Government urged to change procuring units

By Billy Rwothungeyo

THE composition of Procuring and Disposing Units (PDUs) of public Procuring and Disposing Entities (PDEs) needs to be re-focused to make public procurement faster and improve service delivery, key players in Uganda’s procurement have advised.

Include other people Prof. Benon Basheka, the Dean of the School of Business and Management at Uganda Technology and Management University argued that other professionals should be given seats on PDUs. Currently, PDUs are composed of only procurement professionals. 

“What is done in procurement is not only for procurement professionals. They (PDUs) require legal knowledge. Why can’t there be a lawyer, an engineer, accountant in the unit instead of having only one set of professionals?” he asked.

Reduce committees 

Basheka also called for the business service Prof. Basheka reduction in the number of committees that handle the procurement process, arguing that resources are wasted.

Currently, all public procurements go through the evaluation and contracts committees, accounting offices, and the user departments of entities.

“Do we need all these structures? Should all procurements pass through all these levels? Are these structures giving us the efficiency we want?” the professor pondered.

“They (committees) are too many and are wasting time. Entities should take these issues to a PDU that is adequately staffed instead of forming committees. But that will require the amendment of the law,” Basheka said.

Eng. Ayalew K. Belew, the acting director of procurement at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) shared Basheka’s sentiments.

Belew said the unbalanced distribution of power among procurement parties is frustrating efforts to make procurement faster.

“Nobody can move without the approval of the contracts committee, even on minor issues. A procurement officer in my office joked that one day she may need the contract committee’s approval to go to a restaurant. This shows the level of frustration in our system,” he said.

Milton Tumutegyereize, the director training and capacity building at Public Procurement & Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) said PDUs should be empowered to shoulder more responsibility.

The right procurements 

Basheka said the procurement function of the government is increasingly coming under fire as delivering the right procurement becomes harder.

“Procurement has its rules. If you are acquiring, you must get the right product, from the right source, in the right quantities, at the right time delivered at the right place, in the right package and at the right price,” he said.

“But each of these have issues in Uganda. Getting the right product is increasingly becoming difficult. There are many providers but not all of them are providing the right products,” he said.

The trio was speaking on the sidelines of an economic forum organised by the Institute of

Chattered Public Accountants of Uganda recently.