The Kenya Institute of Supplies Management has urged the National Treasury to restrict the new e-GP system to licensed supply chain professionals to tighten compliance.

The Institute said the restriction would align with a 2023 directive from the Head of Public Service requiring all public procurement officers to hold valid membership and practising licences.

“We have recommended to the National Treasury to enable configuration of the e-GP system to ensure usability and applicability by only supply chain professionals who are duly registered and licensed to practise by KISM,” said the KISM Council in a statement on Wednesday, September 3.

The Institute said the move would help curb malpractice and ensure accountability in public procurement.

 It added that the rollout of the end-to-end e-GP platform would reduce loopholes in manual processes and limit external interference.

KISM said it had trained 1,317 supply chain officers in the past two months to prepare for the transition and launched a trainer of trainers programme in collaboration with the Treasury.

Thirty officers are expected to graduate from the programme this week.

The Institute urged practitioners to register their institutions on the e-GP platform, set up procurement user roles and report any training gaps.

The government has said the e-GP system will digitise procurement from supplier registration to contract management, with the aim of improving transparency and efficiency.