Government e-procurement starts next financial year

Mr Benson Turamye, the acting executive director PPDA.

Kampala.

Arrangements to have public procurement go online have been finalized, in the move to solve problems in regard to record keeping and reduced transactional costs.
The acting executive director Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), Mr Benson Turamye, said the electronic government procurement (eGP) will be rolled out in the financial year 2018/19.
Describing the system as a vehicle to fighting corruption, Mr Turamye said the innovation provides a clear audit trail that should make the system more accountable.
He said the system will be rolled out as a pilot in 10 entities including PPDA, National Information Technology Authority (NITA), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), Ministry of Water and Environment, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Mpigi District Local Government Authority and Jinja District Local Government Authority.
“PPDA has constituted a task force to closely monitor procurements in the high spend entities drawn from the key sectors with the highest procurement budgets with the aim of preventing incidences of corruption by undertaking more frequent oversight on the risk areas vulnerable to corruption, improving the budget absorption rate and ultimately resulting into better procurement outcomes,” Mr Turamye said.
He was speaking recently at the launch of the Anti-Corruption Week 2017 in Kampala.
The Directorate of Ethics and Integrity in partnership with other agencies is organizing the weeklong national events under the theme ‘Restoring integrity in Public Service, regaining citizens’ trust in the Anti-corruption fight.”
Mr Turamye said there is a need to have effective sanctions when fraudulent acts are investigated and established to ensure that the public is not discouraged from reporting corruption.
“The authority has powers under the PPDA act to suspend providers from engaging in public procurement contracts due to engaging in unethical practices such as failure to implement a contract, submitting forged documents or misrepresenting facts or defrauding the entity through provision of substandard or shoddy works,” he added.
The Denmark Ambassador to Uganda, Mr Mogens Pedersen, said combating corruption is only possible if corruption is made risky and dangerous for both ordinary Ugandans and those in leadership.