High-Value State Contracts Tilted Toward Foreign Firms, PPRA Reveals

High-Value State Contracts Tilted Toward Foreign Firms, PPRA Reveals. Citizen-owned contractors continue to dominate the number of public procurement awards in Botswana, but their participation drops sharply when contracts are measured by monetary value, according to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

PPRA Chief Executive Officer Tumelo Motsomi said citizen-owned companies are increasingly excluded from high-value government tenders, which are effectively secured by foreign businesses. While local firms account for the majority of awarded tenders, large-scale projects awarded to non-citizen companies significantly outweigh smaller contracts issued to citizens in financial terms.

During the 2024/2025 financial year, citizen-owned companies won approximately 74 percent of all procurement awards. Out of 78,800 tenders captured in the procurement system, 58,154 were awarded to citizen entities. However, this numerical dominance did not translate into financial parity.

Of the total P32 billion spent through public procurement during the period under review, citizen-owned companies received only P12 billion, representing 38 percent of the total procurement value. The remaining portion was largely awarded to non-citizen companies.

Motsomi explained that the disparity is driven by the allocation of a small number of high-value contracts to foreign firms. These large projects, she said, have a disproportionate impact on overall procurement figures and overshadow the thousands of lower-value tenders awarded to citizen contractors.

“This relatively low share in value is primarily due to the awarding of a few high-value contracts to non-citizen companies, which significantly skews the distribution despite higher participation from citizen entities,” Motsomi told the media.

The data highlights a clear divide between participation and financial benefit within the public procurement system. While citizen contractors remain active and competitive in terms of volume, they continue to secure a limited share of major contracts that carry the highest monetary value.

The PPRA figures provide a snapshot of procurement trends and underscore the concentration of large-scale public projects among non-citizen companies, despite broad involvement by local firms across the procurement landscape.