National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, has said that the Electronic Government Procurement System (E-GPS) must be fully implemented to provide efficiency in the tendering process.
Mbadi said that his office has embarked on reforms to ensure the government saves money for economic prosperity.
The CS who spoke during a groundbreaking ceremony of the Kenya National Union of Teacher’s (KNUT)-Migori Branch Plaza in Migori town, said that the e-procurement platform will help eliminate corruption in the tendering process, create a transparent platform for every Kenyan willing to do business with both national and county governments, address issues of pending bills, and reduce costs for both the government and suppliers.
He also disclosed that the E-procurement system will eliminate the possibility of paying for projects that were not tendered for and cure the pending bills problems.
Mbadi noted that under the current manual system, compliant bidders are often unfairly disqualified, leading to inflated costs.
The new e-procurement system, he explained, will allow citizens to access government budgets and procurement plans at the click of a button, submit bids digitally, and track the evaluation process in real time.
He said that his office will continue to do reforms to rearrange and restructure the budget to ensure the government agenda is realised and actualised.
The CS also said that even though resources are scarce and limited, the government need to bring sanity in the management of the resources to ensure the government’s developmental agendas are met for the benefit of all Kenyans.
According to Mbadi, the Electronic Government Procurement System (E-GPS) portal allows government entities and suppliers to manage the entire procurement process, registration, planning, tendering, and contracting online.
The E-GPS system also aims to reduce bureaucracy and corruption across national and county governments, while enhancing service delivery.
Migori Governor Ochilo Ayacko, while supporting the principle of e-procurement, expressed concern that the National Treasury’s centralised management system will undermine devolution.
Ochilo stressed that while counties welcome reforms that promote accountability, procurement functions must remain under county control, with the treasury department playing only an oversight role.
He cautioned that centralisation could delay projects and stifle local businesses, slowing down the county development agendas
by Akoth Quinter & Makokha Khaoya
