RESEARCH, CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING DIVISION

The division is mainly responsible of the following:

1.1. Capacity development, coaching and mentoring

Develop and propose annual strategic plan for capacity building and development in public procurement
Elaborate and develop annual strategic methodologies for capacity building and development in public procurement
Design and develop capacity building materials in public procurement
Update capacity building materials in public procurement
Elaborate an publish annual calendar for training, coaching and mentoring program for public procurement stakeholders (Procurement Officers members of public tender committees, Chief Budget Managers; legal advisors and internal auditors, contract managers and end-users; bidders and members of the civil society);
onduct training, coaching and mentoring programs in public procurement
Establish and develop a database of Staff trained and changed (turnover) in public procurement and determine their level of education
Elaborate and publish capacity building strategic plan in public procurement
Develop and elaborate annual strategic sensitization plan in public procurement
Develop and propose all updates to be made in the standard bidding document and other tools to be used in capacity building (e.g: online training platform);
Develop and propose partnership with HLIs in Public Procurement
Develop operational and follow up plan of the implementation of Curriculum in public procurement
Analyze and determine annually the level of professionalization in public procurement
Produce and establish a Database of Graduate students in procurement including undergraduates, postgraduate and finalists of professional courses in procurement

1.2. Monitoring in Public Procurement

Staff under this component are responsible of the following:

Develop and propose annual strategic plan for monitoring activities in public procurement
Elaborate and develop strategic methodologies for monitoring activities in Public Procurement
Assess and monitor market research of real prices on the market conducted and approved by PEs before the publication of the annual public Procurement Plan;
Produce a database of the progress of implementation all procurement plans of PEs in view of the milestones or schedules of work specified,
Conduct risk-based monitoring and propose corrective measures for application of non-competitive procedures and unfair evaluation criteria mentioned in the tender documents byPEs
Conduct risk-based monitoring and propose corrective measures for unlawful evaluation process of PEs in public procurement
Monitor all contracts negotiation and signature from PEs before the implementation and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Monitor all contracts executions and propose corrective measures and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Review administrative documents for request of categorization from the bidders for tender of works and submit their request for approval
Monitor the implementation of Made in Rwanda in Public Procurement and produce monthly, quarterly and annual repo

1.3. Contract management and procurement research

A. Research in Public Procurement

Develop and propose the annual strategic plan for research in public procurement
Develop and propose methodologies to conduct research in public Procurement
Review and assess the performance of public procuring entities and publish their ranking;
Conduct and publish the scale of public Procurement expenditure in GDP
Analyze the level of compliance of Government Procuring Entities in public procurement
Analyze and assess the implementation of Made in Rwanda in Public Procurement
Analyze and assess the sustainability of umucyo e-Procurement system
Research on different components related to public procurement satisfaction of stakeholders, stakeholders mapping and engagement, debarment of bidders and its impact, strategic capacity development in public procurement, categorization of bidders, strategic contract management, corruption in public procurement.

B. Contract Management in Public Procurement

Develop and propose the annual strategic plan for managing contracts in public procurement
Elaborate and develop strategic methodologies for managing all contracts in public procurement
Elaborate and develop strategic methodologies for partnering with all contract managers of Procuring Entities in Rwanda;
Determine and follow up the process of all procurement contracts ready for negotiation and signature and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Assess service delivery of all contracts signed between bidders and procuring entities to ensure that the products and services are delivered as and when they are ordered and produce a monthly, quarterly and annual report
Oversee all PEs procurement contracts to ensure that day-to-day procurement activities follow the spirit and sections of the contract and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Follow up changes of all procurement contracts and handling them effectively and produce a monthly, quarterly and annual report
Identify
Monitor and follow up the payment of all closed contracts of PEs and propose corrective measures and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Monitor disputes, problems and challenges occurred during contract implementation and propose corrective measures and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Produce a database of the progress of all procurement contracts in view of the milestones or schedules of work

C. Reference Price and Quantity Survey

Develop and propose annual strategic plan for data collection, quantity survey and management of reference prices in public procurement
Elaborate and develop strategic methodologies for data collection and quantity survey for reference prices in public procurement
Collect and publish on quarterly and annually basis on RPPA website reference prices for tender of Goods, Consultant Services, non-consultancy services and works and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Develop and propose partnership for working with professional associations (institution of engineers Rwanda, Rwanda Bar Association, Institute of policy analysis and research -IPAR, institute of certified public accountants Rwanda -ICPAR, Rwanda Institute of Architects (RIA), Rwanda association for cleaning companies (ASCCOR) enabling the collection of reference prices in Public Procurement and prepare and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Develop and propose partnership with Government entities and organizations (NISR, RURA, PSF, RCB and RAB) enabling enabling the collection of reference prices in Public Procurement and prepare and produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports
Assess the level of perception and use of reference prices in public procurement
Update reference prices and coordinate all activities of software management of reference prices in public procurement
Develop and elaborate sensitization strategic plan for the use of reference prices in public procurement.

