THE Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has detailed how the newly designed National e-Procurement System of Tanzania (NeST) will bring major transformation in the country's public procurement.
The NeST is the electronic system that facilitates e-registration, e-tendering, e-contract management, e-catalogue and e-auction.
Public procurement is an important economic activity involving a large part of the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
A large part of the government budget is spent on public procurement (excluding the salary budget and the national debt).
Public Procurement in the country is governed by the Public Procurement Act Chapter 410.
This Act has created the PPRA with the aim of ensuring that the public procurement system in the country is fair, competitive, transparent and adheres value for money.
Speaking during the meeting with editors in Dar es Salaam, PPRA Chief Executive Officer, Eliakim Maswi said one of the great benefits of the NeST is the availability of information for making various decisions.
The current Tanzania National e-Procurement system (TANePS) does not have the capacity to process data.
He noted that the NeST will be simple and has the ability to guide the user through all the steps required to perform intended tasks.
Moreover, the PPRA Boss said the system can be available through mobile application where most mobile users will not need any training to use it.
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He added that the system will increase participation of bidders and transparency in public procurement which will enable the government to purchase goods and services at market prices.
"To get quality services, the system has the ability to register and give approval to bidders who meet the criteria as per location of particular business," he added.
Mr Maswi further noted that the system will also reduce the loopholes of corruption.
"The current system provides an opportunity for bidders to influence the decisions of relevant bodies such as Procurement Units, Tender Boards and responsible officials, but the NeST system will eliminate discretion decision-making and instead all decisions will be based on the processing of the system basing on relevant tender criteria," he noted.
Since the launch of training for users of the NeST, until September 15, 2023, a total of 653 Procurement Institutions represented by 6,262 participants have been trained to use the new procurement system.
"1,508 Bidders received training in various training centres coordinated by the authority whereby currently, training is provided at Mkwawa University centre in Iringa Region," he said.
On the other hand, Mr Maswi insisted that on 30th September this year will be the end for the TANePS which was introduced in 2015/16.
The system is owned and operated by the company of the Greek European Dynamics whose contract ends on 31st December, this year.
The NeST is owned by the government and was designed and built by local experts.
