The Director General of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA), Dr. Edington Chilapondwa has touted the newly enacted Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (No. 7 of 2025) saying that it is proactive and futuristic.

Speaking during the Annual General Conference of the Malawi Institute of Procurement and Supply (Mips), Dr Chilapondwa disclosed that the old law needed to be repealed to pave way to a new piece of legislation which aligns with Malawi’s Development Agenda as espoused in Malawi2063.

He thus stressed that with the New Act the PPDA has a revived vigor to monitor, regulate and oversee Public Procurement; ensuring that it delivers value for public money.

According to Chilapondwa the new law also points to a departure from the traditional ways of doing things.

“The legal reforms through the enactment of the PPDA Act No 7 of 2025 for instance has provisions on Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP); this is digitization of procurement process through Malawi National Electronic Procurement System (MANePS),” he said.

The Maneps is an online platform that is built to manage the full life cycle of public procurement including Vendor Registration, Planning, Requisition, Tendering and Contract Management Process, for both Government Agencies and Suppliers.

Director General Chilapondwa described Maneps as a game-changer that anchors the vision of the Authority of Transforming Public Procurement through Digitalization.

Other highlights of the new Act include Sustainable Procurement, Management of unrealistically high bids and mitigating the monopolization of procurement processes by avoiding artificial competition through declaration of beneficial ownership.

Earlier this year, PPDA launched dissemination initiatives of the new Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act No. 7 of 2025.