Products and service providers to the Addis Abeba City government will be compelled to use an online portal to do business with its many bureaus. The city's administration's Finance Bureau, led by Yosef Tale, drafted a directive for an electronic public procurement (e-procurement) system to enforce it on 45 bureaus in the city. The directive is expected to be approved in the coming two months. Last week, the Finance Bureau officials discussed the directive with the federal Public Procurement & Property Authority. The city Finance Bureau has selected close to seven offices to launch a preliminary evaluation. The Authority rolled out an electronic public procurement system to 72 federal agencies automating end-to-end processes two weeks ago. Haji Ebsa, director general of the public Authority, expanded the system after months of piloting. The Addis Ababa City Administration received a budget of 100 billion Br, accounting for 12.27pc of the total budget allocated by the federal government for the current year. The budget is disbursed to bureaus by the city administration. The Addis Abeba Trade Bureau is among the institutions selected for the pilot program. The Finance Bureau has allocated a budget of 76 million Br for the current fiscal year.