Government embarked upon an exercise to reform the Public Procurement System in 1996 as an integral part of a wider Public Financial Management Reform Programme (PUFMARP).The exercise was to improve the overall public financial management in the country.

The reform exercise identified shortcoming and organizational weaknesses inherent in the country’s procurement system. These include the absence of a comprehensive public procurement policy and the lack of a comprehensive legal regime to safeguard the integrity of the public procurement system.

Others are the absence of a central body with the requisite capability, technical expertise and competence to develop a coherent public procurement policy.

Rules and regulations are required to guide, direct, train as well as adequately monitor public procurement. Furthermore, the absence of clearly defined roles and responsibilities of individual procurement entities is a problem.

There is no independent appeals process with power to address complaints from aggrieved bidders and provide corrective remedies. The lack of a clearly defined authority to allow procurement entities to undertake the procurement of goods, works and services with funds appropriated to them weakened the system and also needs to be addressed.