Govt must check engineered transparency in procurement matters

LAHORE: Punjab Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) is doing a commendable job to ensure transparency in provincial procurement processes, yet when it comes to floating tenders that are technically correct but practically favour one supplier, it seems at a loss.

A case in this regard is the procurement of interactive smart boards/screens for hundreds of high schools in Punjab. This equipment, at an estimated unit price of Rs200,000 has cumulative cost exceeding billions of rupees, and each school has floated its own tender through the PPRA. It would be cost-effective to buy the boards and screens in bulk. Instead of issuing tenders for single or lesser number of units, the PPRA should have floated the tenders for 400-600 pieces, since the purchaser is the government of Punjab. There is a technical point in this regard as these purchases are being made from the local government account.

Immediately, after the 18th amendment, the procurement of drugs by government hospitals was similarly decentralised, but the government soon realised the benefit of placing one big order to get better price. It then distributed the drugs according to the demand and budget of each district.

This is a similar case, but related to the education department. The government of Punjab is providing huge funds for education. If purchases of this magnitude are done individually by each school it would increase the total cost by at least 10-20 percent. Another point worth noting is that the tender conditions indicate that it was meant to benefit a particular supplier. Qualifications of suppliers for supply of equipment worth Rs200,000 are very tough.

Only companies that could supply equipment worth Rs50-100 million could possess this qualification. The delivery period after acceptance of bid is only 15 days. It would be difficult to make efforts to import one piece worth Rs200,000 in two weeks. There is a high possibility that the supplier has been pre informed and already has the 400-600 pieces in stock and would deliver all within 15 days. This type of engineered tenders should be stopped.

The conditions of all tenders issued for interactive board/screen are the same and appended below. The conditions would prove that the tender has been prepared in accordance with the qualification of one supplier.

The following is the eligibility criteria:

1) Education, Training and Management consultancy experience of minimum 15 years.

2) Should have worked with international donors like UN, ADB, DFID, World Bank, and USAID etc for a minimum of six years combined.

3) Should have worked with government line departments for a minimum of 10 years combined.

4) Should have an experience of minimum five projects in interactive e-content for classrooms in public sector.

5) Should have an experience of minimum five projects in ICT assisted infrastructure sales and supply.

6) Should have an interactive learning content development team consisting of education content specialists having minimum three years’ experience.

7) Should have in-house teachers training team having a minimum of three years experience individually in teachers’ trainings on interactive classrooms solutions.

8) All the products required by the School Education Department Punjab in this tender must be provided on turnkey basis; partial bids will not be accepted.

9) Should have authorisation certificate from the manufacturer.

10) Should have an average annual turnover of more than 100 million (for past three years).

11) Must be ISO registered.

12) The firm should be registered with income tax and sales tax departments (registration numbers should be clearly mentioned and valid documentary evidence be attached).

13) Documentary evidence of income tax and sales tax paid during the last three financial years.

14) The firm may not be black-listed by any of the federal/provincial government in Pakistan.

The PPRA was created through a presidential ordinance in 2002. The government, in 2008 strengthened the procurement authority by introducing Public Procurement Rules 2004 and Public Procurement Regulations 2008. Punjab adopted the system in 2007 and beefed-up the procurement system via the Punjab Procurement Rules 2009 (PPR-09).

However, the procurement regime is still weak and many of the laws and regulations are non-existent, need further strengthening, adequate implementation, and enforcement.