Government to automate procurement by January

Kenya Institute and Supplies and Management CEO Kenneth Matiba (RIGHT) with Kenya National Innovation Agency's Tony Omwanza. [Antony Gitonga, Standard]

The government is expected to save 30 per cent of public procurement resources once the procurement process is fully automated by January next year.

According to the Kenya Institute and Supplies and Management (KISM), digitisation will also reduce fraud.

This comes in the wake of reports of increased cases of graft in the procurement sector, mainly in counties and several government agencies. KISM chief executive Kenneth Matiba the automated process would be paperless and would hasten the procurement process in all government agencies and counties.

He noted that some countries like Rwanda had adopted the process leading to reduced use of government funds during the procurement process. While calling on members of the institute to support the e-system, Matiba said they had embarked on training their members so that the process could be successful.

"The government has promised to roll out the e-procurement services by January next year and this will come in handy in reducing public spending by over 30 per cent," he said. Matiba was addressing the press at a Naivasha hotel during a stakeholder's engagement on the application of modern technology in supply chain management.

"This is the first technological conference and we have invited over 100 supply and procurement officers from the public and private sector for capacity building," he said. The CEO added that the institute was in the process of registering more members while cracking the whip on those not complying with the law, mainly in the private sector.

"We have so far registered over 10,000, and our target is 16,000 members by the end of the year and we are carrying out a crackdown on non-compliant members," he said.

Matiba at the same time reaped to the defence of the procurement department over allegations of malpractices with tens of officers arrested and arraigned in court by EACC.

"The department of Supply and Procurement does not work in isolation, and it's unfair to single it out in terms of accountability," he said.

Kenya National Innovation Agency CEO Tony Omwanza said they were working with other government agencies including KISM in technology and innovation.

"For effective delivery of services, we have to embrace technology, which has disrupted many sectors, and we are keen to make sure that the government agencies embrace innovation," he said.