PRAZ moves to oil state procurement procedures

PROCUREMENT Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), says the imminent rollout of electronic government procurement (EGP) will significantly curb instances of corruption in awarding of contracts by the Government.

According to PRAZ the inventive measure will help in restricting malpractices by errant suppliers characterised mainly by overcharging of goods and services to the Government a phenomenon that was greatly experienced in 2022.

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.

The process works by connecting various entities and processes through a centralised platform and eliminates the need to manually carry out labourious, procurement-related tasks, exchanging supplier contracts and filling out supplier onboarding questionnaires.

Currently, PRAZ is using the modular approach where supplier registration is partially done online, or else the bidding community accesses PRAZ services through Zimpost infrastructure which is dotted around the country.

In the period between May and July 2022 the procurement regulator was caught in a storm as forward pricing became the norm as suppliers hiked their pricing to match the galloping inflation which was obtaining in the economy.

This wayward behaviour prompted the treasury authorities to put a blanket ban on supplies from firms that practiced forward pricing on the 3rd of August 2022 after carrying out due diligence and investigations.

The development was also prevalent during the second quarter of 2023 as firms raced against the insurgent inflation which was propelled by galloping exchange rate on the parallel market, a situation that has since normalised due to an array of measures that were put in place by the monetary and fiscal authorities.

However, PRAZ says it managed to save around US$102 million from inflated contracts and bids in the second quarter of 2023, as the authority conducted meticulous evaluation and audits.

Further indicating that the value for money exercise as demanded by the government in procurement had instilled some form of sanity in the whole procurement segment.

Presently the regulator indicated it was fighting a scourge were some are were pegging their products at a foreign exchange rate of up to $7 000 against the official rate of $4 559 as of this week’s auction result.
Speaking to Business Weekly on the sidelines of ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems (QMS) certification by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ), PRAZ chief executive officer, Clever Ruswa, said the regulator was moving to nip errant behaviour by some suppliers in the
bud.

As a way of sensitisation he said the regulator was engaging bidders enlightening them on the importance of following policy to avert policy inconsistencies.

He said the EGP initiative would curtail some of the challenges like arbitrage forward pricing, the indexing, which is happening in the market.

“ . . . with regards to issues of corruption, you find that tenders will now be publicised on an electronic platform, where everybody from around the globe will see who has been awarded because right now, from where we seat a lot of direct procurements are not being advertised, especially in the newspapers to say it was won by so and so they are shrouded in secrecy so once we activate this, we envisage a scenario where there will be sanity in that regard.

“As PRAZ we regulate about 349 entities and we see that people sought of inflate the prices when doing direct procurement and unsolicited bids.

“So we always want to control and see who is getting which tender to ensure transparency of these tender processing. People try by all means necessary not to plan in time and always want to have things as reactionary there by justifying direct procurement where the pricing will not be competitive,” said Ruswa.

He said the granting of ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems (QMS) certification had moved the company to enhance its skills competency.

According to PRAZ the certification is a testament to the authority’s ability to deliver value and to ensure continual improvement in the public procurement system.

PRAZ Board chairperson, Vimbai Nyemba, said the certification brings objective assessment and validation by the clientele, adding it provides confidence in the regulators discharge of duties.

“Certification enhances an organisation’s credibility and reputation in the eyes of government agencies and prospective

clients. It demonstrates that the organisation has a structured approach to quality management, which instils confidence and trust in the procurement process,” said Nyemba.

ISO certification provides international recognition and credibility to the procurement regulatory entity.
It demonstrates that the entity has implemented internationally accepted standards and transparency in the procurement process.

The certification helps to ensure stakeholder satisfaction as the organisation is forced to adhere to internationally recognised standards.

As such the procurement regulatory entity can meet the expectations of its stakeholders, including suppliers, government agencies, and the public.-ebusinessweekly