Procurement Act amendment to benefit women, youths Mr Ruswa

Herald Reporter

Businesses owned by youths and women are set to benefit from the proposed amendments to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act aimed at fostering competition through opening up of more space for new enterprises and heightening innovation.

Speaking on the amendments of the Act in Harare yesterday, the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe acting chief executive officer, Mr Clever Ruswa, highlighted that the amendments were designed to fill gaps identified over the last three years as the Act was implemented.

“The amendments of the Act are imperative to align the legislation to the requirements of the Constitution of the country based on recommendations borne on gaps identified during the implementation of the Act and the need to provide for flexibility,” said Mr Ruswa.

Incorporating small to medium enterprises and businesses owned by youths and women will aid in achieving better value for money through pushing for more suppliers, thus increasing competition.

“The inclusion of SME’s will aid in Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe achieving its mandate of promoting an efficient, fair, competitive and transparent public procurement in Zimbabwe as the SME’s policy provides that 25 percent of the procurement by the Government should be from SMEs,” said Mr Ruswa.

On the significance of the amendments to the Act, Mr Ruswa said they will pave the way for ease of doing business and align with other Government policies.

He pointed out that some of the challenges the authority faced emanated from the board’s limitations in making decisions since the Act was promulgated in the period before the Covid-19 outbreak, hence, rendering it ineffective.

One section that provides for the authorisation to conduct procurement by procuring entities, was valid for a period of two years, but if the amendment is passed, it will be valid for a year from the date on which it was given and may be renewed.

There are other similar amendments to make the Act more effective and ensure the highest levels of transparency.

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