Govt to roll out electronic public procurement
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Ramatha Ggoobi
What you need to know:
- Mr Ggoobi said a reduction in physical human interactions would minimise corruption as bidders and responsible government officials will have no room to meet in hotels and ask to be favoured in exchange for cash, even when the bidders do not meet the requirements.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Ramatha Ggoobi, has said the government will rollout Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) in all its entities to quicken decision making and also minimise procurement-related corruption.
The e-GP is an integrated system designed to digitise the process of procurement and disposal in all government ministries, departments and agencies.
Speaking to journalists at a leadership and sponsorship awareness engagement programme on the Electronic Government Procurement System held at Kampala yesterday, Mr Ggoobi said the system would be rolled out in 420 government entities in two years’ time.
“So far, we have piloted the system in 36 government entities. We are now going to [work on] the remaining 420 in a phased manner, but within two years. By the end of Financial Year 2025/2026, the entire government procurement should be done online,” he said.
Some of the entities on the system include Kampala Capital City Authority, National Social Security Fund, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water and Environment, and National Information Technology Authority.
Mr Ggoobi said the government has been losing a lot of money to finance the manual procurement processes.
“Most of the budgets that you see in Uganda go through procurement and in that case, if you procure projects worth Shs20 trillion, you will spend not less than 10 percent of that money on the processes of getting that project done. With the automation of the procurement system, this money is likely to be spent on other things,” he said.
He also revealed that the innovation would save the private sector from the hurdles it faces with the government.
“The private sector has been suffering a lot to do business with us with unending bureaucracy. So many people are involved in buying simple things. Buying a ream of paper in government involves so many signatures. Now we can do it electronically,” he said.
On the issue of security, Mr Ggoobi said the system would be encrypted to ensure cyber security.
Mr Benson Turyamwe, the executive director of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority, said the government would maintain the bidding fees paid by bidders even when the process is automated.
