Botswana to Evolve Standardized Bidding Packages

February 15, 2025

(3 Minutes Read)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released a USD 265, 600 (P3.7 million) grant to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) for the development of Standardised Bidding Packages (SBP) in Botswana.

SBPs are key documents used in procurement that contain instructions and provisions to bidders and form the basis for expected offers or bids by providing the market with a clear idea of what is required by the procuring entity.

Vice President and Finance Minister, Ndaba Gaolathe, and the AfDB’s deputy director-general for the Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office, Moono Mupotola, signed the grant agreement last week in Gaborone. The SBPs are for works, goods, and services aligned with the new Public Procurement Act and the Public Procurement Regulations.

The grant also covers training of stakeholders on the SBPs. In particular, procuring entities and contractors face challenges in using SBPs for complex procurements as they don’t incorporate changes brought about by the Act, and don’t reflect current international best practices.

The project will be implemented in two phases with Phase I focused on the review and development of the SBPs and related capacity-building initiatives whilst Phase II will focus on the development of a Procurement Professionalisation Strategy as well as its operationalization. The PPRA, which succeeded the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board, is the state-owned regulator of government’s procuring entities in the country. Procuring entities include ministries and local authorities, which are assigned public funding.