Government e-procurement systems in East Africa

Kenya

The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015 defines e-procurement as procurement using an electronic medium such as the internet ¹. Section 7(2)(f) tells the National Treasury to develop and promote electronic procurement strategies and policies for national and county governments ¹. Section 9(1)(k) gives the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) the task of developing and managing the State portal on procurement and asset disposal ¹.

Section 64(2) lets electronic means be used in procurement proceedings as prescribed, including notices, tender submission and opening, evaluation and digital signatures ¹. Section 77(4) allows an electronic tender box that meets the requirements in regulations ¹.

The PPRA website links to the Public Procurement Information Portal at tenders.go.ke and to a Complaints Management System ². A PPRA news item dated 11 September 2026 is headed PPRA Ramps Up Training as Kenya Automates Government Procurement ².

Uganda

The eGP Uganda portal publishes bid notices, disposal notices, procurement plans, best evaluated bidder notices and awarded contracts, and it has supplier registration and login ⁴. An undated notice on the portal credits the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) with the rollout and says the system will be piloted in ten procuring and disposing entities ⁴. The help desk email is [email protected] ⁴.

The Act, Cap. 205, lets communication be sent electronically under section 59(1) and lets records and standard forms be kept in electronic form under sections 44(3) and 58(4) ³. Section 8(1)(l) tells the Authority to develop, introduce and maintain system-wide databases and technology ³. Section 72 leaves the method of bid submission to regulations ³.

Tanzania: NeST

PPRA said on 12 June 2024 that the new procurement law mandates use of NeST for all procurement processes ⁶. The law took effect on 17 June 2024 ⁶. The 2023 Act defines the electronic public procurement system as one developed, hosted and operated by the Authority ⁵. Section 10(k) gives PPRA the job of developing and maintaining such systems, and section 37(3) requires the accounting officer to send tender acceptance through the system ⁵.

The NeST site describes itself as the National e-Procurement System of Tanzania, covering e-registration, e-tendering, e-contract management, e-catalogue and e-auction ⁸. The PPRA site links to NeST, a bidder registration guide for common use items and a tenderer training video ⁷. It keeps a link to TANePS at taneps.go.tz ⁷.

Rwanda: Umucyo

Article 2 of Ministerial Order N° 001/23/10/TC of 10 October 2023 requires procuring entities to carry out tender awards and contract management through the e-procurement system ¹⁰. Article 2(4) gives the state organ in charge of public procurement the task of administering the system and giving users technical help ¹⁰.

The Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA) lists Umucyo at umucyo.gov.rw as its e-procurement system ⁹. Its call centre number is 3131, or +250 788 123 100 from abroad, and its email is [email protected] ⁹.

Article 3(1)(b) of the Order allows single-source procurement without e-procurement registration up to a set value ¹⁰. The English text prints this as FRW 3,000,0000, and the Kinyarwanda and French texts read FRW 3,000,000 ¹⁰.

At a glance