THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) has invested US$2 million in the implementation of the electronic government procurement (EGP) programme as it steps up efforts to minimise corruption.
EGP, also known as e-procurement or supplier exchange, is a business-to-business process of requisitioning, ordering, and purchasing goods and services online facilitating interactions between preferred suppliers and customers through bids, purchase orders and invoices using a supplier’s closed system.
Praz chief executive officer Clever Ruswa told Standardbusiness that 40% complete of the project has been done as they have been using internal resources before the government chipped in.
“For EGP, the initial investment is around US$2 million and we are rolling it out in phases but what we did initially before this we were using our own internal resources to the extent that right now almost 40% of the work has been done using our internal resources and modules,” Ruswa said.
“No wonder why you find right now the suppliers can register from wherever they are in Zimbabwe.”
He said they were anticipating the project to be launched in October this year, adding that they will start using the new platform for electronic government procurement in the 2024 financial year.
“Now, our principals really appreciate us, no wonder they supported us as an authority by also giving us money for electronic government procurement which is our next step,” he added.
“I think you saw some consultancies that are here on the ground right now.
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“We are hoping that this will be launched this year in October by His Excellency (President Emmerson Mnagagwa).
He added: “Then by December we will be ready to embark into the new financial year 2024 on the new platform for electronic government procurement because of its benefits.
“So, it’s that engagement and where the principals have seen it necessary to support the regulator in terms of the financial resources to roll out the electronic government.”
The EGP programme is part of reforms designed to minimise corruption and interference in public procurement.
The programme was, initially, supposed to be bankrolled by development partners through the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund, but the plans were held back by resource limitations.
Ruswa also revealed that Praz served the nation a total of US$102 million in the second quarter of 2023.
“We have the figures that we are so sure to say, these procurements which would have ordinarily passed without the involvement of Praz.”
Currently, Praz is using the modular approach where supplier registration is partially done online, or alternatively where bidders access Praz services through Zimpost infrastructure, which is dotted around the country.
However, vendor management or supplier management is one of the most important aspects of e-procurement. It involves both supplier relationship management and supplier information management.
It eliminates the need to manually carry out laborious, procurement-related tasks, exchanging supplier contracts, and filling out supplier on-boarding questionnaires.
The process works by connecting various entities and processes through a centralised platform.
