Government of Uganda to Automate Procurement

In a bid to leverage ICT to promote efficiency in public procurement and uphold government’s promise to the public on efficient and accountable governance, the Ugandan government, through its Procurement regulatory body, the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), has acquired an electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) System that is meant to replace the manual processes of procurement.

The e-GP is a web-based system that covers the full procurement life cycle, and keeps a record and audit trail of all procurement activities.

The stakeholders/users of the e-GP shall include; Government entities, bidders, the public, development partners and donors, and oversight agencies.

Both local and International bidders will have the opportunity to register and access information on available tenders and procurement activities for all government entities on the system. They will be able to place their bids using the system as well with limited physical interaction with the entities.

The main objectives of this automation are to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the procurement processes in a bid to curb corruption in the procurement processes.

Up to 60% of Uganda’s overall budget is spent on procurement every financial year. Therefore, it is necessary that this money is spent in a transparent manner to curb wastage of tax payer’s money, consequently improving public services.

Speaking at the stakeholders’ workshop in Kampala, the PPDA Executive Director Mr. Benson Turamye revealed that once e-GP is implemented, corruption in procurement in Uganda is expected to reduce by at least 30%.

The system is expected to be rolled out to the first 10 pilot entities by 31^stMarch 2020 to 10 pilot government entities before it is eventually rolled out country wide. The pilot entities include:

• Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development
• Ministry of Water and Environment
• Uganda Roads Authority
• Kampala Capital City Authority
• Civil Aviation Authority
• National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U)
• Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority
• National Social Security Fund
• Jinja District Local Government
• Mpigi District Local Government

The project is funded under the Regional Communication Infrastructure Program (RCIP) of the World Bank.

Source : PPDA Uganda