Addis ababa: The Federal Public Procurement and Property Authority announced that over 308 billion Birr worth of procurement was facilitated through the electronic procurement system during the 2017 fiscal year. Meseret Meskele, Director-General of the Authority, highlighted the encouraging results in modernizing public procurement and administration systems.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, the digital procurement system was implemented across 169 federal budgetary institutions and 93 branch offices. It facilitated the procurement of approximately 308.75 billion Birr, with 300 billion Birr procured through bidding and 8.75 billion Birr through price quotations. Meseret recalled that in 2016, 65 percent of government procurement was conducted electronically, noting that the system became fully digital in the 2017 Ethiopian Fiscal Year (EFY).
The digital procurement system is part of the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Strategy, aiming to streamline services, reduce bureaucracy, and enhance operations through technology. Addis Ababa Science and Technology University and the Ethiopian Heritage Authority are among the institutions that fully transitioned to digital procurement in the 2017 EFY.
Ethiopian Heritage Authority Director General, Abebaw Ayalew, stated that the authority has been using a digital procurement system since 2015 EFY. In the 2017 EFY, the authority completed over 960 million Birr of purchases digitally. Abebaw emphasized the transparency, efficiency, and cost-saving benefits of the digital procurement system, which also helps to eliminate corruption.