Boost as special groups now to access more State tenders

Treasury Cs Henry Rotich (right) and Principal secretary Department of Planning Julius Muiya during the launch of 2019-2022 economic survey

Youths, women and persons with disabilities are set for a major win after Treasury widened their access to Government tenders.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry said in a circular yesterday the groups would now be allowed to supply all kinds of goods and services beyond the five categories that they were previously restricted to under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO).

According to Rotich, this restriction had contributed to the poor uptake of the 30 per cent government tenders earmarked for businesses owned by the special groups.

“The AGPO certificates will no longer have a specific categorisation as has been the case. Accordingly, for valid categorised AGPO certificates issued from the year 2017, procuring entities are advised to only take into consideration the schemes during the tender evaluation,” said Rotich in the circular.

Since the inception of the State plan six years ago, AGPO certificates have been issued under five categories - general supplies, fresh produce and agricultural produce, professional services and consultancy, ICT services and small work engineering. “It has been observed that these categorisations have hindered uptake the registered enterprises from taking full advantage of tendering opportunities which do not fall under their registered category but which they have the capacity to undertake successfully,” said the CS.

“This has, in turn, hampered the uptake of the 30 per cent procurement reservation in some procuring entities.”

As a result, Rotich has directed that qualified enterprises be registered under the schemes of youth, women and persons with disabilities only, increasing the array of tenders that can be accessed through AGPO.

The uptake of the 30 per cent quota of tenders reserved for the groups has largely been underwhelming, having taken a paltry six per cent by the end of the 2017/18 financial year.

“All accounting officers are required to ensure adherence to this circular and to communicate its contents to all procuring entities under them, including semi-autonomous agencies,” said Rotich. The scheme has also been rocked by scandals, especially after it was invaded by pseudo-entrepreneurs popularly known as ‘tenderpreneurs’.

It featured in the infamous Afya House scandal in which well-connected individuals used their positions to supply the Government under AGPO.