The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has raised the red flag as a majority of public universities, colleges, and schools continue to defy a law on listing of tenders on a public portal to enhance transparency.
The authority says as of October 31, 2023, only 35 of the 33,472 public universities, colleges, and schools had registered on the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP) as legally required.
There are 672 public colleges and tertiary institutions and 32,800 public primary and secondary schools in Kenya.
“Failure by the procuring entity to undertake any procurement proceedings in accordance with the Act, to submit mandatory reports and also publish procurement information in the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP) amounts to non-compliance and is considered an offence,” said PPRA Director-General Patrick Wanjuki in a November 9, 2023 circular.
The authority has from July 1, 2022, demanded publishing on the portal of tender openings and details of contracts awarded, and disclosure of beneficial ownership information.
Data on the platform should include the basis of awarding the tenders, parameters of assessment, names and details of tender committee members as well as the value of each contract.
Section 44 (1) of the procurement law states that an accounting officer of a public entity shall be primarily responsible for ensuring that the institution complies with the Act.
The law further dictates that a person who flouts it commits an offense and shall be liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding Sh4 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both. If the person is a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding Sh10 million.
The PPRA attributes the non-compliance with the previous circulars in most of the affected learning institutions to the lack of adherence to the law, which requires that a procuring entity establishes a procurement function that is staffed with procurement professionals to guide it on procurement matters.
The procurement law also binds public education institutions to procurement planning, procurement processing, inventory and asset management, disposal of assets, and contract management.
To ensure compliance with the law, the PPRA boss reminded head teachers, principals, or any other officers undertaking the functions of accounting officers of their responsibilities to ensure that contracts are entered into lawfully and implemented accordingly.
In so doing, they are required to have an established procurement function handled by the procurement professionals.
Mr Wanjuki said procurement professionals and in particular heads of procurement functions must be duly registered and licensed by the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) in line with the Supplies Management Act of 2007.
“All procurement proceedings in these institutions must include a duly signed professional opinion by the head of the procurement function who should directly report to the head teacher, the principal, or any other officer undertaking the functions of the accounting officer in person and not to any other office or through any other office,” said the PPRA boss.
