Telecom industry seeks abolition of G2G contracting under PPRA rules

The Telecom Operators Association (TOA) has urged the government to abolish the controversial provision allowing direct government-to-government (G2G) contracting under the Public Procurement Rules, 2004, arguing that the mechanism is crowding out private-sector businesses from IT, telecom and digital services projects. In a letter addressed to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and IT and Telecom Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, TOA Secretary General Kamal Ahmed called for repeal of Clause 42(f) of the PPRA Rules, which permits procuring agencies to directly contract state-owned entities for time-sensitive works and services considered to be in the public interest. The association said federal and provincial governments had strengthened existing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and established dozens of new entities following the 2021 amendment, with numerous IT and telecom projects allegedly awarded through direct G2G contracting without competitive bidding over the last five years. “This has severely crowded out the private sector,” TOA maintained, noting that telecom and technology companies had invested billions of rupees in infrastructure and servi