The Public Procurement Cycle

Public procurement cycle

What is the Public Procurement Cycle?

Public procurement cycle refers to the chain activities, assessing the requirements, competition, and award of the contract. In some definitions, elements of inventory and logistics management are also included but they actually are a part of contract administration.

 primary purpose

The Goal of Public Procurement

The primary purpose of public procurement is awarding the contracts to qualified service providers, contractors for procurement of goods and services required for government and public sector operations according to the processes listed in the public procurement rules.


Actors, Stakeholders, and Beneficiaries of Public Procurement

The principal actors in the public procurement process are the Procurement practitioners. They need to gain the stakeholder's trust, have a clear understanding of the procurement process and its principles and ensuring that the goals of public procurement are achieved.

Stakeholders of Public Procurement

The ones who would benefit from the results of public procurement are known as stakeholders it includes those who take a keen interest in the process and even those who might be affected in any manner by a procurement action.

The primary difference between actors and stakeholders in their participation in the process. The latter playing a passive role while the former is actively involved. As actors also benefit from the use of public amenities they are also stakeholders.


Beneficiaries of Public Procurement

All citizens of a country are beneficiaries of the public goods and services available and provided in the form of public utilities, educational systems, transportation systems, and medical services and facilities.


Procurement Legal Framework

The procurement legal framework administers Public procurement. It is a law or regulation (or part of either) that is authorized by the judiciary of a country.

This legal framework is further refined into procurement and contract management policies and procedures, instruction manuals, including standard requisition documents that are used to summon for propositions from service providers, contractors, and suppliers. Adherence to this law is mandatory; any infringement is punishable by law.

These laws govern everything from identifying the requirement to awarding the contract and sometimes include re-utilization, destruction or disposal of goods.

Tender Boards

Entities created by law to manage and supervise the public procurement process ensuring that all public procurement activities are carried out according to the public procurement rules.

There are several types of tender boards: departmental, ministerial and cabinet managing procurement process at different monetary levels.

Some tender boards function as the procuring entity, some review and approve actions taken by these entities and evaluation panels at different levels in the procurement process.