The government is targeting savings of at least KSh 330 billion as it migrates ministries, departments, corporations and county governments from manual procurement to the e-procurement platform.
- On Monday, the National Treasury launched the onboarding phase of government agencies, ministries, corporations among other state entities into the new system for the project phase which ends in June.
- The government plans to spend KSh 4.2 trillion in the 2025/26 budget out of which about KSh 2.5 trillion will be set aside for procurement.
- The second phase of the system will include e-appeals that will empower the review board to adjudicate disputes promptly.
“It is not about digitisation but restoring trust in government tender process and also targeting increasing efficiency and cutting down on time wastage,” John Mbadi, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of the National Treasury and Economic Planning said.
The current manual system has led to loss of public funds, locked out deserving suppliers, added expenses to government suppliers due to paper work and poor at keeping accurate data and trails. According to Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, 60% of the government’s annual budget is spent on procurement of goods and services, and a significant proportion of that one has been wasted and deserving suppliers locked out.
In Countries like Chile, Bangladesh, Ghana, Rwanda and Korea which have embraced the e-procurement system have realised savings of between 10-15%.
According to World Bank, Bangladesh stands out as a leader in the implementation of procurement reforms and in changing how procurement gets done, especially among countries at a similar level of economic development. As of 2020, its electronic government procurement (e-GP) system had been implemented in more than 900 public sector organizations and local government municipalities, covering about 13,000 procuring entities.
The average length of time from tender invitation to contract signing decreased from 95 days to 59 days between 2011 and 2019.
George Muthui, the Chairperson of Public Procurement Review Board disclosed that the second phase of the system will have the e-appeals that will empower review board in adjudicating disputes promptly.
