We have maintained an office in Uganda since 1980. Crown Agents Uganda Ltd was established in 2001 to deliver outsourced procurement services to clients including the Ugandan government, Danida and DFID. More recently we widened our services to include local training, and consultancy and advisory services.
Uganda has one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Our contribution has been to improve the effectiveness of public expenditure. Between 2001 and 2003 we helped establish a new regulatory and supervisory body (Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Agency) for all public procurement. Donors and other African countries agree this is a model for improving governance in public procurement.
More recently we have been helping the health sector. As third-party procurement agent on a Global Fund programme, we provide technical assistance in procurement compliance, health technical specification, advice on the supply chain, and contractual and financial management assistance.
We are currently developing policy options for new revenue sources at local government level. Decentralisation is a key public policy in most of our client countries and strengthening fiscal capacity at this tier is critical to its success.