Opportunities for Sustainable Public Procurement in Mozambique

This report provides a preliminary assessment of Mozambique's 'Regulation on Contracting of Public Works, Goods and Services' (Decree No. 15 of 24 May 2010) to identify opportunities for integrating sustainable public procurement (SPP). The author concludes that while the current legal framework does not expressly incorporate sustainability, there are several entry points—such as technical specifications, evaluation criteria, and the role of the Competent Authority—that could be used to promote green growth and sustainable development.

• The current Mozambican legal framework for public procurement, specifically Decree No. 15 of 24 May 2010, lacks explicit references to sustainable development, containing only one mention of the environment in article 37, number 4, item j.
• The standard decision criterion for awarding contracts in Mozambique is the lowest price, which the author argues may hinder the adoption of sustainable alternatives that might have higher immediate costs but lower long-term costs.
• The 'conjugated criterion' allows for the evaluation of both technical proposals and price, providing a mechanism to include sustainability factors such as 'Environmental benefits' (Article 37, item 4.j).
• Mozambique provides specific margins of preference for national tenderers: 10% of the contract value (excluding taxes) for public works and 15% for goods.
• The legal framework defines three primary procurement regimes: the General Regime (Public Tender), the Special Regime (for international agreements or foreign-funded projects), and the Exceptional Regime (based on justified public interest).
• The 'Limited Tender' modality is restricted to natural persons and micro, small, and medium enterprises, with value limits of MT 3,500,000 for public works and MT 1,750,000 for goods and services.
• The 'Two-Stage Tender' is identified as a particularly useful modality for sustainable procurement when the most satisfactory technical specifications cannot be defined in advance.
• The 'Tender with Pre-Qualification' allows the government to ensure it only contracts with tenderers who meet pre-approved quality and qualification standards before proposals are submitted.
• The 'Small-Scale Tender' modality facilitates the participation of micro and small enterprises by allowing advance payments of up to 30% of the contract value without a guarantee.
• The 'Direct Contracting' modality is permitted in specific circumstances, such as emergencies, national defense and security, or when the estimated value is less than 5% of the limit set for Limited Tenders.
• The 'Functional Unit of Procurement Supervision' is responsible for maintaining a single registry of eligible contractors and a registry of those forbidden from participating in public tenders.
• Tenderers can challenge decisions through a three-step process: a complaint to the Contracting Entity, a hierarchical appeal to the supervising Minister or local administrator, and finally a judicial appeal.
• The regulation defines unethical practices as corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, and coercive practices, which can lead to the rejection of proposals and the declaration of tenderer ineligibility.
• Administrative sanctions for breaching the regulation include fines, a one-year prohibition from contracting with the State, or a five-year prohibition in cases of recidivism.

APA

Brauch, M. D. (2013). Opportunities for Sustainable Public Procurement in Mozambique. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/spp_mozambique.pdf

Chicago

Brauch, Martin Dietrich. Opportunities for Sustainable Public Procurement in Mozambique. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2013. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/spp_mozambique.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Brauch |first1=Martin Dietrich |title=Opportunities for Sustainable Public Procurement in Mozambique |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2013 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/spp_mozambique.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{brauch2013opportunities, author = {Brauch, Martin Dietrich}, title = {{Opportunities for Sustainable Public Procurement in Mozambique}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/spp_mozambique.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }