High value tenders in the hands of foreigners
The value of tenders awarded in the 2024/25 financial year stood at P32.88 billion, reflecting the significant scale of government investment in public works, services and supplies through the public procurement system.
According to the CEO of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Tumelo Motsumi, out of the total P32 billion awarded during the reporting period, P12 billion, that is 38 per cent was awarded to citizen-owned companies.
“This relatively low share in value is primarily due to the awarding of a few high-value contracts to non-citizen companies, which significantly skews the distribution despite higher participation from citizen entities,” Motsumi said.
Motsumi further told the media this week that while the majority, 58 154 our of 78 800 awards went to citizen-owned companies, highlighting strong participation, the disparity between the high volume and lower value of tenders awarded to citizens suggests that citizen companies are predominantly winning lower-value contracts.
“This could reflect limited technical or financial capacity among citizen-owned firms to compete for larger, more complex projects,” Motsumi said.
She further added that vulnerable groups including women, youth and persons living with disabilities were awarded tenders worth P5 million, representing 26 per cent of the total procurement value.
“This indicates encouraging progress towards inclusive procurement and targeted empowerment efforts,” Motsumi said.
Meanwhile, national public procurement challenges include; corruption, poor contract management, manual procurement systems, inflated prices, poor procurement planning and inefficiencies.
Appraising the media, Motsumi said as a result of these challenges, there is lack of economic growth, owing from delayed project implementation leading to poor service delivery, cost and time
overruns, substandard projects and services, absence of critical services and products to the public, wastage, especially for cold chains, minimal job creation, gap between poor and rich widens as well as disgruntlement of the public, among others.
In order to resolve challenges, Motsumi said they intend focus on four key focus areas including; Review of the Public Procurement Act; Development of e-procurement system; Procurement Cadre Professionalisation and Procurement and Contract Audits.
Further explaining what the Public Procurement Act will entail, Motsumi said it is envisaged to enhance efficiency and reduce procurement delays, as well as strengthen transparency and accountability,
and ensure stronger enforcement rules. She added that it will also address implementation and operational challenges in implementation of the Act, align some clauses of the current Act with best practice and international standards. In addition, it is expected to address inconsistencies in the Act and strengthen procurement processes, structures and rules.
Meanwhile, President Duma Boko has on numerous occasions publicly expressed strong sentiments about the current procurement processes, stating his desire to implement a direct appointment system for tenders, bypassing traditional competitive bidding processes.
Motsumi admitted to Botswana Guardian that they were concerned about such utterances from the President. However, after engaging President Boko, they appreciated where he was coming from.
President Boko’s view is that the direct appointment system would reduce corruption, increase efficiency and improve service delivery.
PPRA Head said being the attorney that he is, President Boko took time to read through the Procurement Act before meeting with the PPRA team. “He explained to us that his remarks were based on the fact that Direct Appointment is provided for in the Act, however, it is underutilised,” Motsumi said.
Further, that President Boko is not against open bidding but that in a situation where an industry player of note is identified for a project, and it is apparent that they are the best for the job, and that there are no questions about whether they can deliver, a Direct Appointment should be done without hesitation, rather than flighting tenders that attract unqualified bidders and ultimately prolong the
process.
According to Motsumi, such a contractor, as per the regulations would also be bound to subcontract capable local contractors.
“We are happy that after our engagement with the President, he went further to consult with Accounting Officers, emphasising to them that it is within their mandate to choose one of the methods provided for, for procurement, depending on the situation.
PPRA Acting Executive Director Supplies, Lucas Kennekae said the PPRA’s scope of work has now increased and now covers local authorities and Parastatals in addition to central government. He added that this means more foot soldiers are needed to transverse the length and breadth of Botswana all year round to carry out the mandate of the Authority as expected under the PP Act.
Kennekae further said there are some contentious issues that come with the new law, including the Preference and Reservation Scheme, which though not absolute, envisions the issuance of reservation and preference schemes in favour of citizens and citizen-owned companies for the growing of the economy, creation of jobs, empower citizens and encourage locally manufactured goods.
“There are conflicting interpretations of this portion of the Act and the Authority will work closely with all the relevant stakeholders to bring harmony,” Keneekae said.