The Vice President of Zimbabwe in charge of procurement has published new financial
thresholds for public procurement which are meant to put a smile on every participant
and stakeholder of public procurement. Statutory Instrument 219 of 2020 is fully cited
as Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (General) (Amendment)
Regulations, 2020 (No.2).


These regulations replace Section 10 of the principle Public Procurement and Disposal
of Public Assets Act which deals with financial thresholds for public procurement.
Section 10 of SI 219 of 2020 is quoted in United States Dollars by stating that for any
contracts set out in this section that fall below the threshold, procuring entities shall be
responsible for managing their own procurement. The thresholds are as follows:
a) Construction Works – equivalent to USD$200 000
b) Goods – equivalent to USD$100 000
c) Consultancy & non-consultancy – USD$50 000


The figures stated above will provide certainty in procurement by pegging values to
the United States Dollars. This then implies that procurement budgets have to be in
United States Dollars or equivalent.


The threshold for the use of the request for quotations method is provided for in
Section 10(2) of SI 219 of 2020. The thresholds are now as follows:
a) Construction Works – equivalent of USD$20 000
b) Goods – equivalent to USD$10 000
c) Consultancy & Non-consultancy – equivalent to USD$5 000


Subsection 3 deals with the circumstances when only domestic suppliers must be
invited to bid. The threshold for such circumstances is as follows:
a) Construction Works – equivalent of USD$20 000 – USD$5 000 000
b) Goods – equivalent of USD$10 000 – USD$300 000
c) Consultancy & Non-consultancy – USD$5 000 – USD$1 000 000


The financial thresholds of procuring entities’ procurement budgets that call for the
oversight of the Special Procurement Oversight Committee (SPOC) is covered by
subsection 5 of SI 219 of 2020. It states as follows:
a) Class A
These entities have a procurement budget of equivalent of USD$2 000 000 or
more with a low risk profileb) Class B
The procurement budget is the equivalent of USD$500 000 – USD$2 000 000
with a low risk profile.
c) Class C


The procurement budget is less than the equivalent of USD$50 000 and a lower
risk profile or procurement entities with a budget that falls under either Class A
or B but with a high risk profile.


The Third Schedule of SI 219 of 2020 provides for the payment of security and
fees for challenging procurement proceedings. Such payment is to be made in
local currency as per the thresholds set out in the schedule.