The federal government is within the technique of buying a Sh560 million e-procurement system to automate the method and save taxpayers billions misplaced to procurement fraud.
Nationwide Treasury Cupboard Secretary (CS) John Mbadi mentioned he has accredited the funds for the end-to-end system that can eliminate handbook procurement.
The CS mentioned the system must be in place by January and has the potential to save lots of the nation billions of shillings misplaced to procurement fraud.
He mentioned the system will remedy a damaged procurement system within the nation by minimising human interplay throughout procurement course of.
“By automating the procurement course of from budgeting to expenditure, we can cut back wastage. If we automate our methods correctly, I imagine we will save greater than Sh100 billion,” mentioned Mr Mbadi.
“We’ve been dragging our ft for too lengthy. It should come to an finish. I’ve already given the go-ahead as a result of there was no funding for it in order that it’s fast-tracked,” he added.
CS Mbadi acknowledged that a lot of the procurement course of remains to be handbook, therefore the necessity for an end-to-end system: “For those who minimise human interplay with a system, it turns into extra environment friendly. It may simply cut back corruption in our procurement system,” he mentioned.
Final yr, the Institute of Financial Affairs (IEA) mentioned the nation loses billions of shillings yearly to procurement fraud. The report mentioned procurement fraud was a serious breeding floor for corruption within the nation.
IEA programme officer Noah Wamalwa mentioned such fraud was largely catalysed by the gradual and pissed off implementation of the automation course of, and deliberate non-compliance by procuring entities.
“For instance, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s requirement for procuring entities to publish contract awards and tender notices on the Public Procurement Data Portal (PPIP) has recorded the least progress since 2015,” Mr Wamalwa mentioned.
Present information from the portal reveals that solely 9 p.c of the almost 4,000 procuring entities within the nation have to date uploaded their contracts on the portal.
Ninety-nine p.c haven’t uploaded their contracts, representing malicious contracts that undermine efforts to attain full disclosure of public contracts as supplied for within the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.
The report famous {that a} vital proportion of contracts are nonetheless awarded by way of direct and selective strategies, which is a recipe for procurement fraud.
The IEA additionally highlighted issues that almost all procuring entities don’t present info on helpful homeowners when importing their contact particulars to the PPIP portal.
This can be a breach of a requirement that it describes as essential for the general public to know precisely who’s being awarded contracts on the expense of taxpayers’ cash, with a purpose to promote accountability.
A 2014 report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers faulted Kenya’s procurement processes for not being sturdy sufficient to make sure integrity in any respect ranges, together with invitation to tender, shortlisting, choice standards, cost course of and high quality evaluate.
A 2015 report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Fee (EACC) on corruption in public procurement in Kenya revealed that main corruption scandals within the nation have revolved round public procurement.
In keeping with the report, billions of shillings are misplaced in procurement by way of under-bidding, which takes years to hint and recuperate.
In keeping with the EACC, the nation loses over Sh500 billion yearly to corruption.
Then EACC chairperson, Mumo Matemu, mentioned the large monetary flows concerned in public procurement made the sector most weak to corruption.
The report beneficial the fast introduction of an e-procurement system to plug a few of the loopholes which have been exploited through the years.
