Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) has staggered suppliers’ registration fees as a direct response to calls by bidders in the public procurement system.
Praz was created through an Act of Parliament with a mandate of supervising public procurement proceedings to ensure transparency, fairness, honesty, cost-effectiveness and fair competition as required by Section 315 of the Zimbabwean Constitution.
Registration of suppliers is mandatory and goes a long way in dealing with misbehaviours by some players on the procurement matters.
In her address before the launch of the public procurement service centres by Vice-President Dr Constantino Chiwenga at Nkulumane Post Office in Bulawayo last Friday, Praz chairperson Mrs Vimbai Nyemba said: “As a responsive regulator, the authority listened to bidders who raised a request to have supplier registration payments staggered.
“The authority heeded the call and now local bidders are able to pay quarterly their registration provided that by year-end they would have paid for each quarter.”
Public procurement service centres have been established following a partnership between Praz and Zimbabwe Post (Zimpost).
The partnership, which saw the official launch of the public procurement service centres last Friday, led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Praz and Zimpost in December 2021.
It is hoped that the partnership between the above two State-owned agencies will not only promote digital inclusion, which would impact positively on economic capabilities of previously marginalised bidders to register with Praz, but it will also promote increased competition in the public procurement processes.
This is on account that more suppliers will be competing to supply to various Government ministries, departments and agencies.
“With this participation, we expect more previously marginalised suppliers in the communities such as SMEs, women and youth-owned businesses to take part in the public procurement processes and register with Praz,” said Mrs Nyemba.
Last year, a total of 16 585 suppliers were registered with Praz.
“Now there is no reasonable excuse where eligible and willing bidders cannot register with Praz. Convenience has been brought to the doorstep of every current and potential supplier,” she said.
“In 2021, we officially launched the Praz e-learning portal where suppliers and procurement officials will undertake courses on public procurement.
“We also call upon all these suppliers who are registered with Praz to take advantage of the community information centres, low-cost internet prices to enrol for the courses online so as to increase their knowledge about the public procurement processes and be able to bid successfully.
“We will be rolling out more packages to ease public procurement processes,” said Mrs Nyemba.
She said through the public procurement service centres Praz was demystifying the procurement process as it is no longer complicated.
“We have demystified it, we have brought it home, and we hope the communities will take seriously that they can bid from the comfort of their neighbourhood.
“We have confidence in the public procurement centre that it will shape the future of service provision in the public procurement space in the country,” said Mrs Nyemba.
The Praz chairperson said the vision of the regulator was to be a responsive and proactive in driving a modern, efficient, and effective public procurement system by 2030.
In this context, she said Praz continues to explore ways of improving its service provision, broadening reach and improving systems to make them as responsive to the market as possible.
“One of the key pillars of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) is the expansion of the digital economy. As
Praz we recognise that Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are key enablers of economic development hence the entrenchment of ICT across all national development strategies is critical for the attainment of universal access to services by 2030,” said Mrs Nyemba.
“We listened to the market and realised that the majority of Small-to-Medium Enterprises, women and youth-owned businesses have challenges in accessing scanners and Internet.
“In response we came up with the idea of riding on the successful community information centres of Zimpost, which provide access to affordable Internet services and also infrastructure to scan documents countrywide.”
– @KazungaOliver
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