The Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015 (the PPDA, 2015) came into force on 7th January, 2016. The PPDA, 2015 is an Act of Parliament that seeks to give effect to Article 227 of the Constitution which requires that an Act of Parliament be enacted to prescribe a framework within which policies relating to procurement and asset disposal in respect of a State organ or any other public entity shall be implemented. The PPDA, 2015 repealed the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005 (the PPDA 2005).
The PPDA, 2015 applies to all State organs and public entities with respect to procurement planning, procurement processing, inventory and asset management, disposal of assets and contract management. The PPDA, 2015 goes on to list the entities that would fall under the definition of a “public entity” including but not limited to the national and county governments (including any of their organs or departments), the Central Bank of Kenya, state corporations and companies owned by public entities.
It is important to note that the PPDA, 2015 expressly provides for procurements or asset disposals to which the PPDA, 2015 does not apply. These include the procurement and disposal of assets under the Public Private Partnership Act, 2013. It is interesting to note that before the enactment of the Public Private Partnerships Act, 2013, the old PPDA, 2005 contained regulations known as the Public Procurement and Disposal (Public Private Partnerships) Regulations, 2008 that initially applied to public private partnerships. The coming into force of the Public Private Partnerships Act, 2013 expressly ousted any regulations that were at that time in force immediately before the commencement of the Public Private Partnerships Act, 2013 that were applicable to public private partnerships.