At least 30 per cent of contracts awarded by public entities in the country do not comply with the existing rules on public procurement, members of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have heard.

The disclosure was made by senior officials of the Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA) who were on Thursday appearing before PAC over procurement irregularities highlighted in 2012/13 Auditor General’s report.

Public tenders remain the major avenue for misappropriation of taxpayers’ money, with the country thought to be losing billions of Francs through illegally awarded contracts.

Augustus Seminega, the director general, RPPA, said public institutions which award tenders without following the law constituted a threat to the economy.

"Our reports show that 30 per cent of public tenders were awarded without complying with existing public procurement procedures. Even after putting in place the law governing public procurement, some people continue to award tenders outside the legal framework. This is a major challenge that calls for urgent redress,” Seminga told the parliamentarians.

He also said that some contractors had abandoned work before completion, adding that 80 private entities had been blacklisted for breach of contract since 2011.

The AG’s report indicated that while there had been impressive progress as far as compliance with procurement rules is concerned, ten public agencies circumvented proper procurement methods to award tenders worth Rwf6 billion in 2013.

Notable among those tenders is the one awarded by the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA), worth Rwf5 billion, for the rehabilitation of Kigali-Ruhengeri road.

The AG found that RTDA used single-sourcing method to award the tender instead of a competitive bidding process.

Some 11 institutions also awarded tenders worth Rwf1 billion without appropriate supporting documents, the report showed.

"There were 46 cases noted where contracts worth Rwf23.7 billion were delayed. And additional nine contracts, worth Rwf908 million, were abandoned,” the G’s report added.

It also indicates that of the nine abandoned contracts, up to Rwf600 million had been paid to the contractors in question by the time works were abandoned.

MP Juvénal Nkusi, the PAC chairperson, said RPPA needed to develop a proper mechanism that would allow it to better monitor the awarding of public tenders and consequent implementation of contract.

MP Theogène Munyangeyo said there are challenges that are structural in nature, urging RPPA officials to always be vigilant.  "You should be very keen on this,” he said.

However, Seminega suggested that another statutory body be created to follow up on the awarding of public tenders, adding that RPPA’s role is essentially to build capacity of public budget managers, and implementing public procurement policies.

Established in 2007, RPPA was tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of public procurement rules.

Article four of the procurement law stipulates that public procurement shall follow fundamental principles of transparency, competition, economy, efficiency, fairness and accountability.

The AG’s report recommended that chief budget managers must always ensure that all supporting documents for any transactions are obtained and filed.