Public procurement in Uganda

Law and regulator

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act commenced on 21 February 2003 ¹. A reprint gazetted on 31 December 2021 includes the 2011 Amendment Act, in force from 3 March 2014, and the 2021 Amendment Act, in force from 1 July 2021 ². The PPDA now publishes the law as Cap. 205 ⁴.

Section 6 of Cap. 205 establishes the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority as an autonomous body ¹. The PPDA calls itself the principal regulatory body for public procurement and disposal of public assets in Uganda ⁴. It runs the Government Procurement Portal at gpp.ppda.go.ug and links to the e-GP system at egpuganda.go.ug ⁴.

Procurement methods

Section 86(1) says an entity shall use open domestic bidding, except where the Act or regulations provide otherwise ¹. Sections 86 to 94 list the methods ¹.

• Open domestic bidding and open international bidding ¹.
• Restricted domestic bidding and restricted international bidding ¹.
• Quotation method and micro procurement ¹.
• Direct procurement ¹.
• Electronic reverse auction ¹.
• Competitive dialogue or competitive negotiation for complex, specialised or strategic purchases ¹.

Direct procurement

Section 91(1) of Cap. 205 describes direct procurement as a sole source procurement method for exceptional circumstances that prevent competition ¹. Regulation 25 of the Rules and Methods Regulations 2023, S.I. No. 100 of 2023, in force from 5 February 2024, allows it in these cases ³.

• There is not enough time for any other procedure, such as in an emergency ³.
• The supplies, works or services are available from only one provider ³.
• An existing contract is extended for similar items, competition would bring no advantage and prices are reasonable ³.
• Additional items must be compatible with existing ones and prices are reasonable ³.
• Buying from the original supplier is needed for continuity of downstream work and prices are reasonable ³.

Approvals and value caps

For extensions, compatibility and continuity, added value may not exceed 15% of the original contract value, or 25% in total if direct procurement is used more than once ³. The Procurement and Disposal Unit must submit the procurement to the Contracts Committee, and the bid must be in writing ³. Convenience is not an acceptable ground for compatibility or continuity, under regulation 9 ³.

In financial year 2022/23 the PPDA completed 93 performance audits, 40 contract audits, 63 compliance inspections and 21 bid preparatory audits ⁵. It reported that only 49% of the procurements were subjected to open competition, labelled in its chart as contracts by value ⁵.

Review and the Appeals Tribunal

A bidder files a written complaint with the accounting officer within 10 working days of learning of the grounds, under section 106 of Cap. 205 ¹. The accounting officer must suspend the process and decide in writing within 10 days ¹.

Section 108 establishes the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Appeals Tribunal, with a chairperson qualified to be a High Court judge and six other members, at least two of them women ¹. Under section 115, an application is due within 10 working days of the accounting officer's decision, and the Tribunal must decide within 15 working days ¹. The procurement stays suspended until the Tribunal decides the application, under section 117 ¹.

Under section 118, a party may appeal to the High Court within 30 days on questions of law only, and the High Court decision is final ¹.