The public procurement watchdog says some public officers are still bypassing a new system and procuring goods and services under the radar, warning that they face fines and surcharges of the amounts paid through such deals.
In a new circular to counties and national government entities, the public procurement watchdog has lifted the lid on how the officers authorised the buying of goods and services outside the Electronic Government Procurement System (E-GPS), the mandatory public procurement platform since July 1, 2025.
The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) revealed that despite the rollout of the E-GPS to handle all public procurements, some officers have been purchasing goods and services outside the system, and in other instances, backdating transactions to bypass the system.
“It has, however, come to the attention of the authority that some procuring entities have continued to procure goods and services outside the E-GP platform while others have resorted to retroacting current procurement of goods and services by backdating procurement proceedings to pre-June 30, 2025,” PPRA said in a circular dated August 12, 2025.
PPRA Director-General Patrick Wanjuki said the officers breached the law by approving transactions outside the E-GPS, warning that they will be surcharged the cash they authorised for payment.
The government rolled out the E-GPS on July 1, 2025, and directed all national and county government entities to use it for all procurement activities, as a mandatory requirement.
Noting that counties and national government entities continue to procure goods and services outside the system, PPRA now warns that officers found bypassing the system could face up to Sh4 million fine for breaching the Public Procurement Assets Disposal Act, 2015.
“That, effective July 1, 2025, all public procurement and asset disposal transactions should be conducted through the E-GPS; any procurements done outside the system and paid for shall be surcharged on the officer who authorised the transaction,” Mr Wanjuki said.
PPRA also warned public entities that have continued to publish new tenders on the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP) to cease the practice and instead process them through the E-GPS.
The watchdog maintains that it has the record of all procurement proceedings that public entities had published on the PPIP by the end of June, noting that any new tenders published after would not be authorised for payment.
Between July 1 and last week, at least 11 state agencies and counties had published contracts valued at Sh77.5 million on the PPIP.
The shift to the new system followed weaknesses witnessed when the government procured goods and services through the Integrated Financial Information Management System (Ifmis), where entities hid procurement information from the PPRA.
While there has been a legal requirement for entities to publish tenders and contracts on the PPIP, the majority of the counties and national government entities did not comply with it.
The Treasury on July 23, 2025 issued a circular stating that only (existing) contracts duly reported to PPRA will be approved for payment. Treasury issued the circular following complaints by entities that they were facing challenges using the system.
“In this regard, we refer you to National Treasury Circular of 23rd July, 2025 cited above which guides that for existing contracts to be approved for payment, only those duly reported to PPRA in compliance with PPRA Circular No.04/2022 dated 1st July, 2022 on Mandatory Reporting Requirements by Procuring Entities, shall be processed,” the PPRA said.
The Authority placed the responsibility of ensuring compliance with the new procurement guidelines on executives who include governors, Principal Secretaries, and Managing Directors of state corporations.
