The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Appeals Tribunal has raised concerns over persistent delays by accounting officers in making administrative review decisions on bidder complaints.
Speaking to the media during an engagement with officials from government ministries, departments, and agencies in Kampala on Friday, PPDA Registrar Mansour Atiku said such conduct violates the law and undermines confidence in Uganda’s procurement system.
“An accounting officer who receives a complaint is required to suspend the procurement process immediately and issue a written decision within 10 working days. However, many officers go beyond this stipulated time, frustrating bidders and casting doubt on the fairness of public contracting,” he said.
Atiku added that the authority has recorded repeated cases where accounting officers deliberately delay, mishandle, or completely ignore complaints raised by aggrieved bidders.
“The law is very clear. Once a complaint is received, the procurement must issue a decision communicated within 10 days, and going beyond this period is not only unlawful but also weakens the credibility of our procurement processes,” he emphasised.
Such delays deny bidders timely redress, create room for corruption, and undermine the principles of transparency and accountability.
“Procurement is about fairness and safeguarding public funds. When complaints are mishandled, service providers lose trust in the system, and the quality of competition suffers,” Atiku noted.
The PPDA Act requires that, upon request, a bidder who lodges a complaint must receive a report from the procuring entity detailing the reasons for rejection and the stage at which rejection occurred. Paul Kalumba, a member of the tribunal, warned that PPDA will not hesitate to sanction officers who fail to comply with the law. “Accountability starts with the accounting officer, and there will be consequences for negligence and non-compliance will attract personal liability,” he said.
Kalumba also urged officers to guide bidders properly on how to file complaints, including the payment of prescribed administrative review fees, instead of using technicalities to frustrate them.
Common complaints
PPDA data shows that bidders regularly raise grievances about irregularities in how procuring entities handle administrative reviews. These practices, Kalumba said, are damaging not only to bidders but also to the government’s bid to deliver services through credible contractors.
“The tendency to sabotage bid submissions, delay decisions, or cancel processes midway erodes trust. We urge all accounting officers to respect the timelines and procedures provided by law,” he emphasised.