N$364m solar tender challenged

A JOINT venture has challenged the Central Procurement Board (CPB) of Namibia’s decision to award a N$364 million solar power plant tender.

The board advertised the tender for the procurement and construction of the Umburu 20MW solar power plant near the Erongo mountains and the Omaruru River.

The client for this tender is the national electricity provider, NamPower, which plans to invest N$4,7 billion into renewable energy generation projects in five years.

The latest solar tender near Omaruru has been hit by alleged irregularities since the tender closed in February this year.

Now it has reached boiling point, amid al-legations that some board members are pushing for one company to win this tender while disregarding the basic rules.

The Central Procurement Board announced last month that it has awarded the contract to Hopsul Africa and Tulive Private for N$364 million. One of the joint ventures, Shining Energy, Knight Piesold & Global Busi-ness Development, which bid for the contract is, however, unhappy with the way the board handled the tender.

Their bid was N$390 million.

Shining Energy managing director Silas Namutewa submitted an appeal to the tender board review panel on 14 September 2020.

One of their concerns was that all the bidders were asked to provide total bid prices for the project.

“Therefore, none of the other bidders, including the successful bidder, complied with this requirement to submit a total bid price,” Namutewa said.

He said it is not clear how the CPB arrived at the N$364 million total price for Hopsul Africa since its N$0,484 bid was not clear.

“There is no indication whether this is the price per kWh,” Namutewa said.

He said if N$0,484 was per kWh is correct, then Hopsul Africa’s total bid is around N$28 million since the proposed power plant is only expected to produce a maximum of 20 megawatts of power.

“In the absence of proper reasons, the decision of the first respondent (board) is irrational and unsustainable and certainly not transparent,” Namutewa added.

According to him, the CPB has also not been responsive in hearing their grievances.

In some instances, they were informed that some of their bid documents were not attached.

“All the documents identified in the column as not submitted were, in fact, submitted,” he added.

The same company has in the past complained that the procurement board was sending official communications for objections close to weekends.

Companies are often given seven days to appeal tender awards.

“The period should not include weekends (Saturday and Sunday),” the company said.

Namutewa was supported by Harold von Lüttichau, who represented their joint venture.

Von Lüttichau said the failure to indicate total bid prices allowed room for manipulation.

“The failure of bidders to indicate their bid prices in the manner indicated by the successful bidder, creates an opportunity for incorrect assumptions being made, and more importantly, for the evaluation being manipulated resulting in an unfair, unreasonable and non-transparent process,” he said.

This project has been in the pipeline for years. Estimates showed that it would cost around N$500 million.

understands that some top CPB members have threatened this company for complaining about the procedures followed in this tender.

Questions sent to the CPB chairperson Patrick Swartz were not answered.

It appears the next scramble for tenders is now around solar energy contracts where there is around N$4,7 billion in renewable energy deals through NamPower.

Last year, NamPower managing director Haulofu said “Namibia stands to benefit as the worldwide boom in solar markets results in reduced costs and improved efficiency of solar photovoltaic panels and related equipment”.

The national power company also wants to invest in solar projects in areas such as Gobabis and Rehoboth.