Public procurement at the district level has a profound impact on businesses of all sizes and types in Rwanda and helps shape overall opinions about the state of the investment climate in the country. The perceived fairness of procurement processes and competence of procurement officials has an important bearing on public trust in local government. To explore the functioning of administrative justice in public procurement at the local level, field research was conducted in five districts (one from each Province and the City of Kigali). The research involved surveys administered to 50 bidders who had participated in tenders in the five districts over the past four years, as well as in-depth interviews conducted with 20 district officials, and group discussions with tender committee members in four of the five districts. A group discussion was also conducted with procurement officers from each of the five different districts. These sources of data collectively informed the findings and recommendations below. This section discusses the general contours of local procurement practice, based on both the applicable legal framework (as described in the SRAJ Project’s Phase I Report) and the views of both citizens and district officials. The second section summarizes the results of the bidders’ survey, while the third section contains key lessons learned and recommendations from the field research.
