| Year of assessment | 2024 |
| Date of publication | September 2025 |
| Country procurement volume | 84.5 million USD (2022-2023) |
| Principal organisation | Zanzibar Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (ZPPRA, formerly ZPPDA) |
| Main partners | World Bank (WB) |
Zanzibar
Semi-autonomous jurisdiction of the United Republic of Tanzania
Recognizing the central role that public procurement plays in public service delivery, financial management, and sustainable development, this MAPS MAIN assessment resulted in recommendations targeting efficiency, transparency, sustainable public procurement, digitalization (e-GP), capacity development, and strengthened oversight mechanisms.
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Quick facts
Background
Why was a MAPS assessment initiated?
To develop a shared understanding of Zanzibar’s procurement system, identify strengths and weaknesses, and support reforms to make procurement more efficient, transparent, sustainable, and professionalized.
Who initiated the assessment?
Requested by the Government of Tanzania (through the Ministry of Finance and Planning) with World Bank support. Zanzibar was assessed separately due to its autonomous procurement system.
Brief description of the country’s procurement system:
Zanzibar operates an independent and decentralized procurement system with around 100 Procuring Entities (PEs) . Procurement is regulated by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act 2016, amended by the Public Procurement Act 2025, supported by the PPR 2021. The ZPPRA oversees compliance, capacity building, and regulatory functions.
Other relevant context:
- New e-Procurement system (eProZ) launched in 2022 to streamline processes, though still underused and not fully aligned with the legal framework.
- Zanzibar Development Vision 2050 and ZADEP 2021–2026 highlight procurement as a driver of good governance, sustainability, and gender equality.
Were there any disruptions?
None directly reported, though the assessment notes challenges including procurement delays, regulatory gaps, weak data systems, and capacity constraints.
Main results and impact
- Issue: Regulatory gaps, limited procurement methods for complex/innovative contracts, absence of Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) policy, and lack of a single access point for updated procurement information.
- Recommendations:
- Issue comprehensive regulations under the new PPA 2025.
- Develop and implement a national SPP policy and strategy; embed SPP in procurement documents and contract conditions .
- Expand procurement methods to allow innovative/complex procurement.
- Establish a single access point with updated, user-friendly procurement information.
- Issue: Weak monitoring, fragmented data, limited professionalization, and insufficient coordination across institutions.
- Recommendations:
- Develop a comprehensive monitoring and performance framework integrated with e-GP.
- Strengthen procurement professionalization (training, certification, recognition of the profession).
- Conduct a functional review of centralized procurement and consider pooling common-use items.
- Issue: Poor cost estimation and planning, long procurement timelines, concentration of contracts among a few suppliers, and limited SME/foreign participation.
- Recommendations:
- Improve planning and market research; document and justify cost estimates.
- Strengthen competition by broadening supplier participation and reducing barriers (fees, delays in payment, data access issues).
- Enhance eProZ functionalities for transparency and performance monitoring.
- Issue: Limited public access to procurement data, weak audit enforcement, inadequate independence of appeals body, lack of strong whistleblower protection, and gaps in anti-corruption enforcement.
- Recommendations:
- Ensure open access to procurement data in line with global open data standards.
- Conduct periodic third-party IT audits of e-GP.
- Strengthen independence and capacity of the appeals body.
- Develop whistleblower guidelines and anti-corruption training programs.
- Improve enforcement of audit recommendations and sanctioning mechanisms.