Presented by PPDA at the IPPU CPD Meeting,
Hotel Triangle,
20th April 2013
1


Since the procurement reforms began in the
1990s that resulted in the enactment of the
PPDA Act in 2003, the volume, value and
complexity of public procurement, has grown
significantly.
The issue of improving efficiency in
Government service delivery as well as
ensuring value for money is now emerging as
a key issue of concern.
2

As you may recall in September 2012, PPDA
held a Public Procurement Symposium and
Exhibition that was aimed at briefing
stakeholders on the performance of the
public procurement and disposal system as
well as getting feedback from stakeholders
on the challenges and seeking strategies to
address them.
3

Among the key recommendations at the
Public Procurement Symposium was the clear
need to introduce E-Procurement to enhance
transparency and efficiency in public
procurement.
4


E-procurement is the business of purchase
and sale of goods and services using an
electronic system based on the internet.
An e-procurement system automates
identified / specific aspects of the
procurement process (from planning to
contract monitoring and payment) while
applying tighter controls over spending and
product preferences.
5






Challenges of the Manual Process
Efficiency – Process is cumbersome with large volume
of paper work with limited storage space
Accountability - Poor Record keeping with Scattered
or lack of complete information affects audit trails and
performance measurement.
Value for Money - High transaction costs both on the
part of the service providers and also on the part of
Government. These ultimately result in higher costs to
the end user.
Transparency and Fairness- many complaints arising
out of the procurement process resulting in delays,
limited competition and higher costs to Govt.
Contract Management - Low absorption of funds and
delayed payments to suppliers which affects the prices
6
quoted.
7

Transactional benefits: The Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
estimates savings from implementation to be in
the range of 5-8 % of the procurement value.
Uganda spends approximately 55% of the
government budget through procurement.
Taking FY 3013/14, the total non-wage budget
is 7,754 billion. This implies that with eprocurement implementation, savings in the
range of UGX 388 – 620 billion would be made
per year.
8
◦ Savings made due to reduced cost of
procurement stemming from more
efficient internal administrative
processes.
◦ Reduced transactional costs on bidders
which translate into lower prices
quoted.
◦ Increased competition amongst bidders
since the bidding process is open to all
potential providers.
9
Reduction of the procurement cycle time due to
the automation of certain phases.
 Since the manual processes are eliminated,
there is easy access to the market and tender
opportunities, easier bidding processes etc.
 Timely payments to suppliers using electronic
payment of invoices. This leads to better control
of cash flow and efficient contract management
which can lead to lower price quotations.
 Efficiencies will be for both
government and
the private sector.

10
Standardization - since e-procurement is
majorly template-driven which makes all
transactions standardized and trackable. In
addition, there are reduced errors in the
process and documentation for buyers.
 Dematerialization – reduction in archival and
storage costs, paper consumption due to use
of email and reduced need to use hard copies
thus providing environmental and financial
benefits.

11
E-Procurement strengthens Accountability by
enhancing transparency and improves access
to management and audit information from a
central source.
 Tender documentation and outcomes of the
procedures (winning suppliers, rankings, final
offers) are automatically posted online and
available to all.

12


E-Procurement also provides more significant
and timely procurement information that
creates the potential for regular analysis and
reporting for many stakeholders on different
aspects.
The low cost efficient access to accurate, timely
and comprehensive management information
in e-procurement provides intelligence on
spending patterns, inventory, performance and
compliance enables strengthening of control,
oversight, efficiency and planning capabilities
as well as competition.
13
Competitive public procurement requires that
the bidding process is open to all potential
providers.
 E-Procurement automates many procurement
processes including supplier selection for
some types of procurement, and opens the
way
for
new
efficient
procurement
methodologies that can increase market
access and competition.

14
E-procurement
can
improve
public
governance, as it lets geographically remote
PDEs actively cooperate, for example in the
realization of a bundled tendering procedure,
such as framework agreements.
 It is also easier to share best practices, due
to the availability of information and
documents online.

15
Technology
 Availability of a suitable IT infrastructure:
NITA has a plan of having the entire
country interconnected via the NBI, bulk
internet and bulk licensing of software.
 Integration among the related
Government applications (e.g. IFMIS)
 An e-procurement web platform, which
has to be complete and user-friendly
16
Process
 Business process re-engineering on the basis
of shared organizational models.
 Adoption of standard commodity
categorizations
 Shared logics and methodology for
measuring, reporting and publication of results
17
People
 Raising awareness towards the use of new
technologies, training, networking and
management techniques.
 Training on e-procurement tools.
 Technical, legal and strategic expertise.
18
Environment
 Political support to promote the effective use
of e-procurement.
 Creation and development of lead PDEs as
"centers of excellence" who will lead the
process and promote the diffusion of
knowledge and innovative tools.
 Active involvement of the private sector.
19


Constitution of the Steering and Technical
Committees from PPDA, NITA, MoICT, MoJCA,
MoFPED, URA, UNRA, NWSC and Uganda
Police.
With help from the World Bank and the UK
Department for International Development
(DFID), the development of the strategy to
guide the implementation of e-procurement
is in progress.
20


A stakeholder consultation workshop was
held in February 2013 and it was evident that
everyone is eager for this revolution in public
procurement.
PPDA is working, in liaison with MOFPED and
Development Partners, to identify a funder for
this project.
21
1.
E-Framework Agreements
 This will be for common user items
 This can be achieved with minimal investment.
 common user items will be identified
 A selected entity will carry out advertisement and
selection of providers at agreed prices.
 A list will be put on a portal for all entities to use.
 PPDA is still carrying out research on modalities
of operation.
 2: other areas may include management of large
scale procurements, sustainable procurement,
etc
22



The implementation of e-procurement is not
a short term ICT project but rather a business
process re-engineering project that has a
long term plan and far reaching benefits.
It is therefore imperative that PPDA works
closely with our key stakeholders and this can
best be achieved with the cooperation,
support and active involvement of the key
stakeholders like yourselves.
PPDA requests for your comments on how to
achieve this objective efficiently
23

Finally, I wish to reiterate the commitment of
PPDA to all our key stakeholders and strategic
partners in the implementation of EProcurement in Uganda.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
24
Questions??????????
Comments?????????
25
26