(1) A procuring entity shall prepare a public procurement plan for each financial year and shall revise the plan as appropriate during the course of the year.
(2) A public procurement plan shall be integrated with applicable budget processes based on indicative or approved budgets, as the case may be.
(3) A public procurement plan for each procuring entity shall include —
(a) a list of the goods, works and services required;
(b) a schedule of the delivery, implementation or completion dates for all goods, works and services required;
(c) an indication of which items can be aggregated for procurement as a single package or through any applicable arrangements for bulk purchases in accordance with this Act;
(d) an estimate of the value of each package of goods, works or services required and details of the budget available and sources of funding;
(e) an indication of the anticipated public procurement procedure for each procurement requirement, including any need for pre-qualification, and the anticipated time for the procurement procedure, taking into account the applicable approval requirements; and
(f) an indication of how the procuring entity is expected to manage the public procurement.
(4) A procuring entity shall submit a copy of the public procurement plan, and each update of it to the Director.
(5) A procuring entity shall plan its procurement in a rational manner and in particular shall —
(a) aggregate its requirements wherever possible, both within the procuring entity and between procuring entities, to obtain value for money and reduce procurement costs;
(b) make use of rate or running contracts wherever appropriate to provide an efficient, cost effective and flexible means to procure goods, works or services that are required continuously or repeatedly over a set period of time;
(c) avoid splitting of procurement to defeat the use of appropriate public procurement procedures; and
(d) integrate its expenditure programme with its public procurement plan.
(6) As early as possible, in every fiscal year, the procuring entity shall publish a notice on the Government website, the Gazette and any regional platform.
(7) The notice under subsection (6) must —
(a) contain information concerning the public procurement plan of each procuring entity for the relevant year;
(b) include —
(i) the subject matter of planned public procurements together with volumes and values, and
(ii) the proposed date or range of dates for the publication of invitations to tender.
(8) Each procuring entity shall employ best endeavours to conduct public procurement procedures in accordance with the notice but the notice is not binding on the procuring entity.