SPEED AND AGILITY MATTERS
Following the successful debt restructuring by President Hichilema and his administration, there is now a growing optimism towards economic recovery and social development in Zambia. As president Hichilema puts it, the debt restructuring agreement is indeed a significant milestone signaling a turnaround for Zambia’s economy but one which needs more works to achieve the actual recovery. The Presidentstated thatthe debt restructuring deals have freed up resources that were previously allocated to debt repayments, allowing Zambia to channel these funds towards critical public investments, particularly in areas such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure development.
It is a well-known fact that a large fraction of the freed-up resources will have to be managed and administered through public procurement. Government acquire goods, works and services by awarding public procurement contracts to private firms. These contracts account for about 15% of GDP – a significant percentage of the economy, making Procurement a vital pillar in any economy. It follows therefore that optimized procurement practices can greatly contribute to rapid economic recovery.
It is no secret that poor procurement practices contributed to the deterioration of the Zambian economy. The procurement landscape is littered with unfinished projects, cases of works or goods paid for, but not delivered. When procurement fails, the delivery of products, services, or public works is either delayed or not delivered at all, impacting service delivery and the aggregate economic performance.
It is time to step-up and forge a procurement roadmap to rapid economic recovery of our country. Now, more than ever, there is need for an effective and agile procurement strategy that can bring about end-to-end transformation, from need identification, tendering to contract management and enforcement, to foster efficiency, sustainability, and overall economic recovery success.
It is important to be mindful of the fact that debt restructuring gives us a window to reorganize ourselves, it follows therefore that the SPEED at which the economy recovers is paramount and procurement being one of the vital economic pillars, will have to function with SPEED in the acquisition of goods, works and services than ever-thereby enhancing the LIQUIDITY FLOW the economy so desperately need to recover. There should be no room for complacency in the pursuit of economic recovery of our country
Public procurement regulation should not be a scapegoat for failing to move faster either, as much has been done by Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) through building a regulatory framework that allows for flexibility and innovation. Criticizing ZPPA and the regulations, even when justifiable may not be of help, given that procurement professionals have not taken full advantages of the flexibility and the innovative provision that currently exist.
Achieving rapid economic recovery means that intuition, dynamism, and flexibility will be needed, over and above traditional management and leadership elements, while operating within the regulatory framework. This entails breaking out of those valued traditional structures and process to achieve rapid economic recovery goals.
The breakout from these valued structures can be achieved in various ways, which includes increasing the administrative capacity of the function by the introduction of a directorship role to oversee the two critical arms: Procurement and Contract Management. The Author believes that the same spirit (Separation of Procurement and Contract Management) with which Regulation No. 32 (4) of the Public Procurement Regulation of 2022 was drafted should apply, even when the function is provided inhouse. This will bring in focus and efficiency in the process.
However, the above may need time to implement. The low hanging fruit lays in the provision of Section 13 of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act No. 17, of 2023, as read with section 36 of the Procurement Act of 2020 and regulation No 32 of the Public Procurement Regulation of 2022.
Utilizing the said provisions will allow for optimization of the procurement processes while complying with the laws and regulations through the acquisition of external additional administrative capacity. Acquiring external services might seem like an added cost, but such cost can far outweigh the cost of delayed or failed procurement process. This is a SMART way to make your procurement processes smoother and more efficient. Acquiring external services also gives you access to the following benefits among other things;
- Reduced stress on your team’s health as a result of reduced workloads.
- Free staff to effectively focus on critical areas of your procurement process, e.g. contract management, market research to capture emerging opportunities etc
- Increasing your capacity to successfully complete procurements processes rapidly and within a given fiscal year.
- allows you to tap into the expertise, capacity, and innovation of private companies.
CONCLUSION
The debt restructuring is an opportunity to regain financial stability, foster growth and unlock funds and not an end in itself, but a window for the country to reorganize its economy. Procurement Speed and efficiency will be of essence and seamless teaming, collaborative capabilities and breaking out of traditional structures will be key in the effort toward rapid economic recovery.
It is also important to be mindful that public procurement regulations are designed to ensure accountability, transparency, fairness and proportionality and may not have much room for extensive reforms without compromising the principles on which they are built. Criticizing regulation for inefficiency and excessive bureaucracy may not help much either. We need to move with what we have, even as it is being reformed.
Now is the time for procurement to STEP UP, marshal available tools, flex traditional boundaries to better things by opening up, teaming up, collaborating, and closing procurement processes quickly and efficiently. With the current available technologies, it is easy to create virtual workspaces that may involve collaboration across procurement entities’ procurement teams, user departments, contractors, suppliers, partners, and external service providers.