The Deputy Minister of Finance, Honourable Ahmed Chande, has commended the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and the Zanzibar Public Procureemnt and Disposal of Public Assents Authority (ZPPDA) for their ongoing efforts to strengthen collaboration aimed at improving public procurement management within the United Republic of Tanzania.

Chande expressed these compliments during a meeting at his office in Dodoma, where he was visited by the Zanzibar House of Representatives Budget Committee. The committee was on a special visit to learn about the success of PPRA in enhancing the implementation of the Public Procurement Act of 2023 and the Electronic Public Procurement Management System (NeST).

The Deputy Minister expressed his satisfaction with how the Government successfully built the NeST system using local experts, highlighting the positive outcomes achieved, such as increased transparency, accountability, and fairness, ensuring the real value of money is attained.

Furthermore, the Deputy Minister urged PPRA to continue collaborating with ZPPDA by sharing their expertise and experience to assist them in developing their own electronic procurement system.

“I call on PPRA to ensure that, as we have successfully built the NeST system, which has already yielded positive results such as reducing time and costs in procurement processes while improving efficiency and compliance with the law, we also help our colleagues in Zanzibar gain experience so that they can develop a similar system,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Zanzibar House of Representatives Budget Committee, Honourable Mwanaasha Khamis Juma, noted that the Government of Zanzibar is in the process of improving its Public Procurement Law and decided to visit PPRA to gain insights that would enable them to offer sound advice to the Government.

“The President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, is focused on implementing numerous projects that utilise the Public Procurement Law. As such, we are in the process of revising the Procurement Law to ensure the real value of money. Since our colleagues at PPRA have recently undergone this process, we felt it was essential to come and learn from them so that we can offer informed advice to the Government,” she said.

The Deputy Minister of State, Office of the President, Finance and Planning, Honourable Juma Makungu Juma, who was also part of the Zanzibar House of Representatives delegation, said that, due to the significant amount of government funds allocated to public procurement, it is important to utilise the experience of PPRA in establishing a robust and effective system to regulate the sector and ensure the real value of money is achieved.

For his part, PPRA’s Director General, Mr. Dennis Simba, explained that PPRA and ZPPDA have a special partnership, and last year they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance their collaboration.

Mr. Simba further noted that, in addition to reducing procurement costs and time, the NeST system has helped PPRA increase its effectiveness in fulfilling its mandate by enabling real-time legal compliance audits during ongoing procurement processes.