HIGH COURT HALTS MANDATORY USE OF E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM

The government’s plan to enforce the use of the electronic Government Procurement System (e-GPS) has suffered a major setback after the High Court suspended its compulsory rollout. In a ruling delivered on Monday, September 8, 2025, Justice Bahati Mwamuye at the Milimani Law Courts held that public entities can choose to submit and receive tender documents either manually or electronically, provided they comply with the Public Procurement and Disposal Act.

“A conservatory order be and is hereby issued requiring all Public Procurement Entities to comply with Section 77(1) of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, in that tender submissions shall be in writing and may be made either electronically or manually, as long as they meet the requirements set out in Section 77 generally and subsection (1) in particular,” the judge ruled.

The court further directed the National Treasury and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) to give equal consideration to both electronic and manual tenders.

“A conservatory order be and is hereby issued requiring the Cabinet Secretary – National Treasury & Economic Planning and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority to accept both electronic and manual submissions of tender documents and process them without bias, provided they meet the criteria in Section 77 of the Act,” the order read.

The e-GP system, backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of procurement reforms, was scheduled for implementation in 2024. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has been pushing for all government entities to be integrated into the platform this week to launch the new process on time. However, the initiative has faced strong resistance from the National Assembly and the Council of Governors, who argue that it is being rushed. County bosses have warned that enforcing the transition prematurely could paralyze services, pointing out that only three counties took part in the pilot phase, and all experienced serious technical failures.