15% procurement budget reserved for special groups

Special interest group representatives during the training on public procurement in Kampala on January 22, 2024. The government has initiated plans to allocate procurement budgets specifically for special interest groups across all ministries,
departments, and agencies (MDAs). PHOTO/SHABIBAH NAKIRIGYA
What you need to know:
- This is meant to enhance social inclusion, the government has implemented reservation schemes aimed at promoting the participation of these groups.
The government, through the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), has initiated plans to allocate procurement budgets specifically for special interest groups across all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
Speaking at a one-day training for representatives of special interest groups in Kampala yesterday, PPDA executive director Benson Turamye said to enhance social inclusion, the government has implemented reservation schemes aimed at promoting the participation of these groups.
“According to the new guidelines for public procurement, all procurement and disposing entities, certain procurement should be reserved to benefit special interest groups and these include women, youth and persons with disabilities,” he said.
He added that government entities should reserve all procurements which are Shs30m and below for organisations owned and managed by special interest groups.
“For the purpose of local government, any procurement that is Shs10m and below should be reserved for special interest groups across all MDAs,” he said
Mr Turamye added that they are hopeful that with more compliance there will be positive participation and empowerment of these groups of people.
“In July last year, we issued a new circular and template that whoever is submitting procurement plan should indicate procurement reserved for the special interest groups,” he said
He added that in total, the allocation should be 15 percent of the procurement budget and it’s a compliance issue which will be monitored starting with this financial year.
“Entities that will submit their budgets without procurement allocation for special interest groups will be rejected by PPDA,” he said.
He added that since it is a new project, they will sample out entities to audit every year to see how the guidelines are implemented.
Ms Grace Nantale Kakooza from the African Freedom of Information Centre said the project dubbed LIFT is meant to empower special interest groups to participate effectively in public procurement bidding.
“We have realised that the government spends 60 per cent of the National Budget on procurement but you find that the participation of women, youth and PWDs is still a small percentage due to different factors,” she said.
She added that factors hindering special interest groups from participating in public procurement include limited access to information, bureaucratic bidding processes, and lacking the required documents.
Mr Godfrey Kikonyogo, one of the beneficiaries, said the training has helped them to understand the available opportunities for public procurement.
“As special interest groups, we have been allocated slots in central and local government in bidding processes through EGP and we hope that any opportunity coming in will we grabbed,” he said.