At least 35 counties have snubbed the electronic public procurement portal (e-GP), even as the National Treasury insisted that the government would only deal with suppliers through the platform.
The Treasury says, while all State departments have uploaded their procurement plans and some started procuring through the e-GP, only 12 county executives have uploaded the documents, leaving out 35 of the devolved units.
County executives that have complied with the Treasury’s directive include Busia, Kilifi, Kajiado, Muranga, Kakamega, Lamu, Nandi, Taita Taveta, Turkana, and Samburu.
“So far, all our State departments have uploaded their annual procurement plans in the system. We have 12 county executives and 15 county assemblies uploading their annual procurement plans. We have 47 tenders now published,” Public Investments & Assets Management Principal Secretary (PS) Cyrell Odede said.
While the Treasury stays put, procurement slated for the year running from July 2025 to June 2026 must be run through the e-GP. Some 35 governors remain adamant, with the fiscal year wearing out fast.
Nyamira, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nyandarua, Wajir, Migori, Nairobi, Marsabit, Nandi, Busia, Nakuru, Kilifi, Turkana, Bungoma, West Pokot, and Kericho are among the compliant county assemblies that have uploaded their procurement plans on the portal, leaving out 32 assemblies.
This comes after the High Court last month suspended circulars by the Treasury and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), directing all public entities to use the e-GP for public procurement activities.
The PS said that by allowing entities to settle pending bills and other dues accrued before July through Integrated Financial Information Management System (Ifmis), while using the e-GP for procurements undertaken from July, the Treasury complied with the court order.
Treasury, however, maintains that any supplier interested in dealing with the government will be dealt with through the e-GP.
“The two systems can run parallel, manual and electronic, but the government decided that if you want to do business with the government, you have to do it electronically.
“The government is not forcing anybody to use e-GP, but if you want to trade with me, trade with me electronically,” the PS said.
He said the government was pressing on with implementation of the e-GP for procurement planned for the fiscal year starting in July, whipping entities to upload procurement plans on the system and proceed with transacting.
The final stage before public entities are allowed to source goods and services on the digital system is uploading procurement plans on the e-GP.
Once a public entity has been registered on the e-GP, the Treasury must upload its budget before the entity can upload its procurement plans and start procuring goods and services on the system.
Treasury says it has registered all the 62 State departments, 94 county executives and assemblies, 547 State corporations, 81 county corporations and water companies on the e-GP.
It also says that 16,984 suppliers have been registered.
Mr Odede said entities with heavy procurement spending have already uploaded procurement plans and are now free to source goods and services.
“All our big spenders such as Kenya Ports Authority, Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Hospital have published their procurement plans,” he said.
The government has a procurement budget of about Sh1 trillion during the current fiscal year, largely for the development budget.
Treasury says it expects to save between Sh150 billion and Sh200 billion annually upon successful rollout of the e-GP.
By the end of August, however, Treasury had only released Sh13.84 billion (3.4 percent) of the Sh407 billion development budget for the national government.