D. Categorization of construction companies and consulting firm operating in the infrastructure development and maintenance

Receive application for categorization of construction companies and consulting firms operating in infrastructure development and maintenance, for category via e-mail of RPPA: info@rppa.gov.rw or via umucyo e-procurement system.
Conduct due diligence to verify the validity of information provided by applicants (References, staff, equipment, etc)
Analyze the financial statements and verify if they are in line with the requirements of the categorization manuals
Sign the categorization checklists confirming physical verification of the equipment, work station and employee profiles.
Prepare the explanatory note on the findings
Update the categorization list and publish it on RPPA website and notify the applicants
If the request has not been approved, prepare a regret letter informing the applicant company the reasons for the rejection of their request
Monitor requests and approval for category F in infrastructure development and maintenance

OFFICE OF DIRECTOR GENERAL

Director General office is mainly responsible of the following:

1.Appeals services

Receive and transmit the initial appeal to DG immediately after receiving the appeal
Forward the appeal to the staff in charge of Legal Affairs, or to any other Staff who was not involved in the investigation process when the Legal Affairs Officer is in official leave, within 2 days after receiving the initial appeal from the Front Desk, to handle the appeal.
Analyze the appeal and elaborate the draft decision and the Memo addressed to Board of Directors, through the DG, recommending the resolution on the appeal within 15 days from its reception
Conduct a discussion between the DG and the Legal Affairs Officer on the draft decision proposed by the latter if needed Table the recommended resolution before the Board Decision
Make the Decision for debarment
Transmit the decision to the appellant after the signing of the decision

2.Appeals Against Board of Directors Decision

Receive and transmit the initial appeal to DG immediately after receiving the appeal
Forward the appeal to the staff in charge of Legal Affairs, or to any other Staff who was not involved in the investigation process when the Legal Affairs Officer is in official leave, within 2 days after receiving the initial appeal from the Front Desk, to handle the appeal.
Analyze the appeal and elaborate the draft decision and the Memo addressed to Board of Directors, through the DG, recommending the resolution on the appeal within 15 days from its reception
Conduct a discussion between the DG and the Legal Affairs Officer on the draft decision proposed by the latter if needed
able the recommended resolution before the Board Decision
Make the Decision on the appeal
Transmit the decision to the appellant after the signing of the decision

3.Debarment in public procurement

Receive charges from procuring entities through e-procurement, individual persons or RPPA findings
Register the case in UMUCYO E-procurement System for request from individuals or RPPA findings
Assign the request to the investigator
Request additional information if need be
Summoning accused bidder through UMUCYO e- procurement
Conduct and record hearing session, finalize and sign the statement
Prepare investigation report and submit it to RPPA Board of Directors
Decide and sign Board decisions
Submit the signed decision to the PE and notify the accused bidder
Publish debarred company, its Managing Director, chairperson and any other individual with more than 50% company shares on RPPA website, UMUCYO E-procurement and in one of the National newspapers
For cases subjected to criminal action, transfer their decisions and related documentation to RIB for further action and copy to NPPA

E-PROCUREMENT TRAINING AND SUPPORT

1. E-Procurement Training (on Request)

Receive Requests for training (by official letters or email) Assign the request to the e-Procurement Specialists for planning and coordination with the requesting entity/person
Assign the request to the e-Procurement Specialists for planning and coordination with the requesting entity/person
Set training date and communicate the beneficiaries (this training can be joined to the quarterly planned training)
Deliver the training on the agreed date at RPPA Conference room, online or at the beneficiary’s suggested location.

2.Support Procuring Entities on E-Procurement system

Receive requests from Procuring Entities sent to the support system or by email or call center. Record email requests in the Tracker System)
Analyze request to find an appropriate solution for continuity of procurement proceedings.
Provide an appropriate solution for continuity of procurement proceedings Inform Business analyst if the request is due to a System Bug (See Bugs Reporting and Fixing)
Inform the Procuring entity to send an email endorsed by their CBM to the E-Procurement Project Manager to officially request for the change if the solutions involve change of data and decisions of Procuring entities in the database.
Analyze the request and assign it to the Operations team to handle and communicate the solution to the procuring entity.
Apply the change and collect feedback from the Procuring entity on applied solutions and their implications on proceedings.
Roll back the applied solution and the restart the process with testing a new appropriate solution on the issue if an error occurred after applying the solution