Uganda’s Finance Ministry has launched a five-year online/e-procurement strategy for 2014-2019 in a bid to stem the tide of corruption in the procurement sector. The World Bank would be funding the implementation of the strategy, which is expected to promote accountability and transparency in all public procurement departments, with about $5.8 million.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative, Matia Kasaija, State Minister for Planning in the ministry of Finance, said the adoption of an e-procurement system was also with the intention of empowering entities to better manage public procurement and the disposal process.
“E-government procurement is expected to increase transparency in public procurement. As you are aware, lack of transparency breeds corruption, unfairness, lack of competition and ultimately the government does not achieve value for money as a result of paying more for a service that could be delivered at a cheaper price,” he said.
Other benefits of the system, according to Mr Kasaija, would include increased efficiency in procurement and service delivery, creation of confidence in the procurement system and, eventually, value for money. This is also a big win for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as Uganda’s private sector depends heavily on government contracts for survival.
With the e-procurement system, public entities will be able to run all public procurement processes online and bidders will have a quick access to all relevant information in the public domain. This will reduce the time required for a bidder to go through the entire process, and further increase transparency levels.
“The e-procurement system, if fully utilized, would empower our people and change their lives in ways we could not have imagined even two decades ago,” he added.
Despite these obvious advantages, some small SMEs might not be able to immediately embrace the e-procurement approach, meaning they would be disadvantaged, at least in the beginning. Realizing this gap, Kasiaja has revealed the need to implement programmes and initiatives that will prepare them for e-procurement.
The core advantages of e-procurement border around reducing costs, enhancing the visibility of spend, boosting staff productivity and tightening control systems. In the public sector, e-procurement has seen significant growth in recent years and, to date, such initiatives have been implemented in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the European Union (EU), UK and the USA.
By Emmanuel Iruobe
