1. 10 TH EAST AFRICAN PROCUREMENT FORUM 2017 AT SERENA HOTEL KAMPALA
TOPIC: PROGRESS ON THE HARMONISATION OF PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORKS IN THE EAC REGION – presented by Richard Karamagi, Procurement OFFICER – East African Community Secretariat, Arusha Tanzania

2. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
INTRODUCTION
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional inter-governmental organization mandated by the governments of the Six Partner States, namely; the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Uganda, Republic of Burundi, Republic of Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Republic of South Sudan to spearhead the East African economic, social and political integration agenda with its Headquarters located in Arusha, Tanzania. The Six Partner States are intended to strengthen regional cooperation and integration in social, political, economic and culture areas of common interest as per the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community signed in November and entered into force in July 2000.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

3. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
EAC MISSION
The EAC Mission is to widen and deepen economic, political, social and cultural integration to improve the quality of life of all citizens in the region through increased competitiveness, value addition to agricultural produce, trade and Investments
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

4. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Common Market
Group formed by countries within a geographical area to promote duty free trade and free movement of labor and capital among its members. The East African Common Market, European community (as a legal entity within the framework of European Union) are the best known example. Common markets impose common external tariff (CET) on imports from non-member countries.
Objectives of the Common Market
 The objectives of the Common Market are set out in Article 4 of the Protocol. The overall objective of the Common Market is to widen and deepen cooperation among the Partner States in the economic and social fields for the benefit of the Partner States. These are to accelerate economic growth and development of the Partner States through the free movement of goods, persons and labour, the rights of establishment and residence and the free movement of services and capital.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

5. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Common Market – Cont’d
In order to realise and attain the objectives provided for in this Article, the Partner States shall co-operate in, integrate and harmonise their policies in areas provided for in this Protocol and in such other areas as the Council may determine in order to achieve the objectives of the Common Market.
Article 35 of the Protocol on Public Procurement
The Partner States shall not discriminate against suppliers, products or services originating from other Partner States, for purposes of achieving the benefits of free competition in the field of public procurement.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

6. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Common Market – Cont’d
Public procurement must be transacted with other considerations in mind, besides the economy. These considerations include accountability, non-discrimination among potential suppliers and respect for international obligations.
An increasingly important issue related to public procurement is whether governments discriminate in favour of domestic suppliers. In fact, part of the reason why multilateral organisations, such as the World Bank and the International Trade Centre are taking keen interest in public procurement is to eliminate such biases wherever they are perceived to exist
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

7. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Common Mkt – cont’d
Co-operation in public procurement also requires harmonisation of procurement rules and regulations. The regulations and rules governing public procurement in these countries are similar in many ways. But there are also remarkable differences. There are also differences in the institutional framework of public procurement in these countries. These need to be harmonised for effective co-operation in public procurement.
Also important in this regard is the harmonisation of standards of goods and services produced in the region. The adoption of uniform standards is important to facilitate interchangeability of products and to enhance savings in public purchasing.
There should be a mechanism or framework for coordinating the regional activities of the public procurement regulatory authorities.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

8. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Background
Articles 8 (d, e); 16 (1, 2); 22 (1, 2) of the EAC Monetary Union (EAMU) Protocol provide for fiscal harmonization in the EAC Partner States in among other areas of; Public Procurement Policies; Financial Management, Accounting and Reporting; Budget Frameworks; and other supporting Laws, Policies and Systems, all in support of the scheduled establishment of the EAC Monetary by 2024.
With support from WB, the project has developed harmonized standards, polices, and legislation across ten (10) areas of harmonization; Procurement-Policy/Legislation;Procurement-E-Procurement/Green Procurement; Procurement-Capacity Building; Accounting & Financial Reporting; Internal Audit; Budget; Public Accounts Committees - PACs; Auditor Quality Assurance; Professional Accounting Organizations - PAOs; and External Audit.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

9. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Main Expected Output
Standards, Policies, frameworks, Legislations(s) developed across the areas identified of Fiscal coordination and harmonization developed and implemented in support of EAMU implementation.
Specific deliverables include:
Harmonized EAC Regional Procurement Legislation to support regional projects;
Harmonized financial reporting towards IPSAS & auditing;
Harmonized Budgeting and reporting frameworks
Coordinated Regional Mutual Recognition Agreements in Public Accountancy bodies
Coordinated EAC Regional Partner States Parliamentary Public Accounts Committees (East African Association of Public Accounts Committees)
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

10. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Background 2
This requirement underscores the importance the East African Community (EAC) should attach to public procurement
Procurement is critical to social-economic development
Public Procurement accounts for 10-15% of GDP
there are still major weaknesses that need to be addressed in some countries to bring the functionality of their procurement systems to the same required level in order to ensure effective harmonization
Partner States identified areas that needed harmonization.
Consultants were employed to study the identified areas in detail
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

11. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
IDENTIFIED AREAS 1
12 Areas were identified as needing harmonization:
Preferential treatment including promotion of local content (at community, national, regional level)
Classified (Defence and National Security) procurement
Standard Procurement and Disposal Process
E-Procurement
Sustainable Procurement
Enforcement and Sanctions
7. Debarment
8. Complaints Review Mechanism
9. Ethics and Integrity
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

12. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
IDENTIFIED AREAS 2
10. Regional Institutional Arrangement
11.Establishing a Functional Procurement Professional Body
12.Procurement in Inter-State Projects
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

13. Employment of Consultants
Consultancy Assignment
Consultants were recruited in May 2015 to undertake a number of tasks that lead to draft EAC Public Procurement Policy and ultimately an East African Public Procurement Legislation.
The consultants were tasked to produce the following 5 main outputs: (1) Comparison Report on Procurement Legislations; (2) Baseline Indicators and Gap Analysis Report; (3) Harmonized Procurement Standards; (4) Regional Procurement Policy; and (5) East African Public Procurement Legislation.
 They were also required to produce the following five outputs: (6) Guidance on e-procurement strategy; (7) Guidance on Green Public Procurement; (8) Harmonized Curriculum for Public Procurement Professionals; (9) Harmonized Code of Ethics and Integrity Principles; and (10) Training material on Contract Management.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

14. Responsible Entity/Consultant
NEXT STEPS 1
S/N
Action Required
Responsible Entity/Consultant 1
Formal Acceptance of Harmonized Standards, Policy Framework and Legislation by Partner States
Partner States 2
Approval of Harmonized Standards, Policy Framework Legislation by EAC Council of Ministers and East African Legislative Assembly
EAC Secretariat 3
Approval of National Policy Frameworks and Legislations 4 5
Start EAC-wide Implementation of the Policy Framework and Legislation
EAC Secretariat and Partner States
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

15. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Status
Validation exercise had been done on bilateral arrangement as proposed by the World Bank. However, it was noted that efforts and inputs had be made by the PPRAs other than the Republic of Burundi as a result, the Policy institutions of the Partner States would be adequately placed to have a policy inputs in the draft Procurement Policy
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

16. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Status – cont’d
The consultant in response confirmed that he shared the draft Policy with the Partner States.
He confirmed that he had met with the RPPA which is also charged with the Policy issues of the procurement practices in the Republic of Rwanda.
In Uganda, he had met both the PPDA and Policy representatives from the Ministry of Finance.
In Kenya, he met both PPRA and the people charged with Policy but had not yet received any comments to input into the Policy.
In the United Republic of Tanzania, he had met with the PPRA but had not received comments from the Policy side.
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

17. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Way Forward
Standards, Policies, frameworks, Legislations(s) developed across the ten (10) of coordination and harmonization.
Project needs technical assistance to support the Validation, Approval(s)/ Ratification process and support for the implementation of the developed Standards, Policies, frameworks, Legislations(s) in EAC Partner States.
RSS was not included in previous project so needs to be brought on board.
 A resolution of the Forum to EAC Secretariat to handle the matter through its established approval structures
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

18. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
CSO Intervention
Open contracting Initiatives
Development Gateway
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit

19. Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit
Contacts
Richard Karamagi Procurement Officer East African Community Secretariat P.O Box 1096 Arusha United Republic of Tanzania – Whatsup – Vodacom Tz s:
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Richard Karamagi – EAC Procurement Unit