Procurement board favours foreign bidders – business association

The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) sometimes sets the bar too high, ensuring that local business people are not awarded tenders.

This is according to Namibia Local Business Association (Naloba) spokesperson Marius Nangolo in reaction to claims by CPBN chairperson Mary Shiimi that more than 50% of bids submitted to the board are disqualified due to non-compliance.

Shiimi was speaking at a campaign launch on Wednesday, where she said the reasons for disqualification including incomplete forms, incorrectly filled in forms or late submissions.

Nangolo said, “sometimes local businesses, most of them small and medium businesses, meet the requirements but because some technicalities are included that favour established or foreign companies, this guarantees that local businesses do not get the tenders.”

He said before submitting bids, businesses assess their capacities and skills and only submit tenders when they are satisfied they can do the job. But requirements like financial standing involving millions of dollars, always pull locals down.

“Ironically, local business people do almost 80% of the contract work as sub-contractors yet they are disqualified from getting the tenders,” he said.

Nangolo said the N$11.8 billion worth of tenders awarded to local businesses over seven years is too little to close the inequality gap.

“Foreign companies that win all the big tenders always ship the money out of the country, leaving Namibians jostling for crumbs,” he claimed.

Nangolo conceded that there are instances where local entrepreneurs have failed to deliver on tenders awarded.

“These are chancers who constitute about 1% of all local businesses, but you find these people still getting more tenders despite their failure to deliver,” he said.

Shiimi said due to some disgruntled bidders going to court, service delivery in key sectors has sometimes been delayed.

Nangolo said while there have been claims of corruption at the procurement board, it is sometimes difficult to prove them because the perpetrators always cover their tracks.

“As Naloba, we support the president when she says corruption is treason because it does not benefit the majority of Namibians,” he said.

In November last year, Olsen Kahiriri, the legal representative of China Communications Construction Company Ltd and its Namibian joint venture partner Profile Investments (Pvt) Ltd, accused the CPBN of allowing corrupt practices by members of the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) during the tender bidding process.

The partnership’s bid had been disqualified and they appealed to the committee for a review.

On 4 October 2024, the committee instructed the CPBN to re-evaluate a railway supply tender bid correctly and consistently.

CPBN spokesperson Johanna Kambala defended the board, insisting that it was a credible and professional organisation and the allegations against it were devoid of any truth.

“The evaluation of bids at CPBN are conducted by BECs who are independent, experienced and qualified persons from the public (not CPBN employees),” she said at the time.

She added that in line with the CPBN code of conduct and declaration of conflict of interest, BEC members are strictly prohibited from engaging with bidders regarding the content of their submissions.

– email: matthew@namibian.com.na