Public procurement has emerged as a critical tool for driving Zimbabwe’s economic transformation, with Government and the private sector being urged to deepen collaboration in support of the Vision 2030 agenda.
The call was made at the 5th Annual Public Procurement Conference currently under way in Victoria Falls, bringing together procurement professionals, policymakers and representatives of the public and private sectors.
The conference, hosted by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), is exploring ways in which public procurement can promote social inclusion, strengthen local productive capacity and contribute to sustainable economic development.
With public procurement accounting for nearly 70 percent of total Government expenditure, stakeholders said the sector represents a major source of domestic demand that can be leveraged to stimulate local industries and businesses.
PRAZ chief executive officer Dr Clever Ruswa said the authority was implementing several policy interventions aimed at improving transparency, competition and value for money in public procurement.
These include the Electronic Government Procurement System and the National Standard Price List, which are intended to improve efficiency while creating a more transparent procurement environment.
Dr Ruswa said PRAZ was also working to ensure that different categories of businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises, small and medium enterprises and large corporates, were incorporated into the electronic procurement platform.
“As a regulator, PRAZ, since we are at the centre of everything, we made sure that by January, as we are now registering the bidding community, we had the three categories under Statutory Instrument Number 9, where we are looking at the MSMEs, the SMEs, and also the large corporates,” he said.
He said the measures were also supporting affirmative procurement by creating opportunities for previously marginalised groups to participate in Government tenders.
Dr Ruswa said the Buy Zimbabwe initiative was being complemented by the National Standard Price List to help promote reasonable pricing and curb excessive mark-ups.
“We are also encouraging now, especially the bidding community, because we came up with what we call the national price list,” he said.
Meanwhile, the private sector has been urged to take advantage of Government procurement opportunities and work more closely with public institutions to strengthen domestic production.
Dr Newton Demba, Managing Consultant at the Logistics Research and Training Institute, said the private sector had an important role to play in complementing Government’s purchasing power with its supply capacity.
“Looking at the procurement landscape, public sector procurement occupies almost 70 percent of total expenditure, while the private sector contributes around 30 percent,” he said.
He said achieving an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 required participation from all sectors of the economy.
“Everyone has a role to play. This is an opportunity for the private sector to partner with Government initiatives so that they can contribute meaningfully to the national development agenda,” Dr Demba said.
The conference is also examining green procurement, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies, as well as ways of supporting local innovation hubs.
Stakeholders said strengthening local participation in public procurement could help expand business opportunities, improve domestic industrial capacity and ensure that Government expenditure contributes more directly to sustainable economic growth.
