Economy

State agencies have June deadline to embrace e-procurement

uk

President Uhuru Kenyatta is shown how e-procurement is done online by IFMIS director Jerome Ochieng’. PHOTO | FILE

Parastatals under the Treasury have a tight timeline of up to June to switch to electronic buying and paying for goods and services in a move that seeks to seal procurement loopholes.

Officials at the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) — a Treasury’s department steering the e-procurement – said they have stationed their officers at the 19 affiliate agencies in order to link their transactions electronically for transparency.

“In the first week of February, our team started visiting state corporations that are housed by the National Treasury to begin deploying IFMIS,” the Director of IFMIS Jerome Ochieng’ said last week.

More than 10 Treasury agencies are yet to adopt the IFMIS e-procurement since last August when President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the switchover from manual system to better manage public finances and resources in government offices.

Some of those that have automated their systems include Kenya Revenue Authority and Insurance Regulatory Authority.

Mr Ochieng’ said the connection of Treasury agencies to IFMIS by June is the first phase of a wider programme to link all ministries, departments and agencies for accountability.

The Treasury will shoulder all the costs in the deployment of the automated system including staff costs but the respective state corporations will be obligated to maintain the operations.

The IFMIS will link all agencies under Treasury including Public Procurement Oversight Authority and Public Private Partnership Unit and Central Bank of Kenya to boost accountability.

Mr Kenyatta had last year directed all State agencies to make the switchover from manual system which is prone to manipulation.

READ: Procurement goes electronic to seal corruption loopholes

Estimates by the Treasury shows that the government loses more than Sh70 billion annually due to fraudulent manipulations in procurement processes.

Treasury secretary Henry Rotich last year said the State would draw up a fresh moderated price list for use in IFMIS that links all government ministries and agencies including the counties.

The automated system — Procure to Pay — would link up all government paypoints and involve identification of users through passwords, meaning each action could be traced back to the initiator.

The procurement and payment module would replace the current uncoordinated accounting and budgeting system that makes it easy for dishonest officers to collude with suspected cartels in defrauding the government.

Some of the functions configured in the IFMIS include procurement planning, supplier management, requisition management and quotation management.

Others are purchase order management, receipt management, contract management, inventory management alongside invoicing and payments management.