Public procurement in Rwanda

Law and regulator

Law N° 031/2022 of 21/11/2022 governs public procurement in Rwanda ¹. It was published in the Official Gazette n° Special of 22/11/2022 and has 172 articles in 6 chapters ². Its preamble refers to Law n° 62/2018 of 25/08/2018 governing public procurement ¹. As reported by Charles Nyandwi of The New Times, the 2022 law replaced the 2018 law ⁷.

Article 5 of the 2022 law gives the State organ in charge of public procurement the job of organising procurement and preparing general instructions, standard bidding documents and guidelines ¹. RPPA was set up on 20 February 2008 under Law N° 63/2007 and replaced the National Tender Board ⁴. RPPA lists its functions as advising government, monitoring contract award and execution, training procurement staff and approving the suspension and debarment of bidders ⁴.

Umucyo e-procurement

Article 4 of the 2022 law says a public procuring entity conducts the procurement process using the e-procurement system ¹. Article 2 of the 2023 Order says all procuring entities run tender award and contract management through e-procurement ³. Under Article 4 of the Order, procuring entities and bidders must register in e-procurement, and they receive a digital certificate to use it ³.

Article 3 of the Order lets an entity work outside e-procurement without prior authorisation in these cases ³.

• The method used is not yet catered for in e-procurement ³.
• A single-source tender up to the amount printed in the English text as "FRW 3,000,0000", where the bidder is not registered, once per bidder ³.
• Force account or community participation ³.
• Single-source procurement due to urgency to save lives ³.
• Any such procurement must be reported through e-procurement within three working days ³.

Methods and thresholds

The 2022 law sets out open bidding, restricted bidding, request for quotations and single-source procurement, each with its own conditions, according to the FAOLEX summary ². Article 3 of the law leaves special rules for defence and security items to a Presidential Order, and rules for embassies, state-owned companies, emergencies and innovation to a Minister's Order ¹.

Chapter V of the 2023 Order covers methods ³. Article 69 is titled "Threshold for using an open competitive method", and Articles 71 to 73 cover restricted tendering, request for quotations and single-source procurement ³. Under Article 5, an entity may delegate award powers to a subsidiary for tenders up to FRW 10,000,000 each and FRW 100,000,000 in total per fiscal year ³.

Review and the Independent Review Panel

Article 7(3) of the 2022 law lists the independent review panel among the bodies involved in awarding public procurement ¹. Chapter III of the 2023 Order sets the panel's composition, powers and functioning in Articles 20 to 28 ³. Chapter VIII sets the review procedure ³.

Parliamentary review in 2026

On 12 February 2026 Parliament reported that its Public Accounts Committee had reviewed Law N° 031/2022 ⁵. Issues raised included delays in issuing implementing regulations and frequent amendments to contracts ⁵. Minister of State Godfrey Kabera reaffirmed the government's commitment to expediting pending regulations, according to Parliament ⁵.

On 2 April 2026 Parliament reported that members called for the law to be amended and the standard bidding documents revised ⁶. As reported by The New Times, the committee gave the Ministry of Finance six months to revise the 2022 law and said the e-procurement system handles about 89% of tenders ⁷.