The Permanent Secretary at the Minister of Finance, Ramathan Ggoobi, has urged the procurement entities to promote local contractors by reserving 30% of the civil works for them.
Ggoobi made the remarks on Friday at Hotel Africana in Kampala while opening the 6th Annual Procurement Summit 2022.
The summit under the theme, "Procurement As a Tool for Sustainable Social Economic Development," was organised by the Institute of Procurement Professionals of Uganda (IPPU).
Ggoobi said much as the highest percentages of procured works and services in big government projects go to foreign companies, the 30% reservation should be transparently awarded to local entities so that they build their own capacity.
"The ball is in your hands as procurement entities to ensure that the 30% reservation for local companies is realised. I would like the procurement entities to take the lead in supporting the small and medium enterprises because this can help in our social economic transformation as a country," he said.
Ggoobi emphasized the need of sensitising the private sector to embrace the automated procurement system that is currently being piloted by the government because it helps to curb corruption by reducing human contact during procurement.
He said that this financial year, the system which has so far been piloted in 26 procuring entities, will be rolled out to 50 more agencies of government
Accounting officers of government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were warned against acts of securing higher budgets than what government allocates for projects.
