The parliamentary Standing Committee on Budget and Patrimony, yesterday, sent back to the drawing board a new draft law that seeks to professionalise the procurement sector.

Legislators said the Procurement Bill had "a few issues” of unclearly stipulated legal assertions that required amendments.

Further examination of the Bill could not continue until the issues were sorted, said Constance Mukayuhi Rwaka, the chairperson of the committee.

"We need efficiency and value for money in the procurement sector. To attain that, we need clearly stipulated laws that will call off all the issues that have existed, for well functioning and sustainable procurement in the country,” said Rwaka.

Her concern was echoed by MPs Jeanne d’Arc Nyinawase and Fidèle Rwigamba, who said they could not start examining the Bill when there are some issues that needed to be clarified.

"The Bill still provides for two different entities; one segment that seeks to govern the procurement profession, and another that establishes Rwanda Association of Procurement Professionals. We have to harmonise the two and come up with one legal framework,” said Nyinawase.

This was the second time legislators are sending back the Procurement Bill for further streamlining.

The Bill was drafted to streamline activities of the procurement sector following repeated anomalies and incidents of corruption-related undertakings, especially as captured by various financial year reports by the Office of the Auditor-General.

However, Augustus Seminega, the director-general of Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA), said the government wished to draft one law to avoid risks identified in drafting two separate laws; like diverting from a standard format of other laws on professional associations, as well as putting interconnected provisions in two separate documents.

It was agreed by all stakeholders, Seminaga said, that the Bill would entirely focus on the mechanisms governing procurement profession, with other provisions included in one Bill.

"We have agreed that the title reflects properly the content of the law. It will focus on procurement profession,” said Kampeta Sayinzoga, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

Scrutiny of the draft law is expected to commence in February after legal advisors from relevant institutions make the required changes.

Once enacted, the law is expected to help close the loopholes that have been prevalent in the sector, especially in public procurement, where, according to the Auditor-General, about 30 per cent of tenders awarded by public entities do not comply with procurement guidelines.

The report that covered the period between August 2012 and June 2013, said that more than Rwf23 billion was lost in poor contract management procedures, while nine contracts, worth Rwf908 million, were abandoned by contractors.

Procurement loopholes were noticed in project design and study, bidding documents as well as enforcement of contracts, among others.

In a recent interview with The New Times, Seminega blamed procurement errors on low skill levels, lack of experience and laxity among procurement officers.

"Public procurement has improved. We are coming from a time when all public procurement was done by one central entity. Now, the government has built capacities, institutions can manage to do own procurement. It is a process to achieve efficiency in the sector, that is where we are headed,” said Kampeta.

Will Bill close gaps in procurement?

PS Kampeta told this newspaper that the draft law comes to strengthen the existing legislation governing public procurement to have a sustainable procurement sector in the country, both in public and private entities.

"The added value of this [new] law is that, it actually brings standards and professionalism in the entire procurement sector for both public and private circles,” said Kampeta.

The government seeks to have all people working in procurement sector undergo professional procurement course as well as having an association, which would help increase transparency and efficiency, and, ensuring the integrity of the procurement system.

Article 2 of the new draft law says the profession of procurement will be entrusted with persons who have knowledge, governed by ethical rules and international best practices and those who have chosen to practice it under the supervision of a professional body in charge of establishing a code of professional practice.

Even though there are 258 practicing procurement officers and heads of procurement departments in the central government and local government, Rwanda has a total of 189 persons with required procurement qualifications as per the draft law.

Some 91 of these have post graduate diplomas in procurement, and 51 with Masters degree in public procurement.

At least 41 will be awarded Bachelor’s Degrees this year, while six have professional diplomas in procurement and supply.

The College of Business and Economics is expected to be graduating between 50 and 70 in procurement annually.

"We have given ourselves a period of three years to ensure that everybody in the sector have minimum qualifications of procurement,” added Kampeta.

Apollo M. Nkunda, a partner at Trust Law Chambers, told The New Times that professionalisation of procurement as well as having the association in place is a step in the right direction but that alone won’t be a solution.

He said to close the gaps in the procurement sector, the government should take cognizance of the fact that the sector is not different from any other profession.

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