Government contracts awarded to marginalised groups hit Sh45.1 billion for the first time in the financial year to June 2023 amid reforms by the State aimed at revealing beneficial owners of firms that win public tenders.
It is the highest allocation to women, youths and persons living with disability (PWDs) through the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) on record, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
The data shows that government ministries, departments, State corporations, commissions, universities, colleges and counties awarded 37,822 tenders to the marginalised groups in the financial year 2022/23 totalling Sh45.1 billion. Women bagged the lion’s share of the contracts at Sh24.87 billion, followed by youths (Sh16.91 billion) and PWDs (Sh3.36 billion).
The AGPO allocation in FY2022/23 marks an increase of 9.9 percent from the 34,383 contracts that were awarded under programme in the financial year 2021/22, which totaled Sh41.05 billion.
Contracts awarded to marginalised groups have been rising steadily since the programme was launched by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in October 2013 to give women, youths and PWDs fair access to lucrative government tenders.
The programme requires that all public procuring entities to reserve a minimum of 30 per cent of their annual procurement spending for award to youths, women and PWDs.
The average value of the tenders has also grown significantly from Sh952,251 in the FY2018/19 to Sh1.193 million or an increase of 25 percent.
The programme has, however, faced numerous setbacks since it was launched 10 years ago, including the lack of awareness.
Firms that have participated in the programme have also fallen victim to burgeoning pending bills, which has left many government suppliers counting major losses. Further, State entities still award less contracts under AGPO than budgeted as some of the firms registered under the programme do not meet the requirements set by the contracting agencies.
For instance, State entities set aside tenders valued at Sh61.66 billion for marginalized groups in the FY2019/20 but only ended up awarding them contracts worth Sh22.81 billion. The government is undertaking reforms in public procurement, including the requirement for disclosure of beneficial ownership of firms that win public tenders.
