PPRA approves new set of rules
Sharing the details, PPRA initiated a consultation process with concerned ministries and relevant procuring agencies on 5th June 2024, and consolidated their recommendations on improvement of procurement framework.
The Prime Minister, while chairing meetings on tendering/procurement on August 23, 2024, followed by a review on 21st November 2024, expressed concerns about the adequacy of the PPRA institutional and legal framework. In this context, following directives were issued by the Prime Minister: (i) PPRA shall review its regulatory framework on an urgent basis to determine whether it is in accordance with the international best practices of transparency, economy, efficiency, and facilitates ease of doing business or not ;(ii) procurement rules shall be reviewed by adopting the best international practices and principles of transparency and fairness, ensuring that there should be no conflict of interest at any level, e.g., composition of procurement committee, bid evaluation process, complaint Redressal Committee, etc; (iii) While drafting new rules, PPRA shall ensure that a Complaint Redressal Committee/Grievance Committee and Inspection Committee are completely independent of the influence of the Procuring Agency and Procurement Committee; (iv) while drafting new rules, PPRA shall ensure a system of pre-shipment inspection by independent assessors at the cost of the procuring agency, for all significant and/or international procurements; and (v) PPRA shall create checks in ePADS and ensure that Procuring Agencies have conducted Third Party Evaluation in the spirit of directions conveyed vide PMO's. The directive stipulates, 'Third Party Evaluation/validation of development projects' shall be mandatory for all projects above RS 70 million.
In compliance with the PM's directives, PPRA with the support from the World Bank Pakistan engaged a consultant, Peter Trepte, an international procurement lawyer, to undertake a comprehensive review of the PPRA's legal and institutional framework, including the PPRA Ordinance 2002, and the Rules 2004.
Following extensive consultations with the Federal PPRA management, the World Bank experts, Provincial PPRAs, and key stakeholders from procuring agencies, the international consultant identified strengths, weaknesses, and missing elements in the existing regulatory framework of PPRA and presented a preliminary report during the 82nd meeting of the PPRA Board, held on September 27, 2024.
The following were the main recommendations for regulatory reforms: (i) the Ordinance should be amended to include additional functions for PPRA; (ii) Rules should be revised in their entirety (using MAPS and the UNCITRAL Model as guidance) - retaining the positive elements of the current rules but expanding on them to provide more details and filling the identified gaps. Critical elements of this exercise will be (a) the mandatory creation of a procurement cell (appropriate to the level of procurement spend) in each procuring agency, together with an evaluation committee and Procurement Oversight Committee, all with detailed responsibilities; (b) revision of grievance redressal committee; (c) revision of appellate body and its procedures; and (d) centralization of blacklisting procedure; and (iii) PPRA should be restructured according to the amendments made, under-staffing will need to be adequate, and appropriate tools provided.
The PPRA Board broadly agreed with the recommendations of the consultant and asked for preparation of a draft new set of rules outlining the entire spectrum of activities to be performed in the procurement process, including TPE, TPV, and the establishment of Procurement Cell along with well-defined roles & responsibilities within the procuring agencies as well as at the regulatory level.
The international consultant, in consultation with local consultant Shan Gul, former Advocate General Punjab, submitted the initial draft of the Public Procurement Rules 2025 on 30th December 2024. The draft was examined by the PPRA team and was also disseminated to stakeholders, including procuring agencies. It was made publicly available via the PPRA website on January 17, 2025 for feedback. Comments and observations received from procuring entities, bidders, suppliers, and the general public were thoroughly examined and duly incorporated after detailed deliberations.
An improved version of PP Rules 2025 was placed before the 88th, 89th, 90th and 91st consecutive meetings of the PPRA Board, held on January 21st, 23rd, 27th, and 28th, 2025, respectively. The Board members examined the existing rules of 2004 and the proposed amendments, discussed details, and finalized a draft new set of PP Rules 2025. The Board directed PPRA to share it again with the international and national consultant(s), and the feedback received from these quarters be incorporated, and a fresh set of rules be presented for a final review and approval by the Board.
The updated draft (New Set of Public Procurement Rules, 2025) was submitted to the international consultant on 31st January 2025 for evaluation and feedback. The input received from the international consultant was shared with the local legal consultant Usama Siddique on February 6, 2025 for review.
Subsequently, the draft was also referred to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on February 14, 2025 for guidance on financial thresholds in case of TPE and TPV, as procuring agencies had expressed serious reservations on low thresholds for TPV/TPE.
According to procuring agencies, inclusion of TPV/TPE in the bid evaluation process, that too with low financial thresholds will result in delayed procurement at an extra cost. The procuring agencies also expressed concerns on the involvement of bid evaluators and members of grievance redressal and inspection committees from outside the domain of procuring agencies, as that would complicate the procurement process.
In order to address these issues, a consultative meeting was held at the PMO on April 10, 2025 in the presence of the Advisor to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Economic Affairs Division, where some strategic guidelines were suggested to enhance effectiveness of procurement rules and to institutionalize capacity building of procuring agencies through a well-defined competency framework to be developed by PPRA. Another meeting on the subject was again held on May 19, 2025 in the PMO chaired by Minister for EAD, to deliberate upon the financial thresholds of TPV/TPE and issues like independence of grievance redressal and inspection mechanism, rationalization of blacklisting mechanism and definition of mis-procurement. The guidance, so provided by the PMO was incorporated in the new set of draft Public Procurement Rules, 2025.
The revised draft of Public Procurement Rules 2025 was placed before the Board for approval in its 96th and 97th meetings held on June 19 and 20, 2025 respectively, where MD (PPRA) once again presented the salient features of the draft Public Procurement Rules 2025 in comparison with PP Rules 2004 and proposed amendments in line with the outcomes of the discussion with all stakeholders.
The Board also examined afresh each provision of the draft Public Procurement Rules 2025, the proposed amendments, and deliberated on all aspects of regulatory framework.
The Board endorsed the proposed amendments and revisions to the definitions of key terms, including bid, blacklisting, competitive bidding, cross-debarment, ePADS, e-procurement, force account, GRC, and standard bidding documents etc.
Further, the Board reviewed and endorsed the proposed adjustments concerning the responsibilities related with Procurement Cells, Bid Evaluation Committees, TPV/TPE, GRC & inspection committees, procurement methods, procurement of second-hand goods, entry into force of the procurement contract, and settlement of disputes, their mechanisms, and timelines.
After detailed discussion, the PPRA Board finalized and endorsed new set of Public Procurement Rules 2025, and decided that, pursuant to Section 26 of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002, the new set of Public Procurement Rules 2025 should be forwarded to the Cabinet Division for further processing and submission to the Federal Cabinet for final approval.
The PPRA Board acknowledged the efforts and hard work of the PPRA Management and appreciated the strategic guidance provided by the PMO in finalizing the new set of Public Procurement Rules, 2025. The Board also appreciated the technical support extended by the World Bank in this regard.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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