Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has tightened their belt on procurement firms who inflate prices on goods and works they sell to government entities.
PPRA board chairman Andrew Musangi has said the agency has compiled market prices of goods, services and works for use by procurement entities as a benchmark when they float tenders.
“This guides procurement personnel in fair pricing and ensures that taxpayers do not pay exorbitant prices for goods and services,” Musangi said during launch of PPRA’s Strategic Plan 2019-2023.
This is likely to be a shocker to the businesses and for some County Governments and state agencies who take advantage of the high quotations in supplies translating to huge expenditures in their budgets and unpaid bills.
According to Musangi, procurement entities and suppliers have fell short in propagating the malpractice, leading to high costs that trickle down to the taxpayers.
“Every corruption starts with a procurement and therefore we are rather prevent than deal with the issues long after theft of public resources has happened,” said Musangi.
The menace has exposed the public sector to abuse, especially in the procurement of small daily supplies like stationery below their market value.
In 2018, National Youth Service was also on the spot for procuring 200 towels each at Sh100,000.
Another firm purported to have erected tents for the NYS personnel being paid Sh180 million in two rounds of Sh90 million each.
In May, Kiambu County governor Ferdinand Waititu was recently probed over questionable expenditure at the county in the 2018/19 financial year, facing allegations of procurement irregularities and unexplained expenditures.
The EACC claimed that he had also irregularly awarded tenders worth Sh588 million to companies associated with him and his immediate family members.
In a similar case Nyandarua governor Waithaka Mwangi also faced charges of abuse of office, flouting the Public Procurement and Disposal Act and failing to comply with laws regarding the management of public funds in the awarding of a tender worth Sh50,470,513 to Tahal Consulting Engineers Ltd, Chen Yochanan Ofer and Albert Attias to redesign the Ol Kalou town sewerage system.
Majority of government procurement entities reserved for youth, women and people with disabilities and unlock Sh250 billion annually, are yet to reach the 30 per cent, as specified from in the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) initiative.
However, only seven per cent has have been awarded to the group translating to Sh73 billion.
In the new strategic plan, PPRA aims to increase number of procuring entities especially Small and Medium Enterprises and reservations target groups.
PPRA director general Maurice Juma has said they have carried out 380 procurement assessments, 39 contract audits and 52 procurement reviews, and on a quarterly basis issued the Average Market Price Index to guide procuring entities on applicable prices for common user items.
