Suppliers, govt to benefit over E2.9bn in e-GP system

MBABANE - Electronic-Government Procurement System (e-GP system) is estimated to provide over E2.9 billion economic benefit for both government and its suppliers.

7his was mentioned by Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA) chief Executive officer (&E2) 9usi 0atsebula. 0atsebula said the si]e of public procurement expenditure in Eswatini was estimated to be E . %illion in (ESPPRA, ).

Implementation

+e said the ESPPRA estimates that the implementation of an e-GP system would provide over E . billion economic benefit for both the government and its suppliers through efficiencies and both tangible and intangible cost savings. 7he &E2 mentioned that the key benefits of e-GP system to suppliers were that it would improve transparency and governance in procurement.

+e added that the system would result to faster processing of procurement activities resulting from online workflow and further enhanced tools to address fraud and corruption. ³7he system will enhance transparency achieved from online publication of tender notices, contract award notices, and online bid submission,´ he added. 0atsebula

Done

Done

April 2022 further mentioned that the system will also boost economic development as savings would be derived from procurement expenditure on lower bid prices due to better and open competition of up to per cent of Gross 'omestic Product (G'P). 0atsebula said this will also increase bidder participation due to better awareness and access to opportunities, as well as lead to the

Enables online ordering and payment of supplier products

Products/catalogues are vetted and all prices are reviewed and accepted prior to being made available to government

reduction in printing, distribution, and storage of paper documents.

Information

7he &E2 added that e-GP will uplift value adding services, enhanced reporting (information management) and procurement analytics to better monitor procurement activities.

ESPPRA said the main objective of the srategy is to provide the road map 85% savings on advertising costs to public entities

60% tendering costs saving to suppliers

20% savings on procurement expenditure due to reduced and controlled market prices

for the implementation of a well-functioning and end-to-end e-GP system in Eswatini. Specifically, the objectives of strategy were to improve governance through enhanced transparency and accountability. 7he second objective is to ensure effectiveness through public procurement information management and efficient processes.

7hey stated that the other objective is to enhance socio-economic development through competitiveness in public procurement and improved investment climate. ³7hese objectives form the basis of the performance indicators of implementing the e-GP system,´ mentioned ESPPRA in the document.7he regulator further mentioned that with the technical assistance of the :orld %ank, they carried out a readiness assessment report between 0ay and August .

Assessment

7he purpose of this assessment is to establish how ready the Eswatini public and private sectors are in order to transition to e-Government procurement.

7he assessment is focused on nine components and these are government leadership, human resources, planning and management, policy, legislation and regulation, infrastructure and web services, standards, private sector integration and systems.

ESPPRA mentioned that from the analysis of the consultations and empirical evidence, the level of readiness of Eswatini was adeTuate for the introduction of the e-GP system in a phased manner, starting from the highly ready and most willing procuring entities, and gradually rolling out across the country.

7hey said the overall level of e-GP readiness (/oR) on nine components was assessed as moderately satisfactory.

QUOTE

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