Schools are set to be added to the electronic public procurement portal (e-GP), in a fresh push to curb graft and expose beneficiaries of public contracts worth billions of shillings annually.
The rollout will shift school tenders from fragmented manual processes to a centralised online system linked to the government’s financial and administrative databases, raising hopes of transparency and closure of loopholes that have clouded procurement in public learning institutions.
Treasury says the e-GP platform, which was launched in July 2025, has been linked to the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), Business Registration Services, e-Citizen and the iTax system, connecting procurement activities with key government operations.
‘Next steps will include full rollout to schools and other procuring entities yet to onboard to the e-GP system,’ the Treasury said.
The reform could strengthen scrutiny of how schools spend public money, including the Sh92.3 billion allocated to basic education capitation in the current 2026/27 financial year.
The allocation comprises Sh54.6 billion for free day secondary education, Sh30.7 billion for junior secondary schools and Sh7 billion for free primary education.
These funds are channelled through the Ministry of Education based on school enrolment numbers recorded in the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), and are spent on approved operational and instructional needs. NEMIS is a web-based data management solution used by governments to collect, process, and report real-time data from educational institutions.
They finance textbooks, laboratory supplies, classroom renovations, sanitation facilities, electricity, water, co-curricular activities and other essential school operations.
Digitising procurement could make it easier to trace suppliers, compare prices and scrutinise contract awards for goods and services bought using public funds.
The reform comes amid longstanding concerns over disclosure of tender winners in public schools, where procurement deals have faced allegations of predetermined awards and limited visibility into the firms benefiting from public spending.
The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has previously attributed non-compliance with disclosure requirements partly to a shortage of procurement professionals in schools, undermining adherence to public procurement regulations.
The authority has advised institutions without in-house procurement specialists to outsource the services to help them meet legal requirements.
The government’s latest plan also follows scrutiny of school uniform procurement, where complaints have emerged that some secondary schools compel parents to buy uniforms from designated suppliers at inflated prices.
In a February 5, 2026 letter to principals, PPRA Director-General Patrick Wanjuki directed national and extra-county schools to disclose uniform suppliers, quantities supplied, prices charged and the tendering process behind contract awards.
‘To facilitate the audit, you are required to provide the list of all suppliers that supplied school uniforms in the financial year 2025/2026,’ Mr Wanjuki said, directing schools to upload contracts and supporting documents to the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP).
The regulator warned that schools failing to comply could be referred to investigative agencies, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
School uniforms are bought by parents and are not financed through government capitation. The scrutiny, however, illustrates the wider concerns surrounding supplier selection, pricing and disclosure in school procurement.
The PPIP already publishes public tender notices, contract awards, supplier identities and market prices for commonly procured items.
The e-GP system is expected to deepen the digitisation of procurement processes across government entities.
Treasury says the passage of the Procurement and Asset Disposal (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which President William Ruto declined to sign into law in July, will strengthen transparency and accountability through mandatory disclosure requirements, tougher regulatory enforcement and a stronger legal basis for electronic procurement.
In returning the Bill to Parliament, Dr Ruto warned that strict local sourcing requirements, including provisions structuring multibillion-shilling contracts around local joint ventures, could undermine Kenya’s investment climate and conflict with existing procurement laws.
MPs must now reconsider the reservations, amend the Bill or seek to override the veto with a two-thirds majority.
The proposed changes in the Bill also seek to promote local content and preference schemes for youth, women and persons with disabilities, while strengthening sanctions against procuring entities that fail to comply with procurement standards.
The Treasury says that 1,543 procuring entities had registered on e-GP, alongside more than 40,000 suppliers. The system had closed 7,355 tenders and published 1,497 contracts by the time the data was compiled in August 2026.