Habesha tender: Ethiopian federal procurement rules

What "habesha tender" means

"Habesha tender" is a search phrase used by businesses, contractors and consultants looking for Ethiopian public procurement opportunities. "Habesha" refers to the people and culture of Ethiopia. The term therefore points to government contracts issued by federal or regional entities in Ethiopia for goods, works and services. This article focuses on the federal system, because federal procurement is governed by a single legal text, Proclamation No. 1333/2024, and administered by the Federal Public Procurement and Property Authority (FPPA).

Categories and scope under Proclamation 1333/2024

Proclamation No. 1333/2024, published in the Federal Negarit Gazette on 9 September 2024, defines the scope of federal public procurement. Article 2 defines "procurement" as "obtaining goods, consultancy services, non-consultancy services and works by purchase, hire or lease or any similar contractual means". The same article defines "goods" to include "raw material, products, equipment or commodities whether in a state of solid, liquid or gas, or marketable software and live animals". "Works" means "all works associated with construction, reconstruction, upgrading, demolition, repair or renovation of a building, road, bridge, dam, port, air port, water works or other infrastructure works, and includes design and build, construction management, turnkey and other similar contracts". "Consultancy service" covers "a service of an intellectual and advisory nature provided by consultants using their professional skills to study, design or supervise, organize specific projects, advise clients, conduct training and transfer knowledge". "Non-consultancy service" means "any service other than works and consultancy services and includes hiring, transport, printing, maintenance, security, janitorial, power supply, telecommunication, water supply and other related services".

The Proclamation applies to "Public Bodies". Article 2 defines a "Public Body" as "any organ or institution of the Federal Government which is financed wholly or partly by budget allocated by the Federal Government, or which is designated as a Federal Public Body or institution by the law establishing it and includes Federal Government Public owned enterprises". A "Federal Government-Owned Enterprise" is defined as "a wholly Government owned enterprise established pursuant to the Federal Government-Owned Enterprises Proclamation No.1314/2024 or other establishing law". The text states that "public procurement" means "procurement executed by public bodies by using public fund". The Proclamation defines "Public Fund" as "any monetary resource appropriated to a Public Body from the Federal Government treasury or aid grants or credits obtained from foreign or domestic sources... and includes any monetary resource of a Public Enterprise". It defines "Bid" as "the process that extends from advertisement of or invitation to bid up to awarding and signing of contract for procurement".

Where Ethiopian federal tenders are announced

The Federal Public Procurement and Property Authority (FPPA) is established and functional as a regulatory body for procurement and property management (ppa.gov.et). Directive No. 1073/2025, issued to implement the Proclamation, contains provisions on "Registration on the e-Procurement System" (Article 24), "Use of the e-Government Procurement System" (Article 25) and "Publication of Procurement Information on Websites" (Article 38).

The national electronic government procurement portal states: "Register your company in the national suppliers list to be able to identify government procurement opportunities and participate in tenders" (production.egp.gov.et). Registration on the national suppliers list is therefore the step the portal sets out for companies that intend to participate in federal procurement through the e-GP system.

Procurement methods and local preferences

Directive No. 1073/2025 organizes procurement methods under Chapter Four. The directive provides for open tendering through National Competitive Bidding (Article 54) and International Competitive Bidding (Article 55), selective tendering including pre-qualification tendering and two-stage bidding (Articles 58-60), limited tendering through restricted bidding and request for quotations (Articles 62-64), and direct procurement (Article 66). The directive also provides for strategic procurement, framework agreements, joint procurement, procurement through lease agreements, force account, turnkey procurement and electronic reverse auction.

Section Three of the directive (Articles 26-35) addresses preferences in public procurement. These include preference for locally manufactured goods, for Ethiopian service providers, consultants and contractors, for Ethiopians in joint ventures or consortiums, for small and micro enterprises in manufacturing, for associations of persons with disabilities in manufacturing, for women's trading associations in manufacturing, and for technological innovation products. The directive also provides for exclusive procurement for job-creation manufacturing enterprises.

World Bank-financed projects in Ethiopia

Some procurement opportunities in Ethiopia are financed by external bailleurs rather than the federal budget. For projects financed by the World Bank through Investment Project Financing (IPF), the borrower's procurement follows the World Bank Procurement Framework. The Framework "outlines the rules on procuring Goods, Works, Non-Consulting Services, and Consulting Services, providing flexibility so that borrowers can tailor their market approach to specific needs and realities on the ground" (worldbank.org). The borrower prepares a Project Procurement Strategy for Development and uses the Bank's Standard Procurement Documents. The Framework is supported by Procurement Guidance, templates and oversight tools. Suppliers can find these opportunities through the World Bank's project portal and through aggregators such as Bidanga. For an overview of World Bank procurement across Africa, see the World Bank tenders guide.

Track Ethiopian tenders on Bidanga

Bidanga aggregates Ethiopian public procurement data among 54 African countries, with daily updates, search filters and email alerts. Users can filter by sector, country or organization and export results. To view current Ethiopian tenders, visit the Ethiopia country page. For a step-by-step guide on finding government contracts in Ethiopia, see the Ethiopia tender guide. Public procurement rules differ elsewhere in Africa; consult the list of government procurement websites by country for other jurisdictions.