The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has recommended that the Public Procurement Unit (PPU) be autonomous from the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises to enhance its regulatory oversight function.
IPPR Research Associate Frederico Links said the Unit’s oversight function is hindered by the current structure where the PPU director reports to the executive director of the Ministry of Finance which hinders its effectiveness.
“How does the director in the Ministry of Finance hold the executive director of the Ministry of Finance accountable? His boss. This reporting line creates a conflict of interest, as it undermines the PPU’s ability to hold the Ministry accountable,” he said.
To address these issues, Links recommended that the PPU management should “be at the same level or higher than the executive director of the Finance Ministry. I think probably highest”.
Moreover, Links emphasised the distinction between the PPU and the Central Procurement Board as to whether the PPU autonomy might lead to dual roles in the organisation’s mandate.
He highlighted that the PPU, unlike the Central Procurement Board which merely facilitates procurements, is responsible for creating and monitoring procurement policies.
The IPPR advocates for the PPU to be independent, ensuring it operates at a level equal to or higher than the Ministry’s Executive Director, thus strengthening its regulatory role and improving procurement policy implementation.
“The Central Procurement Board is just the agency through which procurements are facilitated. It has no regulatory function. The Procurement Policy Unit is set up as that sort of regulatory oversight function over the procurement system,” he said.
The IPPR’s Public Procurement Tracker reveals that, out of 173 Namibian government departments and entities assessed, only 53 have so far complied with the transparency compliance legal framework for the 2024/25 financial year.
“By 24 July 2024, only 56 annual procurement plans were viewable via the e-Procurement Portal. That means only about 32% of public entities had submitted their plans to the PPU three months into the 2024/25 financial year,” said Links.
Similarly, only 16 of the 33 government offices, ministries and agencies had submitted plans to the PPU.
“This means only 48% of the plans of government offices, ministries and agencies were accessible at the time via the e-Procurement Portal. Providing access to annual procurement plans remains a major compliance issue in public procurement,” he said.
The researcher noted that while the number of annual procurement plans available on websites and the e-procurement portal has increased steadily since the start of the financial year on 1 April 2024, the level of compliance remains concerningly low.
He said compliance is particularly low among regional councils and municipalities, but it affects all levels of government.
“It should be noted that the low levels of compliance and transparency among regional councils and local authorities is a long-standing and well-documented issue. A study by the IPPR in 2022 found that regional councils and local authorities were generally unresponsive to requests for information, as well as being negligent in maintaining basic websites,” he said.
The PPU is responsible for providing advisory services to the Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, and Public Entities on public procurement policies and regulating the public procurement system.
