The Public Procurement

This section is an interpretation heading referring to international obligation.

This section appears to be a heading about establishing the Public Procurement Policy Division and related functions of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.

This section concerns procedure in respect of investigation.

Section 14 concerns restrictions on disclosure of certain matters.

This section is titled “Disciplinary action against public officers.”

Section 19 is titled “Cancellation of procurement proceedings.”

Section 20 is titled “Action on recommendation of the Authority.”

This section is about the establishment and composition of the Board of Directors.

Section 22 is titled “Committees of the Board of Directors.”

This section is about the appointment of a Chief Executive.

This section is a heading for the Authority’s directors, consultants, and other staff.

This section is titled “Annual Management Plan and budget.”

This section appears to be a heading about internal audits and periodic audit reports.

Notification to the Authority about the composition of the tender board.

This section is about the functions of tender boards and the budget approving authority.

This section is titled “Functions and Powers of Accounting officer.”

This section concerns the establishment and composition of the Procurement Management Unit.

This section is titled “Functions of a Procurement Management Unit.”

This section is titled “Independence of functions and powers.”

This section is about delegation of powers by the Accounting Officer.

This section is about procurement procedures for the Authority and the Appeals Authority.

This section is titled “Confidentiality of documents” and sits in Part V on Public Procurement Principles.

Section 49 is titled “Approval of the Annual Procurement plan.”

Section 50 is titled “Procurement of common use items and services.”

This section concerns the qualifications of suppliers, contractors, and consultants.

This section states that local persons or firms are to be given exclusive preference.

This section concerns the rejection of tenders or proposals.

This section concerns acceptance of a tender and when a procurement contract enters into force.

This section concerns records, information, and notices.

Section heading: Blacklisting.

This section is about applying the basic principles of procurement and disposal.

This section concerns the selection of procurement methods.

This provision concerns procurement by competitive tendering for used railway machinery, aircrafts, and ships.

This section is titled “Validity of tenders and tender security.”

Section 73 is titled “Receipt of tenders and tender opening.”

Section 74 concerns the evaluation and comparison of tenders.

This section is titled “Negotiation and award of contracts.”

Section 78 is titled “Selection of consultants” and appears under the Public Procurement / Public Private Partnership part.

This provision is titled “Unsolicited public Private Partnership proposal.”

This section is about the selection of a transaction advisor or manager.

Section 82 is titled “Selection of a Private Party and choice of procurement” and appears under Part VIII, Prohibitions.

Section 84 is titled “Conducts influencing Public Officers.”

Section 85 concerns disclosure of payment made by way of commission, etc.

Section heading on the conduct of directors, servants, or agents and the institution of criminal proceedings.

This section is the heading for Part IX on Disputes Settlement.

This section establishes the Appeals Authority.

This section concerns the appointment of an Executive Secretary.

This section is about employees of the Appeals Authority.

This section is titled “Audit of Accounts.”

This section concerns how accounting officers settle complaints or disputes.

This provision concerns extending the time for submitting complaints or appeals.

Section 99 is titled “Certain rules applicable to review proceedings.”

Suspension of procurement proceedings.

This section is titled “Judicial review.”

This section is about protection from personal liability.

This section is titled “Transitional provisions.”

This provision says the Act may be cited as the Public Procurement Act, 2011, and it starts on a date the Minister appoints by notice in the Gazette.

This section says the Act applies to specified procurement and disposal activities, including some non-government and PPP situations, and sets special compliance rules for Defence and National Security Organs.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including procurement bodies, practices, and key procurement-related expressions.

If a government procurement-related treaty or agreement conflicts with this Act, the treaty or agreement prevails to that extent; otherwise this Act applies.

A Public Procurement Policy Division is to be established under the Ministry responsible for Finance, and it must be headed by a suitably qualified person with at least 10 years’ procurement-related experience.

The Public Procurement Policy Division must carry out listed policy and support functions for public procurement.

This provision establishes the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and gives it corporate powers, including suing, holding property, making contracts, and doing lawful acts. It also gives the Attorney General a right to intervene in suits involving the Authority.

The Authority must promote fair, competitive, transparent, non-discriminatory and value-for-money procurement, set procurement standards, monitor procuring entities, and build procurement capacity.

The Authority’s functions include advising on procurement, monitoring public procurement systems, issuing guidelines and standardized documents, inspecting procuring entities, and enforcing compliance. It also has rights to access records, premises, and contract information, and some actions require prior written approval or are subject to other sections.

The Authority may investigate listed procurement and licensing matters, and must do so for certain defence or security-force contracts and licences if the Paymaster General gives prior written direction.

The Authority may undertake a section 10 investigation on its own initiative or after representations, if it thinks the investigation is warranted.

