Public agencies published contracts valued at only Sh77.5 million since start of the current fiscal year in July, indicating a major snub of the requirements of the Electronic Government Procurement System (e-GPS) that introduced stringent procurement disclosures and guidelines.
New details show that only 11 State agencies and counties published contracts on the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP) since July 1, 2025, when the e-GPS went live.
The e-GPS came with new guidelines, including automatic upload of tenders and contracts on the PPIP, since the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), the custodian of PPIP, has direct access to the new procurement system.
Since July 1, only contracts signed by West Pokot and Siaya counties, Kenya Rural Roads Authority, Mathira Water and Sanitation Company, Naivasha NG-CDF office, Kenya Tourism Board, Teachers Service Commission, State Department of Irrigation, Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service and the Othaya Mukurweini Water Services Company were published on the PPIP.
The Sh77.5 million constitutes a meagre 0.0018 percent of the current fiscal year’s budget of Sh4.29 trillion.
Contracts valued at about Sh2 trillion are expected to be published on the PPIP during the current 2025/26 fiscal year.
The PPRA on June 27 directed all public entities to cease procurement for the current financial year through the use of framework agreements, which lay the terms of multi-year contracts.
“In light of the above circulars and the need to transition all procurement transactions to e-GPS, all procuring entities are directed in the intervening period and effective from the date of this circular, to with immediate effect cease initiation of procurement processes for financial year 2025/26 going forward through use of framework agreements and/or framework contracts,” PPRA Director-General Patrick Wanjuki said.
In a circular to entities across national and county governments, Mr Wanjuki also directed that the government stop issuing any awards or entering into contracts resulting from framework agreements for the current fiscal year, until full rollout of the e-GPS.
PPRA further directed the entities to terminate procurement proceedings where no letters of notification for award had been issued by June 27, 2025.
“Effective July 1, 2025, it is expected that all procurement proceedings, including those processed through framework agreements/contracts for the financial year 2025/26 going forward, shall be carried out through the e-GPS,” Mr Wanjuki said.
The e-GPS is expected to automate and streamline procurement processes from planning to payment stage, and has watchdogs such as the Auditor-General, Controller of Budget and the PPRA monitoring the system.
While public entities were previously required to upload information on tendering and contract awards on the PPIP, many declined to abide by the requirement, which left many public contracts being awarded secretly.
The government has now integrated PPIP with the e-GPS, eliminating the need for entities to upload the information themselves since the required reports are generated automatically and submitted to the portal.
PPRA had threatened to transfer the procuring responsibility of entities that would not have enrolled on the e-GPS by June 30, 2025, in readiness for the implementation of the new system.
