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Namibian firms won more than 75% of tenders awarded by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CBPN) over the past six years – worth a total of N$5bn (or US$266m).
The CPBN says it had awarded N$6.7bn worth of bids (US$356m) during the period in question – with only 25% of the total being won by foreign firms.
However, CPBN chair Amon Ngavetene recognised that Namibian public procurement had come under criticism.
“Many of the challenges we are currently encountering, like the prolonged procurement process, can be attributed to the behaviour of the bidders. A significant amount of time is spent verifying the legitimacy of the provided supporting documents,” he was quoted as saying in the state-owned New Era newspaper.
Ngavetene said it was common for bidders for state contracts to submit counterfeit documents to support their bids and that it was a time-consuming process to verify the paperwork.
“If there are any indications that cast doubt on the authenticity of the recommendations, we will conduct our own audit. Yet, we find ourselves dedicating more time to corresponding with public entities to seek confirmation,” he said.
For a typical bid, the board might find itself having to verify 100 bid documents from 100 separate companies and called on the media to help publicly expose unscrupulous bidders.
“In many instances, delays are caused by factors like review applications and appeals to the high court, which contributes to prolonging the final procurement decisions,” he added.
Ngavetene said that when contracts are terminated due to non-performance, bidders are examined by a review panel on reasons for their lack of performance and can face disqualification from bidding for further contracts.
According to Namibia’s Electronic Government Procurement portal only three companies have been officially barred from tenders.
Ngavetene said that in some cases “lazy” public servants were to blame for failing to list companies as being ineligible to bid for future contracts.
“In some instances, the same officials receive kickbacks from the contractors awarded with contracts and thus will not immediately take action against a defaulting supplier,” he added. |
