By Lot Ndamanomhata
Namibia’s Ministry of Finance has published a significant update to the country’s public procurement rules, giving government offices, municipalities, and other public bodies clearer authority to manage their own purchasing — while keeping strong checks in place for the biggest deals.
What Changed
Government Notice No. 259 of 2026, signed by Minister of Finance Ericah Shafudah on 22 July 2026 and gazetted on 4 August, amends the Public Procurement Regulations made under the Public Procurement Act, 2015. The amendment touches three areas:
1. Who runs the bidding process:
Under the revised Regulation 2, Namibia’s Central Procurement Board (referred to as “the Board”) only steps in to run tenders on behalf of a public entity once the contract value crosses a set threshold. Below that threshold, entities — including ministries, the National Assembly, the National Council, the Electoral Commission of Namibia, municipalities, regional councils, and certain state-linked companies — can run their own bidding processes directly.
2. New, higher thresholds:
The revised Annexure 1 sets out updated Category 1 thresholds: up to N$45 million for goods, N$60 million for works, N$35 million for consultancy services, and N$25 million for non-consultancy services. These figures are VAT-inclusive.
3. Oversight stays intact:
Entities that fall under Table 2 of Annexure 1 don’t get a free pass on large purchases. If a procurement exceeds the Category 1 thresholds, the entity must submit an individual procurement plan to the Ministry’s Policy Unit at least seven days before advertising the tender, and file a follow-up report — including full award details — within seven days of the contract being awarded. The Policy Unit retains the power to audit any of these procurements for compliance.
The amendment also updates Regulation 3, which governs which procurement method an entity should use (open international bidding, restricted bidding, sealed quotations, requests for proposals, or small-value procurement), tying each method to specific value thresholds set out in Annexure 2.
Why It’s Good News
Faster service delivery. By raising the value at which the central Board must get involved, more every day and mid-sized procurement can be handled directly by the entity that needs the goods or services. That cuts out a layer of bureaucratic queueing, which should mean schools, clinics, municipalities, and ministries can get supplies, contractors, and consultants on board more quickly.
Accountability by design, not by accident. Crucially, the reform doesn’t trade oversight for speed. The mandatory pre-advertisement notification, the seven-day post-award reporting requirement, and the Policy Unit’s ongoing audit power mean that large procurements — the ones most vulnerable to irregularity — remain squarely in view of the Ministry of Finance. This is a “trust but verify” model: entities get more operational freedom, and the state gets a paper trail to check it’s being used properly.
A clearer rulebook for suppliers and investors. Businesses bidding for government contracts — from local SMEs eyeing small-value procurement to international firms pursuing open bidding on major infrastructure — now have an explicit, published threshold table to work from. Predictable rules lower the cost of participating in public tenders and can widen the pool of bidders, which tends to improve value for money on public spending.
Modernising a young procurement system. The Public Procurement Act, 2015, and its regulations have been amended incrementally since 2017. This latest revision reflects a maturing system: recalibrating money thresholds to current realities while tightening the reporting loop between entities and the Policy Unit, rather than simply loosening the rules.
The Bottom Line
This amendment is best read as a rebalancing exercise — devolving day-to-day purchasing decisions to the public entities best placed to make them, while reinforcing the reporting and audit trail for the transactions that carry the most public money and the most risk. For a country working to strengthen public financial management, that combination of efficiency and accountability is a welcome direction of travel.
Lot Ndamanomhata is from Ekoka. This article reflects his views and writes entirely in his personal capacity.
