High Court halts compulsory use of e-govt procurement system
In its ruling, the court indicated that public entities are free to receive and submit tender documents either electronically or manually, as long as they meet the requirements of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act.
“A conservatory order be and is hereby issued staying the decision of the Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury & Economic Planning, and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s Circular No. E04/2025, which required the mandatory use of the Electronic Government Procurement System [e-GPS] by all Public Procurement Entities,” Justice Bahati Mwamuye’s orders read.
”All Public Procurement Entities shall comply with Section 77(1) of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act in that submission of tender documents shall be in writing and in either electronic or manual form; and such submissions shall comply with the other requirements of Section 77 generally and subsection (1) in particular.”
He further directed the National Treasury and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) to process both electronic and manual submissions equally.
Justice Mwamuye ruled that the conservatory orders will remain in force until October 15 when they will lapse unless extended or varied by the court.
President William Ruto, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, and the Council of Governors have remained at loggerheads over the rollout of the eGP system. According to the CS, some counties and officials within ministries, state departments, and agencies (MDAs) have been attempting to secretly reintroduce manual procurement despite the directive that all entities migrate to the digital platform.
President Ruto had warned that it would not be business as usual for officials resisting reforms such as the adoption of eGP.
He accused unnamed officers of sponsoring negative media reports linking the platform to inflated spending in an effort to discredit the system.
