Ending procurement woes calls for a high level of integrity among public procurement officials, Appollinaire Mupiganyi, the Executive Secretary of Transparency International Rwanda (TI-Rw), said. 

Mupiganyi was speaking at the unveiling of findings from a survey conducted by TI-Rw’s Civil Society Procurement Monitoring (CSPM) tool on issues affecting Rwanda’s public procurement system, in Kigali, on Wednesday.

The findings cited delays in the implementation of public tenders, lack of proper bidding documents resulting into additional contracts, and mistakes in project design among the major causes of procurement woes.

The survey was carried out in four districts of Huye, Kayonza, Musanze and Rubavu. It focused on the implementation of infrastructure projects in local governments.

"The survey’s findings are inspired by corruption or lack of proper skills by procurement officers. But this will end with capacity building and instilling integrity among tender managers,” Mupiganyi said.

The CSPM is a web-based tool that has already been used in countries like Indonesia and Philippines to monitor procurement projects.

In Rwanda, the tool has involved the public in monitoring public projects.

"The tool followed up on the implementation of tenders awarded in the mentioned districts, showing loopholes and success in the implementation process,” Mupiganyi said.

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

Latest reports show that over 20 per cent of public contracts are awarded by public entities in the country without complying with the existing public procurement rules.

The Auditor General’s 2013 report shows that over Rwf23 billion was lost in poor contract management procedures, while nine contracts worth Rwf900 million were abandoned by contractors.

Mupiganyi urged the government to slap sanctions on contractors or procurement managers who breach the procurement process.

"This will increase efficiency and integrity in public procurement,” he said.

Papias Kazawadi Dedeki, the secretary general of the association of contractors, said issues in the sector are caused by greed, low procurement skills and lack of collaboration between procurement officers.

"Some contractors are not equipped enough to execute contracts awarded to them. Such cases lead to shoddy work,” Kazawadi said.