Only 84 of Namibia’s approximately 260 public procuring entities had submitted annual procurement plans for the 2026/27 financial year by the end of September, translating to a compliance rate of about 32%, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
The IPPR’s Procurement Tracker, presented by Research Associate Frederico Links, shows that compliance with statutory submission deadlines was even lower, with only eight entities submitting their procurement plans before the end of December 2025 deadline.
This means fewer than 5% of all procuring entities submitted their plans on time, despite the requirement under Section 25(4)(a) of the Public Procurement Amendment Act of 2022 that procurement plans be submitted at least three months before the start of the financial year.
“By end-September 2026, halfway through the 2026/2027 government financial year, only 84 annual procurement plans for 2026/2027 were viewable via the e-Procurement Portal of the Procurement Policy Unit (PPU),” Links said.
“Of the 84 procurement plans viewable via the e-Procurement Portal only eight were submitted to the PPU before the end of December 2025, which would mean that less than 5% of all plans were submitted on time.”
The findings come as the number of listed public procuring entities has increased from about 176 in recent years to approximately 260, widening the number of state institutions subject to procurement requirements.
Links also raised concerns about accountability under recently amended public procurement regulations, which significantly increased the value of contracts that public entities can handle before the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) becomes involved.
Under the new thresholds, Category 1 entities can procure goods valued at up to N$45 million and works worth up to N$60 million before CPBN involvement. The previous thresholds were N$25 million for goods and N$35 million for works.
The changes were gazetted by the Ministry of Finance on 4 August 2026 and also introduced the categorisation and re-categorisation of public entities, including a new category of high-value public entities.
The IPPR warned that greater procurement autonomy could increase integrity and accountability risks where public entities have weak internal controls, limited procurement capacity and inadequate oversight.
The Procurement Tracker also questioned provisions allowing the Procurement Policy Unit to conduct compliance and contract audits, arguing that the regulations give the unit discretion rather than making such audits mandatory.
“Some commentators have pointed to the fact that the new regulations provision that the ‘Policy Unit may conduct compliance and contract audits’ as evidence for ‘strong checks’. However, it should be noted that may audit is not the same as must audit,” Links said.
He said the provision gives the PPU discretion without requiring it to justify a decision not to conduct an audit.
“Importantly this power to audit only applies when ‘High Value Public Entities’, of which there are seven, engage in a procurement matter that exceeds a Category 1 threshold,” he said.
The findings highlight persistent compliance gaps in public procurement planning at a time when government entities are being given greater authority to manage higher-value procurement contracts without direct CPBN involvement.
