GOVERNMENT will convert the State Procurement Board (SPB) into a regulatory authority to facilitate systems and oversight concerning procurement in the country.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Friday that the Bill containing reforms of the procurement system was passed by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation the previous day. The Bill will go to Cabinet next week.
Under Section 315 of the Constitution, a provision was provided for the enactment of public procurement of goods, works, services and joint ventures towards good governance.
Speaking at the TelOne annual general meeting on Friday, Chinamasa said the bill on procurement was quite comprehensive.
“We have also approved yesterday (Thursday) in the Cabinet Committee on Legislation the new Procurement Bill and it will also be going to Cabinet in the next two weeks. The major changes are to decentralise procurement to procurement entities with the State Procurement Board being converted into a regulatory procurement authority to put in place systems, to be in charge of oversight and to facilitate procurement,” he said.
“It is quite a very comprehensive bill that is all encompassing and I am sure that when the Cabinet has approved it, you will be able to see that in the way you make your procurement processes, so that you are more efficient and more competitive.”
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Once the Bill is passed by Parliament and signed into law by President Robert Mugabe, SPB will become the State Procurement Regulatory Authority in a move aimed at increasing efficiencies of government parastatals’, agencies and institutions.
SPB and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) have been liaising with government on reforms since last year.
Existing procurement processes for State-run institutions and parastatals have been taking too long to approve, whereas their private sector counterparts were not bounded by the same system in procuring goods and services.
As a result CIPS and the State Procurement Board had been working tirelessly to push forward some reforms, pushing for better efficiencies in the current Procurement Bill to make public institutions and parastatals more competitive.
Some of the reforms include application of the law to all State institutions and government, the law to cover all stages of the procurement process and cover procurement of goods, works, services, consultancy and joint ventures.
At the annual general meeting of CIPS in Harare on Saturday, SPB executive chairman Buzwani Mothobi said it was now generally accepted that public procurement was an indispensible economic activity.
“In an era of fiscal austerity as is obtaining in the country, ensuring efficiency and integrity in public procurement is essential to ensure sound public service delivery and maintain citizen trust in government. In order to achieve this, it is, therefore, an ardent need to professionalise and modernise the procurement systems in the country as this will help in fighting the cancer of corruption,” he said.
“There is need for government to tap into the potential of procurement as a strategic policy lever to advance socio-economic and environmental objectives which can only be achieved by the on-going review of the Procurement Act and institutional architecture for national procurement systems.”
He said government now recognised procurement as a strategic business activity as it was in the process of enacting procurement reforms before it becomes law.
CIPS is one of the world’s largest procurement and supply professional organisations and has a global community of around 110 000 in 150 different countries.
