Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has stepped up efforts to curb misprocurement and widen access to government contracts through the Malawi National Electronic Procurement System.
On Tuesday, PPDA met micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Lilongwe to orient them on the new system.
PPDA director of informaton and communications technology Paul Katema said the system ensures that all procurement is aligned with approved plans, thereby reducing opportunities for abuse.
He said: “The system allows procuring entities to upload budgets at the beginning of the financial year and every procurement is aligned with that plan.
“You should not expect any government institution to procure outside its approved framework. That level of alignment is key to tackling misprocurement.”
Katema also bemoaned the low participation of small businesses on the platform.
Out of 260 suppliers registered in the past month, only one was a small business operator.
Yet procurement law reserves benefits for them, including a 15 percent preference margin on goods and services and 10 percent on works.
“By staying outside the system, SMEs are losing out on opportunities designed to promote their businesses,” said Katema.
For a small business oeprators such as Susan Numeri, who runs GTS and General Supplier as well as a welding and fabrication business, the orientation provided clarity on how to access tenders.
“As businesspeople, we are supposed to know the processes for applying for tenders, but most of the time we don’t know where to get that information.
“This training is important because it shows us how we can apply and compete for government business,” she said.
SMEs have commended PPDA for creating the platform, but raised concerns about bottlenecks outside its control.
Chief among them was the cumbersome process of obtaining tax clearance certificates from the Malawi Revenue Authority, which they said was delaying registration.
Katema acknowledged that technology adoption can be a challenge, saying PPDA has established a help desk to assist registrants.
On his part, Digital Financial Inclusion and Competitiveness Project e-trade specialist Sangwani Mkandawire observed that mistrust, costs and weak infrastructure remain a drag.
He said: “We can all attest that there is still a lot of mistrust when it comes to using e-commerce platforms.
“High Internet costs and weak infrastructure raise the cost of online trading and these costs are eventually borne by the consumer. We need policies and regulations that create trust so that people feel safe conducting trade online.”
Available data show that public procurement takes up 70 percent of the government budget and has been prone to inefficiencies and corruption scandals.
By moving the process online, PPDA hopes to make contracting more transparent and inclusive.
However, experts such as Mkandawire caution that digitalisation alone will not be enough.
Without improved inter-agency coordination, investment in infrastructure and stronger capacity-building, the system risks excluding the very SMEs it seeks to empower.
