Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in conjunction with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) have partnered to roll out a training programme on E-procurement.

The training is aimed at improving knowledge and awareness by state agencies, service providers and private sector on the eGovernment Procurement (eGP) to increase their chances of transacting business with the government

Government introduced the (eGP) system to provide a platform for increased transparency in procurement procedures and practices and improve efficiency as one of the measures to curb corruption and increase transparency, efficiency, accountability.

According to George Kijja, an E-governance expert with PSFU, only 6,000 players are registered on e-government system out of over 40,000 companies and individuals capable of registering.

Speaking during the two-day training of trainers of trainers (TOTs) on the eGP and other online procurement procedures at the Uganda Institute of Information Communication and Technology (UICT), Kijja explained that private sector players have been finding it hard to work with government due to corruption surrounding the procurement process.

According to him, the training supported by EU through the Enable to PSFU headed by Ruth Biyinzika Musoke, focuses on accrediting a total of 40 (ToTs) who will then work with PSFU to conduct trainings of companies and business representatives on the eGP who will then train about 200 others and cascade down words.

“Currently, majority of the private sector players are unable to supply government due to lack of knowledge on how to log on to the eGP system.This has failed majority of them to transact business with the government, “he said.

E-government program is an initiative by government to improve transparency in procurement but also ease access to government services.

“With electronic government procurement, a lot of paperwork is reduced meaning that, we are also supporting the green economy as we reduce the Hussle of putting the different requirements together.

In addition to reducing facial contacts, Kijja said e-government reduces the chances of bidders and actors of government to negotiate kickbacks and bribes which reduces corruption in the country.

The TOTs being trained he said are coming from different institutions and associations that do procurements.

Among them is peace and justice commission, institute of Public Procurement of Uganda (IPPU), and Association of tourism and business entities who are members of PSFU among others.

He said that by now about 40,000 bidders should be enrolled to the system but to date it is about 6000 which is less than 10% of people enrolled on the system.

“With initiatives like these, we hope to have a boost in terms of having more companies on board and per herps by the end of the year, we shall have many on board, “he said.

The situation he said is not good because access to internet alone is low still below 50% yet the cost of internet is very high.

“NITA and Ministry of ICT have done commendable job in terms of establishing infrastructure but the challenge is that the infrastructure is not yet utilized to the maximum.

There is a need to encourage people to get on line because e-government procurement is done online if we are to achieve the target of 40,000 companies, “he said.

The membership committee chairman at IPPU Patrick Odida observed that as government rolls out eGP, much efforts were put on the government entities than private sector yet they are the biggest component in service delivery.

“Since the bidding have to be done online by the service providers, the training comes in handy, since the transaction of procurement is between the buyer and the seller, “he said.