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An Evaluation of the PPDA’s role in ensuring effectiveness and efficiency of

Public Procurement in the National Development Plan Priority Sectors in

Uganda with a special focus on infrastructure sectors- Roads and Energy

21st May 2014

STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION

1. Background to the evaluation

2. Objectives of the evaluation

3. Evaluation questions

4. Methodology

5. Findings

6. Recommendations

7. Conclusion

PPDA objective:

(a) Ensure the application of fair, competitive, transparent, non-discriminatory and value for money procurement and disposal standards and practices;

(b) Harmonize the procurement and disposal policies, systems and practices of the Central Government, Local Governments and statutory bodies;

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Background to the PPDA Evaluation

(a) Set standards for the public procurement and disposal systems in Uganda;

(b) Monitor compliance of procuring and disposing entities; and

(c) Build procurement and disposal capacity in Uganda. PPDA started its operations in September 2003.

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PPDA Objectives…

1. To assess the effectiveness, efficiency, relevancy and sustainability of procurement interventions undertaken in Uganda since 2003;

2. Identify lessons learnt and provide recommendations for informing future PFM interventions in public procurement; and

3. Draw lessons learnt and propose measures to provide for sustainability of successes realized so far.

Evaluation Objectives

Effectiveness:

• To what extent has PPDA ensured the application of fair, competitive, transparent, non-discriminatory and value for money procurement and disposal standards and practices?

• To what extent has PPDA monitored compliance of procuring and disposing entities including administrative reviews

• Were all functions in PPDA Act implemented? If not, why ‘as desired’ deleted for the purpose of clarity

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

By and large what are PPDA’s notable achievements and accomplishments to date, challenges encountered, and degree of success?

What are the main factors that contributed to the observed success or lack of success e.g. political economy factors, institutional factors, etc.?

Can the observed changes over time (if any) be attributed to PPDA’s role?

What other factors might have contributed to the observed changes?

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Efficiency questions:

To what extent has PPDA succeeded in harmonizing the procurement and disposal policies, systems and practices?

Relevance:

To what extent has PPDA set standards for the public procurement and disposal systems in Uganda?

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Was PPDA the best intervention for preventing leakages in public resource use?

What other alternative interventions/mechanisms might have been more appropriate, and why?

Sustainability:

How likely are the achievements of PPDA going to be sustained over time, especially [sustainability of] the procurement and disposal capacity built by PPDA?

What factors are most likely to favour the sustainability of the achievements, and what factors are most likely to limit their sustainability including capacity building

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Consultative meetings with:

World Bank officials;

Chairperson, of the Evaluation Subcommittee;

Coordinator and members of the Management team;

Executive Director, Coordinator to the assignment, and officials of PPDA;

Officials of PDEs (MoWT, UNRA, MoEM, REA, UEGCL) including officials of PDU, members of contract committee, user department and officials of Department of Procurement Policy Unit,

MoFPED, officials of MoFPED and other stakeholders.

METHODOLOGY

Literature review:

A number of documents were collected from the World Bank and PPDA. Downloads from the PPDA website, GoU websites and Internet ( Annex 2)

Inception Report

Submitted draft inception report on 30 Oct 2012 the Management team;

Presented to Evaluation Subcommittee (ESC) on 22 Nov 2012.

METHODOLOGY

Identified 5 Procurement and Disposal Entities (PDEs) for evaluation namely:

Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT);

Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA);

Ministry of Energy and Mining (MoEM),

Rural Electrification Agency (REA)

Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) in the energy sector.

METHODOLOGY

Sample analysis was carried out to select few contracts as case studies.

The field work was completed in two phases.

The Consultant has captured relevant data using the tools provided in he inception report.

The captured data was further analysed to identify impact of PPDA on procurement practices in public sector

METHODOLOGY

The Consultant visited select infrastructure sites, and also interacted with various functionaries and stakeholders during the field visits;

METHODOLOGY

Since 2003 (inception of PPDA), the procurement thresholds have not been revised to take into account inflation and fluctuation in conversion rate of currency;

Approval from Contract Committee is required at almost all stages of the procurement cycle;

There is delay in obtaining Solicitor General’s approval for contracts above Ushs 50m;

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Findings

The procurement plan (PP) is not used as monitoring tool systematically.

Current template of the PP does not have provision to track salient dates between approved, revision(s), if any;

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Findings

There is an absence of specialized Standard Bidding Documents for Infrastructure Sector such as Design and Build, performance based contracting etc;

There are multiple audits by oversight agencies and compliance check by the PPDA.

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Findings

Recommendations Action Time Frame Remarks

(i) Revise the guidelines on

threshold, this enables the PDEs to

procure their requirement with

greater ease

GoU, MOFPED,

and PPDA

Immediate Policy

(i) Optimize number of procurement

methods and append new methods

such as PPP, performance based

contract in particular to

infrastructure sector

GoU, MOFPED,

and PPDA

Short Term Policy

(i) Accordingly develop Standard

Bidding Documents (SBD)s

suiting the various procurement

methods: ‘One fit for all’ to ‘Best

fit for purpose’;

GoU, MOFPED,

and PPDA

Short Term Policy

(i) Revise the procurement plan

format in line with the

Development partners and ensure

that it is used for monitoring

purpose too;

PPDA Short term Regulatory

(i) Introduce the concept of

expenditure in pipeline,

expenditure in commitment,

expenditure in progress, and

completed expenditure to link

planning, budgeting, procurement,

and implementation

GoU, MOFPED,

and PPDA

Short Term Policy

(i) Develop standard description and

unit rates for Works contracts and

periodically update these rates to

reflect the market rates;

GoU, MOFPED,

and PPDA

Short Term Policy

Recommendations and Action Plan

Table 2: Action Plan

(i) Issue a guideline/circular

in addition/revision of

existing one on material /

non material deviation,

on evaluation

methodology, in

particular with reference

to preliminary

examination and

administrative

compliance;

PPDA Short

term

Regulat

ory

(i) Advised to develop

evaluation user guide;

generic formats would

reduce the delays in

evaluation;

PPDA Short

term

Regulato

ry

(i) Use Procurement

Performance Monitoring

tool effectively to

generate useful reports

and facilitate

dissemination;

PPDA Periodic

/ Regular

Regulato

ry

(i) Issue an Amendment to

Act (Section 34 (o) and 34

(j) to improve sharing of

information between the

5 sub-entities of the PDEs,

GoU,

MOFPED,

and PPDA

Short

Term

Policy

Advised to develop evaluation user guide; generic formats would reduce the delays in evaluation;

Use procurement performance monitoring tool effectively to generate useful reports and facilitate dissemination;

Issue an Amendment to Act (Section 34 (o) and 34 (j) to improve sharing of information between the 5 sub-entities of the PDEs, PPDA and the Government

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Recommendations-3:

Facilitate coordinated procurement of aggregate requirement emanating from PDEs or various User Departments within a PDE to obtain the benefits of economy of scale;

Undertake studies to develop and implement useful procurement practices

Undertake market research to provide information to the Government and the individual procuring entities on items and sources;

Be the initiator of implementation of e-procurement

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Recommendations-4:

In conclusion, adherence and degree of compliance to the legal frame work requires significant improvement by all the stakeholders, inter-alia, PDEs and providers, with enabling, conducive, and periodic, review of legal framework in response to and in anticipation of the changes in the landscape of public procurement and business practices. This would further strengthen the existing system and essentially meet the basic tenets and the primary objectives of the public procurement system.

CONCLUSION