The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) is easing selected bidding requirements to enable more youth-owned businesses to compete for government contracts, targeting financial and administrative barriers that have kept young entrepreneurs out of public procurement.
The reforms include allowing eligible youth-owned enterprises to use bid security declarations instead of conventional financial guarantees, relaxing prior-experience requirements for selected tenders and simplifying tender documents.
Speaking during a youth engagement on public procurement opportunities in Kampala on Tuesday, PPDA Executive Director Benson Turamye said the changes were intended to make government business more accessible to young entrepreneurs.
‘Under the revised approach, eligible youth-owned enterprises may use a bid security declaration instead of obtaining a conventional bank guarantee or other financial security. The declaration commits a bidder to honour the obligations attached to the bid, with firms that win contracts but subsequently decline to execute them risking suspension from future bidding processes,’ he said.
Turamye added that the authority was easing prior-experience requirements for targeted tenders, allowing qualifying businesses without extensive contract records to compete, subject to applicable eligibility criteria.
PPDA is also proposing a turnover threshold equivalent to 50 per cent of the tender value, he said.
‘A business bidding for a contract worth Shs100 million, for instance, would be required to demonstrate an annual turnover of Shs50 million,’ Turamye said.
He said the authority had also reduced registration fees for youth-owned businesses to Shs50,000, compared with Shs150,000 to Shs200,000 paid annually by other categories of businesses, although the applicable registration categories were not specified.
‘The aim is to see more youths getting on board to register their companies, engage on government bidding process and ease the process of identifying them through the registration details,’ he said.
The National Female Youth Member of Parliament, Mercy Kanyesigye, said limited awareness and inadequate financial capacity continued to prevent many young people from accessing procurement opportunities.
She called for greater sensitisation and support for youth-owned enterprises, warning that changes to procurement rules would have limited impact unless government entities ensured fair competition.
Kanyesigye cited corruption, alleged demands for kickbacks and limited access to information about advertised tenders as obstacles facing young bidders.
Samuel Begira, the Youth MP for Central Region, also questioned compliance with procurement requirements, saying regulations alone could not guarantee opportunities for young people if procuring entities failed to implement them.
Begira, who also serves on Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), called for stronger oversight and greater accountability among accounting officers responsible for public procurement.
‘We call for stronger oversight and greater accountability among accounting officers responsible for public procurement, saying government entities should be monitored to ensure eligible youth-owned businesses were not unfairly excluded,’ he said.
He also raised concerns about non-compliance, corruption and alleged demands for kickbacks, saying young entrepreneurs should not have to pay bribes to secure government business.
‘Young people who do not have much money should not be expected to pay kickbacks just to participate in government business. It is a culture we strongly stand against,’ Begira said.
He added that tackling the challenges required cooperation among oversight institutions and other stakeholders, particularly where non-compliance extended beyond PPDA’s direct mandate.
Elma Kapel Challa, the Youth MP for Northern Region, called for targeted capacity-building programmes to help young people understand procurement procedures, register businesses and establish enterprises suited to available opportunities.
She said youth leaders at district and sub-county levels could help disseminate information and guide aspiring entrepreneurs on how to align their businesses with PPDA requirements.
Challa also called for mentorship programmes to help young entrepreneurs learn how to prepare for and pursue government contracts.
She warned that relying heavily on television, social media and internet-based communication could exclude vulnerable communities with limited access to such platforms.
‘Some of the most vulnerable people that would benefit from such opportunities actually are not able to see this,’ she said, calling for outreach programmes to take procurement information directly to young people in underserved communities.
She said practical training and engagement through familiar local leaders would help young people understand the available opportunities and translate the information into viable businesses.
Meanwhile, PPDA Director of Performance Monitoring for Central Government Aloysios Byaruhanga Mwesigwa said the authority was strengthening monitoring mechanisms to establish whether procuring entities complied with procurement requirements.
He said compliance checks were being incorporated into field-monitoring tools, while PPDA was considering a dashboard to identify entities that complied with the requirements and those that did not.
‘We are stepping up our compliance checks, and we are thinking of developing that dashboard,’ Mwesigwa said.
He added that PPDA was reviewing procurement plans to identify accounting officers and entities that had failed to provide for local content, with the intention of publicly flagging non-compliance and prompting corrective action.