President Bola Tinubu has approved a sweeping overhaul of public procurement thresholds for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.
The reform is aimed at decentralising contract approvals and allowing the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to focus on high-level national policy issues rather than routine procurement matters.
Under the new guidelines, the FEC will now only approve contracts starting from ₦5 billion for goods and services, or from ₦10 billion for works.
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Contracts below these thresholds will be handled by ministerial, parastatal, or departmental tenders boards, as well as accounting officers, depending on the contract value.
Ministerial tender boards are authorised to approve contracts for goods and services ranging from ₦50 million to less than ₦1 billion and for works from ₦50 million to less than ₦2.5 billion.
Parastatal tenders boards are permitted to handle procurements for goods and services up to ₦500 million and for works up to ₦1 billion.
Accounting officers are responsible for approving goods and services below ₦50 million and work below ₦100 million.
The reform also introduces revised procurement methods based on contract value.
National or international competitive bidding will now be used for goods and services worth ₦1 billion and above, and for works from ₦5 billion and above.
Requests for quotations, also known as shopping, will apply to lower-value procurements.
Prequalification requirements have also been updated.
For non-consulting goods and services, prequalification is required for contracts from ₦500 million.
For works, prequalification begins from ₦1 billion.
For consultancy services, the Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) method must be used for contracts worth ₦100 million and above.
To improve transparency and accountability, all MDAs must publish monthly procurement reports on their official websites and on the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) portal.
These reports must include details of all awarded contracts.
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Furthermore, MDAs are now required to budget for procurement training and are only permitted to engage trainers accredited by the BPP.
The reform also strengthens the ‘Nigeria First’ policy, which mandates that federal procurements must prioritise local goods and Indigenous contractors.
