Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Regulations

These Regulations may be cited as the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Regulations, 2014. (2) These Regulations shall come into force on the 3rd day of March, 2014.

Where as a result of persistent or serious breach of the Act or regulations made under the Act, the Authority carries out an investigation and makes a recommendation to a competent authority in respect of the investigation, the competent authority shall, in writing, respond to the recommendation of the Authority, within twenty working days from the date of receipt of the recommendation of the Authority.

The competent authority shall in the response indicate the action to be taken.

Where a competent authority disagrees with a recommendation of the Authority, the competent authority shall state-

Where, as a result of persistent or serious breach of the Act, or regulations or guidelines made under the Act, the Authority makes a recommendation to a competent authority to transfer temporarily, a procurement and disposal function of a procuring and disposing entity to a third party procurement agency, the Authority shall state- (a) the third party procurement agency to which the function is to be transferred;

The accounting officer of the procuring and disposing entity whose procurement and disposal function is to be transferred temporarily to a third party agency shall in writing state-

The Authority shall only acquire or dispose of property or borrow money on the authority of a written resolution of the Board. (2) A resolution of the Board shall not be valid unless it is signed by the Chairperson and the Executive Director and is sealed with the seal of the Authority.

Where the Board delegates any of its functions or powers in accordance with section 15A of the Act, the instrument of delegation shall state- (a) the delegated functions or powers; (b) the person to whom the delegation is made; (c) the date of commencement of the delegation; (d) the duration of the delegation, which may be a specified period of time or an unspecified period of time; (e) the limitations or exceptions to the delegation, if any;

Where any person wishes to appeal to the Board against a decision made under a delegation of functions or powers, the person shall, within fifteen working days from the date of the communication of the decision, submit a written appeal to the Chairperson.

For the purposes of appointing an agent to carry out the procurement and disposal activities of the Authority under section 25 (2) of the Act, the Secretary to the Treasury shall use the Contracts Committee and the Procurement and Disposal Unit of the Ministry responsible for finance to procure the agent.

The Authority shall be responsible for the contract management of a procurement, once a contract is placed.

The registration of providers shall be open to all qualified providers and shall be continuous.

The Authority shall consider an application for registration within fifteen working days of receipt of the application.

The Authority shall-

The registration forms shall describe the rules, procedures and process of registration, and the classification and disciplining of providers.

The Authority shall in registering providers for works, services and supplies, classify the providers using the following criteria-

The register of providers shall, in respect of each provider indicate-

The Authority shall for each registration give the provider a certificate of registration which shall indicate the reference of the registration.

Where the Authority rejects an application for registration, the Authority shall within the time prescribed in subregulation (2), inform the applicant of the decision of the Authority and the reasons for the decision.

The applicant whose application for registration is rejected may submit another application for registration.

Where a provider fails to notify the Authority of a change in the circumstances or details relating to the registration, the Authority may remove the name of the provider from the register.

Where the Authority removes the name of a provider from the register, the provider shall be notified accordingly.

A person whose name is removed from the register of providers may submit a new application for registration.

A procuring and disposing entity may, where the standard bidding documents, procedural forms or any other attendant documents are not suitable for a procurement or disposal process, apply to the Authority, in writing, for approval to deviate from the use of these documents.

The Authority shall, in respect of the application made under subregulation(1), issue its decision within ten working days of the receipt of the application.

The Authority may-

Where the Authority approves an application for deviation, the Authority shall state whether the approval is for a single procurement or disposal requirement or for a number of procurement or disposal requirements.

Where the approval is for a number of procurement or disposal requirements, the Authority shall state the duration of the deviation, the maximum value of the deviation and the limitations of the deviation, if any, and the circumstances or conditions for using the alternative document.

Where the Authority rejects an application, the Authority shall state the reasons for rejecting the application.

The Authority may, where it considers it appropriate, adopt an alternative bidding document, alternative procedural form or other alternative attendant document as a standard bidding document, procedural form or other attendant document.

The Authority shall issue its decision within twenty working days of the receipt of the application.

The Authority may-

Where the Authority approves an application for accreditation, subject to modifications to the proposed alternative system or where the Authority rejects an application for accreditation, the Authority shall state the reasons for this.

The Authority shall monitor the operation of the alternative system and shall, where appropriate, make modifications to the alternative system or withdraw the accreditation.

The alternative accredited procurement or disposal system shall-

The Authority may on the recommendation of a procuring and disposing entity or after investigations at its own initiative, suspend a provider from engaging in any public procurement or disposal process, for a period determined by the Authority.

The suspension shall be communicated to the provider, by a written notice and may be with conditions, as may be imposed by the Authority.

The notice under subregulation (2) shall state-

Suspension shall not relieve the suspended provider of the obligations under a contract entered into by the suspended provider with a procuring and disposing entity, before the suspension.

Suspension of a provider shall apply to the successor in interest of the provider.

The Authority shall on suspending a provider, immediately-

Where suspension is recommended on the grounds that a provider is debarred by an international agency of which Uganda is a member in accordance with section 94(b) of the Act, the Authority shall debar the provider for the same period and under the same conditions as the international agency.

A procuring and disposing entity shall not-

After the expiry of the period of a suspension, a provider may in writing, apply to the Authority, to be removed from the list of suspended providers.

The Authority shall within fifteen working days of the receipt of the application made under subregulation (9), remove the provider from the list of suspended providers.

"Successor in interest" in subregulation (5) includes a person registered as a provider who is similar to the suspended provider or who employs, or is associated with a partner, member, officer, director, responsible managing officer, or responsible managing employee, of the suspended provider.

A recommendation by a procuring and disposing entity to suspend a provider under regulation 12 (1), shall be in writing and shall indicate-

Where the recommendation results from an investigation by a competent authority or a suspension by an international agency of which Uganda is a member, the procuring and disposing entity shall submit the report by the competent authority or the decision by the international agency.

Upon receipt of a recommendation to suspend a provider, the Authority shall immediately-

Notwithstanding subregulation (1) (b), the Authority may suspend a provider without conducting investigations, where a recommendation for suspension is a result of an investigation conducted by a competent authority or suspension by an international agency of which Uganda is a member. (3) In investigating the complaint, the Authority shall consider, as appropriate-

A provider who is the subject of a recommendation for suspension, shall be permitted to submit evidence-

The Authority shall issue its decision on a recommendation to suspend a provider, in writing, within twenty one working days from the date of receipt of the recommendation.

A decision made under this regulation shall indicate whether the recommendation for suspension is upheld or rejected, the reasons for the decision and details of the suspension, where imposed.

The Authority shall provide the following information to the public-

The information in subregulation (1) shall be displayed on the notice board or website of the Authority.

The Authority shall position the notice board in subregulation (2) at a conspicuous location, within its premises, which is freely accessible to members of the public.