) and MySQL, with role-based access for procurement officers, approving authorities, finance officers, and vendors. Modules include vendor registration and prequalification management, purchase requisition creation and approval workflows, bid invitation and evaluation support, purchase order generation, goods receipt confirmation, and invoice processing. Development followed the Rational Unified Process methodology over a 16-week period. Requirements elicitation involved five senior procurement officers, two finance officers, and eight registered vendors through structured workshops. Functional testing of 120 test cases showed a 96 percent pass rate. A two-month pilot processed 88 procurement transactions, with all procurement officer actions logged in an immutable audit trail. Procurement cycle time decreased by 38 percent compared to the manual baseline. Vendor satisfaction with the registration and bid notification process was rated 3.8 out of 5.0. The study recommends full integration with the Bureau of Public Procurement's e-procurement portal and expansion to cover contract performance monitoring modules to complete the procurement lifecycle.

Keywords: procurement management, government agency, Abuja, e-procurement, audit trail