CPBN has ‘no capacity’ to verify misleading applicants

The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) administrative head, Amon Ngavetene, revealed on Friday that there is no capacity to investigate whether companies that claim to own local manufacturing plants when they apply for clinical supplies are being honest.He said due to the amount of documentation received, it would be difficult for CPBN to verify the existence of pharmaceutical plants, whether bidders’ good standing for tax and social security is authentic, and whether they have authorisation to supply."Do we need to go out there, or do we need to work on the basis of the documentation we have? If there is ground for suspicion, we can investigate. In terms of the Act [Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015], the board can award an advantage in terms of local manufacturing," he said.Cloud of controversyHe was speaking at a hastily convened press conference amid a storm engulfing the controversial awarding of huge tenders to Amnics Trading, owned by businessman Shapwa Kanyama."CPBN wishes to confirm that some bidders, who were more expensive than others, were allotted awards on the basis of being local manufacturers in terms of sections 28 (2) and 2 (b) of the Public Procurement Act, which allows public entities to confer an advantage," he said.Amnics, according to its CC2 form at the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa), describes itself as a manufacturer and supplier of disposable hygiene and pharmaceutical goods."In fact, that is the basis where we started to operate from. The bidder was evaluated as a local manufacturer. We are still going to further determine, based on the document, whether we can satisfy ourselves whether this bidder is a local manufacturer. We have the documentation that they have a manufacturing plant," he said.Pricey biddingAccording to CPBN documents, Amnics Trading won three lucrative medical supply tenders from the ministry of health, including one valued at N$416.7 million, to supply the ministry with disposable surgical gloves.However, CPBN on Friday said there was a discrepancy in the requested quantities of disposable surgical gloves, which stated 30 million, whereas the correct quantity is three million."The rectification of these errors may result in the reduction of the current recommended amounts from hundreds of millions to tens of millions," it said.Kanyama told Namibian Sun that this error on the part of CPBN has painted a negative picture of his bid and contributed to the current public uproar.Amnics outbid two others – Fresh Unit Medical Supplies, which submitted a N$150.9 million bid and was chosen as a first alternative, and Trion Technology Solutions, which submitted a N$193.2 million bid – to supply 7.5-sized gloves.Amnics also outbid two other companies, Trion and MMED Investments, for the supply of size-8 disposable surgical gloves, submitting a N$20.8 million bid, N$11.1 million more than the second alternative bidder - Trion - that had submitted a N$9.96 million bid.Amnics also won a tender worth N$111 million to supply the state with 750 000 condoms.ReconsiderNgavetene told the media that the board has received complaints and requests for reconsideration from 29 bidders out of the ninety who participated in the bidding.He also pointed out that the Notice for Selection of Procurement Award is for a box containing 144 condoms, which means if a bidder’s unit rate is N$100, this translates to N$0.69 per condom."It is also important to note that the bid evaluation committee evaluated all bidders&#039; documents according to the documentation which were submitted to CPBN. The bidders were required to submit financial statements for the past two years, of which all recommended bidders met this requirement."The issue of a bidder being registered two years ago is factually incorrect, as the documentation in CPBN’s possession indicates that the company in question has been in operation for more than two years."jemima@namibiansun.com

CPBN has ‘no capacity’ to verify misleading applicants

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-09

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CPBN has ‘no capacity’ to verify misleading applicants

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-09

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