Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 21 views

    Public Procurement Notes

    Uploaded by

    vincent nemadziva
    The document discusses public procurement and the importance of transparency in public procurement systems. Public procurement accounts for a large portion of government and organizational spending and GDP. Standard procedures and transparent systems are necessary to minimize corruption risks and ensure fair access for legitimate suppliers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Public Procurement Notes

    Uploaded by

    vincent nemadziva
    21 views2 pages
    The document discusses public procurement and the importance of transparency in public procurement systems. Public procurement accounts for a large portion of government and organizational spending and GDP. Standard procedures and transparent systems are necessary to minimize corruption risks and ensure fair access for legitimate suppliers.

    Original Description:

    public procurement notes

    Original Title

    Public procurement notes

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses public procurement and the importance of transparency in public procurement systems. Public procurement accounts for a large portion of government and organizational spending and GDP. Standard procedures and transparent systems are necessary to minimize corruption risks and ensure fair access for legitimate suppliers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    21 views2 pages

    Public Procurement Notes

    Uploaded by

    vincent nemadziva
    The document discusses public procurement and the importance of transparency in public procurement systems. Public procurement accounts for a large portion of government and organizational spending and GDP. Standard procedures and transparent systems are necessary to minimize corruption risks and ensure fair access for legitimate suppliers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 2

    Public procurement, therefore, is the interface of the public institutions and the private sector suppliers

    of goods and services.

    Procurement accounts for between 65% to 80% of organisational and national expenditure. It also
    accounts for 11% to 17% of gross domestic product in most countries.

    With the exception of the salary bill, all the organisational expenditure is rightfully under the remit of
    procurement. Public procurement is, therefore, critical in that it directly impacts on the livelihood of
    ordinary citizens.

    Public procurement is funded by public funds through statutory levies and taxes that are collected from
    individuals and corporates. Since every citizen contributes towards national Treasury, there is, therefore,
    need to ensure that public procurement systems are transparent.

    To achieve transparency in public procurement, standard procedures are applied. Standard procedures
    provide guidelines as to how public procurement decisions are arrived at.

    Since public procurement provides the gate between the public and private sphere — a sphere with
    huge corruption risks — good regulations and transparent procedures are necessary to minimise these
    risks.

    It also creates a market of tenders that if effectively managed, government procurement becomes
    effective and fosters competition at the same time.

    Transparent systems also try to manage tender manipulation. Procuring agents may leak insider
    information to chosen bidders or tailormake specifications and qualification criterion to suit certain
    companies.

    Some opt to split tenders to avoid thresholds that require stricter procedures.

    Uniformity in the procurement process is critical across all public entities. Government departments,
    statutory bodies, parastatals and local authorities form Zimbabwe’s public sector.
    The objectives of public procurement are to ensure that the application of standard procedures across
    government agencies is achieved.

    Uniformity implies that the private sector suppliers participate on the same rules and regulations in the
    public sector. This implies that solicitation of tender documents, advertisement, bidding documents,
    tender opening, evaluation and award are done in a uniform style to the confidence of all stakeholders.

    Another critical element is the achievement of economy and efficiency in the procurement of works,
    goods and services. Economy implies that principles of opportunity cost are achieved in a tender
    process.

    Public procurement, therefore, needs a balance in the process of eliminating fly-by-nights and
    application of efficient criterion in a tender process.

    Efficiency, on the other hand, takes into account that public procurement decisions are undertaken in
    consideration of time factors. Delaying a procurement process has effects that are the same as a non-
    economical purchase. Schedule delays and total acquisition costs are important factors in a public
    procurement process.

    Another similar objective to efficiency and economy is the desire to ensure fair and equal access to
    legitimate suppliers for works, goods and services. Public procurement systems must allow for equal
    opportunity for all suppliers. Discrimination of supplier must be just, backed by economic, legal and
    technological requirements of a purchase.

    Since public procurement systems are reviewed in line with the ever-changing environment, oversight
    role of public procurement agents also require strengthening to achieve the discussed objectives.

    This is in light of the fact that public procurement accounts for a substantial part of the domestic and
    regional economy. It is important to note that the legal framework alone cannot stop misconduct and
    corruption in public procurement.

    Transparency minimises criminal abuse of public procurement systems.

    Nyasha is a Fellow of CIPS writing in his personal capacity. [email protected]

    You might also like