The Authority may choose its own procedure for a case and may get information from people and make enquiries, subject to the Act.

The Authority may require or summon people to provide information, documents, or assistance for an investigation, but no one can be compelled to give evidence or produce items that could not be compelled in court.

The Pay-Master General may trigger secrecy restrictions, and the Authority, its employees, and staff must not disclose the specified information or documents.

The Authority must, after investigating and in writing, tell the Paymaster General and the relevant competent authority or accounting officer what it found and make any recommendations it thinks necessary.

If the Authority finds evidence of breach of duty, misconduct, or a criminal offence during or after an investigation, it must refer the matter to the competent authority and to persons who can take disciplinary or other appropriate proceedings, and it must submit a special report to the Minister.

The Authority’s proceedings, and those of its committees, are not invalid just because of a formal defect.

The Authority has powers to investigate and oversee public procurement matters, including requiring information, summoning witnesses, inspecting transactions, and requesting assistance.

The Authority may direct a procuring entity to fix a breach or terminate procurement proceedings, and must let affected persons make representations before a termination decision.

If there is a persistent or serious breach, the Authority must recommend corrective action to the competent authority, and the competent authority must respond in writing within 14 days.

This section sets up the Board of Directors for the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and says it is the Authority’s governing body.

This provision sets out where the Authority’s money comes from, how it may spend and invest funds, and its accounting, audit, budget, and reporting duties.

The Head of Internal Audit must carry out internal auditing of the Authority’s operations and submit quarterly reports to the Audit Committee, with a copy to the Chief Executive Officer.

Public bodies must set up tender boards for procurement, and tender board members with a conflict must disclose it and stay out of the related decision.

The accounting officer must tell the Authority who is on the tender board and their qualifications within 14 days of appointment, and the Authority must set a procedure if a procuring entity is too small to form a tender board.

Tender boards may request technical or professional advice, inspect records or documents and copy or extract them, and take reasonable and justifiable acts to achieve their objects.

Public bodies may not invite tenders, award contracts, or let contracts without the required approvals; the accounting officer must also get approval before communicating certain awards and must notify successful tenderers in writing.

The accounting officer is responsible for running the procurement process and must carry out several related procurement tasks.

Every procuring entity must establish a Procurement Management Unit, and the accounting officer must ensure it has a budget sub-vote and funding.

The Procurement Management Unit must handle procurement and disposal by tender, except entity adjudication and awarding contracts, and the user department and evaluation committee have listed support and reporting duties.

The listed procurement bodies must act independently, and the accounting officer may delegate or engage third-party procurement services only under the Act’s regulations.

Certain procurement-related documents must be kept confidential, and disputes among specified procurement bodies must be handled under the regulations made under the Act.

Procuring entities must act fairly and aim for best value; public officers and auditors have reporting and compliance duties; and the Authority may take corrective or punitive measures for non-compliance.

Tenderers must meet appropriate criteria, and procuring entities must publish qualification criteria and avoid discrimination.

A procuring entity must procure from the Agency using a procedure set by regulations.

After a tender or proposal is accepted, the accounting officer must notify relevant parties, issue required notices, and the parties must enter a formal contract; some contracts need vetting before signing.

A procuring entity must keep procurement records for at least five years and make them available to the Minister and the Controller and Auditor-General when required.

Emergency procurement is allowed only when the stated urgency/public-interest conditions are met, and some approvals and procedures still apply.

A procuring entity starting competitive tendering must give eligible prospective tenderers the entity’s requirements and a fair chance to tender.

The procuring entity must require tenders and tender securities to remain valid long enough for evaluation and for the tender board to review recommendations and approve the contract.

The tender board secretary must receive tenders properly, give receipts, open timely tenders in public, record required details, and return late tenders unopened.

The evaluation committee must evaluate non-rejected tenders on a common basis, documents must state any extra evaluation factors beyond price, and the evaluation report must go from the Procurement Management Unit to the tender board.

The tender board must review the procurement unit’s evaluation and recommendation, and it may approve the tender, refuse the recommendation, or send the matter back for re-evaluation or retendering.

The procuring entity may negotiate in limited cases, but not to change key tender terms or outcomes, and must stop negotiations if no acceptable contract is reached.

If a transaction advisor or manager is appointed for a public-private partnership, the selection must follow the procedures set out in the regulations.

A procuring entity doing a public-private partnership project must select the private party using the procedures set out in the regulations under the Act.

The law creates the Public Procurement Appeals Authority, sets its jurisdiction over procurement complaints and certain appeals, and gives rules for appointing and serving the Executive Secretary.

The Appeals Authority must employ the number and categories of staff it considers necessary for its effective functioning.

