Bidders submitting fraudulent documents slows procurement – CPBN

The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) says local bidders slow the procurement process by submitting fraudulent documents.

This was said during a media induction over the weekend.

“The conduct of the bidders is the reason why the process seems long. It has become a norm to see fake documents,” said CPBN chairperson and acting administrator Amon Ngavetene.

He said matters related to fraud are time-consuming when awarding tenders because the CPBN has to fact-check and wait for litigation outcomes in order to move forward.

“As the board, we have tried our best to strengthen the operations of the CPBN to avoid any corruption and irregularities happening. But there are loopholes, among which are collisions and conflict of interest. Now, we have to do fact-checking, which is a time-consuming process of verifying, thus it contributes to delays in finalisation of awards,” Ngavetene said.

He said the time period the CPBN takes to award bids is dependent on the correctness of the submissions made by the bidders.
In the absence of any obstacles, Ngavetene said the CPBN can review tenders within 30 days.

Ngavetene said if the labour ministry was able to pick up on non-compliance by bidders, it will make it easy for the board to deal with companies that do not comply with labour laws.

“Sometimes, bidders will challenge the decision of the board, but most of these issues arise from interpretation. The review panel is the one that deals with issues. They review any decision by the board,” said Ngavetene.

He said when bidders are found to have transgressed, they can face debarment or other disciplinary action.

An expert in procurement said the law currently provides avenues for public entities to refer matters to when faced with defaulting suppliers. The law, for example, provides for debarment and suspension. The challenge lies with officials working at these public entities, who at times do not refer defaulting suppliers for suspension or debarment.

“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. There is a conflict of interest,” said a procurement expert.

CPBN spokesperson Johanna Kambala said the effectiveness of debarment is not satisfactory, citing that it has loopholes open for exploitation.

“Debarment only applies to a company, but what happens next is that the owner can easily open another company and continues to partake in tendering, yet they are incompetent, thus it needs to be strengthened,” she said.

In that regard, Chief learning and development officer under the Procurement Policy Unit in the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises Esther Moonde said there are plans to have the Debarment Act amended.

“Soon, the act will be amended and reformed so that the debarment can be comprehensive and include blacklisting individuals and companies who are found wanting,” said Moonde.

The Procurement Policy Unit is responsible for overseeing and investigating irregular bidding.

Moonde advised public entities to make use of the Electronic Government Procurement Portal to see which companies are debarred, thus making it easy to eliminate them.

During the event, Ngavetene reiterated that the CPBN has tremendously moved to quell corruption at the entities.

“Most of the complaints against the board are not about corruption, but most often by bidders who lost out,” said Ngavetene.
Email: shania@namibian.com.na