KPRA suspends tender

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Authority (KPRA) on Monday suspended tender issued by Communication and Works (C&W) in Karak and directed to include petitioner Saeed and Company in the bidding procedure.

The counsels for petitioner Safeer Qaiser Malak and Yousaf Khan Advocates appeared before the authority on behalf of Saeed and Co. The counsels for the petitioner argued that C&W Karak had advertised the project in newspaper and called financial and technical assessments from companies.

The counsels added that the petitioner company had applied for bidding but was ignored by the C&W and the bid was awarded to three companies due to alleged favouritism. The counsel for petitioner Safeer Qaiser Malak Advocate argued that the advertisement was not made in a transparent way because the order was given for online bidding, and the client company was not considered due to financial technicalities.

The counsels argued that an appeal was made to the Chief Engineer against the bidding but it was turned down and competition was made among three companies. They added that the competition in bidding may bring down the cost of the project and provide profit to the national exchequer however after turning down of appeal the petitioner approached the authority for addressing of grievances.

KPPRA suspended the tender and directed C&W to state a clear criteria for bidding and complete all the due procedure and re-advertise the tender.