Kenyans are losing billions of shillings to a public procurement system riddled with weak regulations, poor data management, and limited oversight, warns a new report by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

The government’s rollout of a unified electronic government procurement (EGP) platform, intended to curb corruption, boost transparency, and streamline processes, has struggled to gain traction as resistance from key players has kept compliance rates stubbornly low, a trend highlighted in earlier PPRA assessments.

The 2024 review says the procurement procedures are overly complex and opaque, creating fertile ground for corrupt practices, discouraging honest businesses, and depriving taxpayers of value for money.

The report pokes holes in the very rules designed to regulate procurement, describing them as a source of paralysis rather than protection.

“The wide array of procurement methods makes it difficult to choose the appropriate one and implement it correctly,” the report notes. This drives officials to focus more on ticking procedural boxes than on ensuring efficiency, transparency, or cost-effectiveness,” the report reads in part.

In many cases, the PPRA findings indicate that procurement officers are more concerned with following rules than achieving value for money, flagging a worrying lack of accountability: the choice of procurement method cannot be contested, giving officials discretion to favour non-competitive approaches.

Transparency gaps remain a persistent problem. Many government agencies fail to publish procurement plans, tender notices, or contract awards, limiting public scrutiny.

Only about 73 per cent of major procuring entities meet the requirement to publish tender notices, meaning over a quarter of high-value contracts start without public visibility.

The report further highlights that contract amendments and variations often go unreported, resulting in final deals that differ substantially, and often more expensively, from the original terms.

Weak compliance and incomplete reporting have left the government with data that is neither accurate nor comprehensive enough to assess the system effectively.

“The information system is not yet reliable for monitoring procurement performance or for guiding policy decisions,” the report warns.

The report says that without complete and transparent data, analysing system performance or identifying corrupt practices remains a significant challenge, allowing billions of shillings to slip through the cracks.