The National Treasury will from March 18th start training officials from State corporations on how to use the IFMIS e-procurement system. This is expected to boost the uptake of the system as roll-out of the automated procurement and payment platform gathers momentum.
The training will be undertaken by the National Treasury’s IFMIS Department and will run from 18th to 20th. It is targeted at procurement, finance and ICT officers from all State corporations and will equip them with knowledge and skills to effectively operate the IFMIS e-procurement system. The IFMIS e-procurement and payment platform was launched August 2014 by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The launch was a major stride towards automating public procurement processes, with the intention of reducing wastage in the use of public resources and entrenching efficiency, effectiveness and accountability in the use of public funds,” said Dr Kamau Thugge Principal Secretary National Treasury. “An Executive Order No. 6 dated March 6, 2015 has been released, regarding Ethics and Integrity in the Public Service.
The Executive Order directs all State Corporations to immediately migrate their procurement systems to the e-procurement platform developed by the National Treasury, and to communicate on the status of this migration in the next two weeks.” The IFMIS Department has already started roll out of the system to state corporations that are under the National Treasury. The roll out of the system within state corporations follows success in the uptake of IFMIS e-procurement within Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The system is also being implemented within County Governments as well. Other than increasing accountability and transparency in the tender award process, the IFMIS e-procurement system will speed up payments made to suppliers. Delayed payments have in the past taken longer and at times affected the cash flow for private businesses supplying goods and services to government institutions.
Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta asked all government agencies to ensure they abide with the Executive Order No. 6. “I am reminding Government officials that they are left with one week and all those in charge of Government agencies will be held personally responsible if they fail to adopt the e-procurement system,” said the President. “Our objective is to ensure all procurements are made public for wananchi to see the transparency of the process.”
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