SPB introduces stringent measures
THE State Procurement Board has introduced a raft of changes among them registration of suppliers, which now has to be done at specific periods, provision for refundable cash bid bond and inclusion of suppliers’ contact details.
There will also be public procurement training at national training centres that fall under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
SPB chairperson, Ambassador Buzawani Mothobi said this following the publication of a supplementary list of some of the registered suppliers who applied during the second window of applications.
“The list of registered suppliers must be useful to procurement entities,” said Ambassador Mothobi.
“The practice of publishing names without additional details was a disservice to all stakeholders in that it was supposed to be the marketplace for procuring entities when they intend to acquire goods and services for procurement values below $10 000, the competitive bid- HARARE City Council’s Health Department has received more than $2 million from donors to support its clinic expansion projects.
The money will also be spent on buying drugs. The projects include construction of porta cabins and funding free maternity services.
Health Services director Dr Prosper Chonzi told councillors the department received support from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention valued at $615 600 for the construction of porta cabins for opportunistic infections /anti-retroviral treatment at 19 clinics in the city.
The World Bank was also funding the results-based financing project in southern district since 2015 valued at more than ding threshold.
“Giving out names without contact details was therefore regarded as ineffective. The published lists shall be valid for a period of 12 months from date of publication. The current published lists shall expire on October 8, 2017, while the earlier list published shall expire on July 30, 2017.”
Ambassador Mothobi added that the SPB stopped perpetual registration of suppliers with new categories added for locally manufactured goods and professional services.
He said that they had to open a second window for the registration of suppliers because a number of companies had failed to register.
“Despite the re-opening of the process for this current publication, a significant number of suppliers are still requesting for reopening of the process.
“The State Procurement Board shall be opening a new registration period for 2017 before the end of this October 2016, that shall close early to mid-November 2016.
“The 2017 supplier registration shall be valid from January to December 2017. This implies that the public sector shall operate with three supplier registers up to July 30, 2017, and two supplier registers up to October 8, 2017 with the 2017 supplier registration expiring on December 31, 2017,” said Ambassador Mothobi.
He added that suppliers on the July and October list would be invited to renew their registration up to the end of December 2017 to synchronise the supplier register.
The SPB chairperson said registration with the SPB was only applied on formal and informal tenders with express authority from the board in line with Section 25 (4) of the Act.
Ambassador Mothobi said grocery shops servicing the public sector were also required to register with the SPB.
He said the board was in support of the Buy-Zimbabwe Campaign and Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, adding that professionals registered with various professional bodies were also expected to register with the SPB for application of Section 7 (2) (a) and (e) for limited or closed procurement processes on the basis of local interest and specialist nature provisions, respectively.
Ambassador Mothobi said the bid bond had also lost its legal meaning as provided for under Section 31 (1)(e) (v) and 32 (1) (h) of the Procurement Act that required submission of bid security in tender processes.
“The Board had been levying non-refundable administration fees equivalent to bank charges for establishing bid bond without the demand of the deposit of the refundable cash equivalent to bid bonds issued by commercial banks.
“The Board considered that it was good procurement practice to correct the situation that had created an administrative gap in public procurement.
“The non-refundable administration fees shall remain at $280, and $750 for locals and foreigners, respectively. Suppliers shall then be required to deposit into the SPB Trust Account, refundable cash of 2,5 percent of bid sum up to a maximum of $6 000 and 10 percent of bid sum up to a maximum of $50 000 for local and foreign suppliers respectively,” said Ambassador Mothobi.