The Appeals Authority’s funds come from public appropriations, loans, grants, service revenue, and other monies received for its functions, and the excerpt also sets reporting, accounting, budget, review, and complaint-handling rules.

The Appeals Authority may extend a missed time limit for an appeal or complaint in some cases, and review-process decisions must be notified, shared within seven days, and made available for public inspection with confidentiality limits.

The accounting officer must suspend the procurement process when a complaint or dispute is received, unless an urgent-public-interest certification lets it proceed. The Appeals Authority may also suspend the process or contract while a complaint or appeal is being decided.

An aggrieved tenderer or procuring entity may apply to the High Court for judicial review within 14 days of the Appeals Authority’s decision.

Public officers, experts delivering specified services, and tenderers must comply with the Code of Ethical Conduct and sign a declaration of compliance when required.

A member or employee of the Authority or Appeals Authority is protected from actions or demands for acts or omissions done bona fide while carrying out, or purporting to carry out, their duties.

This section makes it an offence for a person to give false information, interfere with officials, breach sealed-tender confidentiality, collude in prohibited acts, or cause public loss; it also punishes non-compliance, delay, and failure to provide requested information.

The Minister may make regulations and rules to carry out the Act, including detailed procurement-related matters.

The Authority must issue guidelines from time to time to help carry out the Act’s objectives or functions.

This section repeals the Public Procurement Act, 2004, but keeps existing orders, directions, appointments, and offices valid until changed under this Act.

This Schedule defines “Appointing Authority” and says who appoints the Chairman and Members of the Authority.

The Board of Directors must include a non-executive Chairman, six members, and a Chief Executive Officer, with those positions appointed by the President or the Minister as stated.

Board chairs and members are appointed for three years, may be reappointed for another three years, and the appointing authority can extend or end appointments in specified circumstances.

The Board may invite certain interested people to its meetings to help it, but they do not get a vote.

The Chairman must convene ordinary Board meetings and send notice at least two full working days in advance; if the Chairman cannot act, the Chief Executive Officer does so.

Board meeting rules require a quorum of half the members, an acting chairman to be elected if the chairman is absent, majority decisions to be recorded, and dissenting members to have their dissent recorded in the minutes.

The Secretary must record each Board meeting minute properly, and the Board must confirm it and have the Chairman and Secretary sign it at the next ordinary meeting; it must then be filed at the Authority’s offices.

Board decisions and communications made on its behalf must be signed by the chief executive officer or by a Secretariat officer authorized in writing by the chief executive officer.

The Board has power to regulate its own proceedings.

The Board may create subcommittees and appoint members to them, including people who are not Board members, to advise on specific matters.

The Minister may prescribe fees and allowances payable to the Chairman and members of the Authority.

This provision defines “the board” for the Schedule.

The Board must have a Chairman and six members, and the accounting officer appoints them.

Board chairs and members are appointed for three years, may be re-appointed for another three years, and the accounting officer can extend or end appointments in defined situations.

The Board may invite public officers from the procuring authority or another public authority to attend its meetings to assist it, but those attendees have no vote.

The Chairman must convene board meetings, or the Secretary must do so if the Chairman is absent or unable to act. Notice must state the date, time, and place and be sent to each member at least two full working days before the meeting. The board must meet at least once a month at times and places the Chairman तयines.

Board meetings need half the board for a quorum; if the Chairman is absent, members present must choose one of them to act as Chairman; a dissenting member may have their dissent and reasons recorded.

The Secretary must record each board meeting’s minutes properly, and the board must confirm them and have the Chairman and Secretary sign them at the next following meeting.

Board decisions and other board communications must be signed by the Secretary, Permanent Secretary, or Chief Executive, as applicable.

A tender board must conduct its proceedings according to the prescribed Regulations.

The tender board may set up sub-committees and appoint members to them, including people who are not board members.

The Minister may set fees and allowances that may be payable to the Chairman and members of the board.

This section defines the Appointing Authority and sets rules for appointing, extending, terminating, and resigning from Appeals Authority offices.

The Appeals Authority may create small subcommittees, must give members at least two full working days’ notice of hearings, and must convene a special meeting if three members request it in writing.

The Appeals Authority must follow the Rules made under the Act when handling disputes or complaints, and may set procedure rules if the Rules are silent.

Appeals Authority hearing proceedings must be recorded in writing, and the records must be signed by the members present and the Chairman or presiding person.

The Executive Secretary must record minutes of each Appeals Authority meeting, and the minutes must be confirmed and signed at the next meeting.

Notifications of Appeals Authority decisions and related communications must be signed by the Executive Secretary or a written-authorized officer.

The Minister may set fees and allowances payable to the Chairman and Members of the Appeals Authority.