Adoption of e-procurement and implementation of basic principles of public procurement in Rwanda

Abstract

Public procurement is the process by which government departments or agencies purchase goods and services from the private sector. It takes place at both a national and regional level, and the process will usually be subject to specific rules and policies covering how the relevant decisions are made. The reason behind using public procurement is competition, transparency and value for money. Rwanda public procurement law provides e-procurement. Some contents of e-public procurement are regulated while others are not. The regulated contents are not implemented accordingly in the whole public procurement process. The lack of implementation of e-public procurement in whole in Rwanda implicates the non respect of the fundamental principles of public procurement of Rwanda. That’s why this research will be based on the analysis of the inconveniences for the non implementation of e-procurement, advantages and challenges of using it. This research turns around the following specific research questions: 1. Can e-bidding and e-evaluation be regulated and what are the best practices and challenges thereof? 2. To what extent can the non regulation of e-bidding and e-evaluation be an obstacle to the implementation of the fundamental principles of public procurement in Rwanda? The lack of regulation of e-bidding and e-evaluation in Rwanda contributes to the non respect of the fundamental principles of public procurement such as transparency and economy. The regulation of e-bidding and e-evaluation will facilitate to bid online, to monitor any step of the procurement process and to ultimately achieve the best value for money in the acquisition of goods, services and works by government institutions. The development of a country depends on the management of its resources. If the resources are well managed, the citizens live in a good life. The usage of the resources is done by the public procurement. The interest arises once public procurement is done in the adequate manner, the investment is promoted and the development is achieved. The competition and good quality of the products are promoted.