PPRA to set indicative prices in public procurement

Dar es Salaam. The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has already started the process of imposing indicative prices in public procurement with a view to curtail overpricing and irresponsible pricing, it was revealed yesterday.

The new move follows government directives to the PPRA to address overpricing in public procurement of such items as vehicles, fuel, spare parts and maintenance services, a move meant to bring sanity in government expenditures.

PPRA chief executive officer Eliakim Maswi said the authority was at various stages of establishing the indicative prices for various goods and services.

The revelation was made during a meeting that brought together the Finance and Planning minister Mwigulu Nchemba and the PPRA management. “We are committed to strengthening the Tanzanian National e-Procurement System (TANePS) that will help us to come up with the indicative prices,” disclosed Mr Maswi.

He said the establishment of indicative prices would go in tandem with alleviating monopoly in the procurement of government vehicles to allow more firms to compete.

“High costs of government vehicles are triggered by the fact that currently we have only one dealer in the country,” said Mr Maswi.

He expressed the PPRA’s commitment to strengthening its department for monitoring and auditing of public procurement.

This, he said, would be possible through putting in place modern systems for the job in question (monitoring and auditing).

Speaking earlier, Dr Nchemba directed PPRA management to expedite the establishment of indicative prices.

He said it was totally irresponsible for Tanzania to purchase government vehicles at a cost that is relatively higher by over half compared to what neighbouring countries and international organisations like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were were paying for the same.

Finance minister added that it was inconceivable for different institutions in the same region to buy the vehicles with similar specifications at different prices.

“It is high time you set indicative prices to address a problem of overpricing,” ordered the minister, directing them to cooperate with other institutions to walk the talk on the directives.

Outgoing PPRA board of directors chairman, Matern Lumbanga said overpricing in public procurement was making it hard for the country to feel the value for money.

Dr Lumbanga said high costs in public procurement were fueled by corruption, cheating and poor monitoring when it came to the implementation of projects and contracts.

“As opposed to the law and government directives, several institutions do not use TANePS in public procurement, this is unacceptable,” said Ambassador Lumbanga.

He also said it was high time bureaucracy in public procurement was brought to an end.