Praz hails e-government procurement system
THE electronic government procurement system (eGP), which was introduced in October of last year, has advanced well, according to the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz).
To date, 357 State entities and 8 770 suppliers have enrolled with the system which seeks to enhance the State procurement process as well as plug loopholes and eliminate rampant corruption bedevilling the country’s public procurement system.
“The electronic government procurement system is being implemented in phases and we started with supplier registration,” Praz operations director Benson Share said during a business agenda event organised by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
“We are trying by all means possible to minimise human elements in the procurement system because this system will cover all spectrums of procurement.
“All tenders will be evaluated online, protecting the bidding community and tracing the whole process until the tender award stage.”
He, however, noted that some State entities failed to meet the January 31, 2024 deadline to fully upload their procurement plans on the system despite having all the needed credentials to do so.
“To date, we have approved 8 770 supplier registrations and have been awarded certificates. 828 supplier registrations are pending, 755 suppliers have been responded to and we are just waiting for them to correct the errors we notified them of. We have only one rejected supplier,” Share said.
“I would say 357 State entities have been roped into the eGP system and 160 have already uploaded their procurement plans on the platform. 70 have not yet finished uploading their procurement plans. We had given them a deadline of January 31, 2024, to finish the process.”
He added: “We are already in the process of writing letters to them to follow up on those who did not meet the deadline. That having been said, we as the regulator, have done our part in ensuring that every programming entity has the login credentials for them to upload whatever they want to upload in the system. So, we are now waiting for them to ensure that they follow that.”
The Office of the President and Cabinet is also said to be taking action to ensure that all State entities fully submit their procurement plans and upload them on the system.
The system will ensure that submission of tenders by bidders and evaluations of tenders are done online, a move that will change the face of public procurement in Zimbabwe. It will connect all State entities on one portal, curbing corruption rampant within the sector.