By Kamugisha Kabahweza Allan
It used to take 20 days to evaluate bid documents, but the time has since been reduced to 10 days, thanks to the amendments in the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA).
Uthman Segawa, the Senior Manager, Legal and Board Affairs at the PPDA made the pronouncement on Thursday 7th November 2024 during the URA Suppliers’ Forum at Hotel Africana.
“Due to the outcry by His Excellency and stakeholders to improve service delivery, we have shortened the time for evaluation. If I’m evaluating, for example, a bid for vehicles, why do I need a whole month to evaluate the technical specifications?” he asked before adding, “We have reduced the evaluation timelines for suppliers and non-consultancy services from 20 working days to 10 working days.”
He clarified that the timelines for the evaluation of works tenders have been reduced from 40 working days to 15 working days, asking the Procurement team to proceed to financial documents once they have opened the technical documents.
Segawa noted that reducing the timelines positively impacts the suppliers’ and contractors’ cost of doing business, saying that they have introduced one set of laws.
“We have in place one single set of laws, the PPD Act and the regulations, which applies to the Local Government, City Council, Municipal Council, URA, PPD and other agencies,” he said.
URA Commissioner Corporate Services, Richard Kariisa urged the suppliers and contractors to take note of the new amendments in the PPDA and put integrity at the fore when bidding.
“The procurement sector is one of the areas where corruption has been highlighted. But surprisingly, one of us here recently submitted a forged Taxpayer Certificate,” said Kariisa.
He therefore requested URA and her suppliers to exhibit the highest level of integrity and patriotism in the procurement process as they carry out their businesses professionally.
“I call on every one of us here to do this work, professionally with integrity and patriotism at heart as the main guiding principles in our business relationships,” he said.
