ISLAMABAD: The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has started complete overhaul of Legal Framework of Authority including Public Procurement Rules, 2004 aimed at making the framework at par with best international practices, sources told Business Recorder.
Sharing the details, sources said, MD PPRA has apprised the PPRA Board that in compliance with the directives of the Prime Minister, an international consultant was hired to review the complete Legal Framework of Authority including Public Procurement Rules, 2004.
The consultant shared the initial draft of new set of Public Procurement Rules, 2025 which have been reviewed by the PPRA team and local consultant with perspective of laws of the country.
PPRA redrafting regulatory framework
Moreover, feedback received from procuring agencies, bidders, suppliers and general public, etc.; have also been incorporated after detailed deliberations.
The comparison of existing Public Procurement Rules, draft of Rules 2025 prepared by the International Consultant and draft of Rules 2025 prepared by the Authority was placed before the PPRA Board in its 88th, 89th, 90th and 91st Board meetings. The PPRA Board reviewed the document and suggested several amendments, which were duly incorporated into the revised draft.
After finalising the internal review, taking into consideration the Board’s insights, the updated draft (New Set of Public Procurement Rules, 2025) was submitted to the international consultant for expert evaluation and feedback (if any).
The feedback received from the international consultant has been forwarded to Osama Siddiqui (Local consultant) for feedback (if any) who is currently in the process of reviewing the new set of Public Procurement Rules, 2025 and working on the suggested improvements. This includes aligning certain sections with the best practices recommended by the international consultant and refining it to ensure clarity and precision in new set of Public Procurement Rules, 2025.
In November 2024, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority to remove non-performers and incompetent staff from current positions and park them at the surplus pool immediately.
He had also directed that no procuring Agency should be allowed to split the tender to avoid the mandatory threshold of Rs 70 million for third party evaluation.
He added that while drafting new rules, the PPRA must ensure that Complaint Redressal Committee/ Grievance Committee and Inspection Committee are completely independent of the influence of the Procuring Agency and Procurement Committee.
The Prime Minister had further argued that while drafting new rules, PPRA must ensure system of pre-shipment inspections by independent assessors at the cost of procuring agency, for all significant and/ or international procurements.
While finalising the HR plan, the PPRA Board must ensure that the Authority shall be vertically independent having its own specialist HR, recruited on merit and no appointments shall be made through posting/ transfer/ deputation.
The meeting decided that the process of fresh recruitment shall be expedited and the HR Committee of PPRA shall ensure that the best HR is recruited on merit, as per the organisation’s requirement in a transparent manner which is under process.
The first batch of HR shall be sent abroad for high quality training in different disciplines of procurement. On return that HR shall perform as Master Trainer.
The Prime Minister directed that all ministries/ organisations and procuring agencies shall make procurements only through e-Procurement system (e-PADS). Dedicated procurement units/ cells shall be established in all Ministries/ Organisations staffed by trained HR. Controller General of Accounts (CGA) shall process procurement-related payments exclusively through the e-PADS.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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