RPPA moves to weed out public procurement vices

The government spends billions of francs on public procurement each year. However, about 30 per cent of tenders awarded by public entities do not comply with public procurement guidelines, according to the Auditor General report for 2013. The report covered the August 2013 to June 2014 period. Though the report released about two months ago indicates that there was notable improvement in accountability of public finances, it added that loopholes in the public procurement process still persist. It noted that there are mistakes in project design and study, with poorly prepared bidding documents as well as delays in implementation by contractors, among other shortcomings. Not to leave things to chance, Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA), the sector watchdog, is looking to strengthen systems and the capacity of public procurement officers to enhance performance. RPPA boss Seminega. Augustus Seminega, the Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA) director general, acknowledges that public procurement still has challenges, noting that most public procurement learn on the job, which affects performance. He blames procurement errors on low skills, lack of experience and laxity among procurement officers. RPPA was established in December 2007, replacing the then National Tender Board that had been set up in 1997 to handle government tendering. Seminega believes that with continuous training, procurement officers will gain enough expertise to deliver value-for-money, adding that so far Rwanda meets international standards in the field of public procurement. He also revealed during an interview with Business Times that RPPA was working on the new procurement policy that is expected to take the industry to the next level in the next two years. “Our focus will be improving efficiency and increasing value-for-money,” says Seminega. The new policies will include setting up an electronic procurement portal, which Seminega says will automate the public procurement process, hence reducing errors and corruption, as well as enhance efficiency and improve security. He adds that they have identified a firm to do the job. “We should expect greater improvement in public procurement systems in the coming years,” notes Seminega. He says obtaining value for money on investments should be a priority in order to enhance efficiency in service delivery and ensure maximum benefit to spur growth. “That’s why public procurement entities need to ensure they award tenders to competent contractors to minimise cases of delayed works or where projects are abandoned mid-way. Therefore, procurement officers, auditors and tender committees must always evaluate bidders critically and put in place necessary structures and appropriate measures to plug any loopholes in the process to facilitate timely implementation of projects,” Seminega says. According to the Auditor General’s report, public procurement is one of the major avenues through which taxpayers’ money is misappropriated, with the country losing billions of francs through illegally awarded contracts. The report shows that over Rwf23 billion was lost in poor contract management procedures, while nine contracts worth Rwf908 million were abandoned by contractors. Up to 68 per cent of the public entities were discovered to have fundamental accounting, corporate governance, financial management, contract management and value for money flaws. Some of the projects were either delayed or abandoned after contractors had been paid. Papias Kazawadi Dedeki, the Secretary General of Association of Contractors, blames most of the challenges on both contractors and procurement managers, noting that corruption in the sector is increasing, explaining why some firms that lack capacity in terms of money and skilled personnel are awarded tenders. He also says the low number of professional procurement practitioners and lack of collaboration among stakeholders are having a toll on the sector. “Therefore, we need to conduct awareness campaigns to let people know that the problem exists, as well as put in place collaborative efforts to fight the vices,” Kazawadi, who is also the managing director of Star Construction and Consultancy, adds. “When you have such an environment, contractors don’t grow and nor does the economy, which means that everyone loses in the long-run. “The situation where those with capacity are ignored in favour of incompetent firms is not tenable and we must all fight these vices for the general good.” Kazawadi is optimistic that some of the loopholes in tendering process would be eliminated in the new investment code. Gerald Mbarushimana, the procurement officer in Rubavu District, says most of the challenges in public tenders are a result of poor bid evaluation by entities and procurement committees. “Other issues originate from poor project design, which in most cases complicates the bidding process, and eventually affects implementation,” Mbarushimana adds. Appearing before the Senate plenary session recently, Amb Claver Gatete, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, said the government is building a system which will ensure clean procurement and efficient management of public contracts. “We are building institutions that will be able to meet the required accountability,” he said. According RPPA statistics, over 80 companies have been blacklisted for various offences, including breach of contracts, since 2011.

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RPPA moves to weed out public procurement vices