Make e-bidding compulsory for contracts above Rs 2.5m: PAC
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KATHMANDU, JAN 21 -
E-bidding is now being made compulsory for all government contracts worth more than Rs 2.5 million. The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday directed the government to start implementing this system from the current fiscal year.
The PAC directives, if implemented, would put an end to the practice of collusion, coercion and intimidation during the bid submission. The contractors themselves are often involved in intimidation. “All the ministries and departments under them must follow the e-tendering system from the current fiscal year,” said PAC chairman Ram Krishna Yadav.
The government, through the current budget, had announced implementing compulsory e-bidding in all government contracts worth above Rs 20 million from April 2011.
In a meeting, the PAC also lauded government efforts in the national procurement system. The government is all set to set up a central e-procurement system that will save time and money besides making the bidding procedure transparent and more effective.
The Department of Roads (DoR), the first government office to implement electronic bidding, is upgrading its e-tendering system to allow other government offices to use its portal for collecting bids.
“Upgrading of the electronic procurement system will be completed within two weeks,” said DoR director general Ram Kumar Lamsal. “It will be totally e-based and applicable for international bidders too.
Rameshwor Khanal, secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said that the government was always ready to help implement e-procurement effectively as it was safe, reliable and reduces corruption. “This system can evaluate a bid within four hours and award the contract accordingly,” he added. He said e-procurement would be made mandatory for procuring food for the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force.
Introduced two years ago, e-tendering is now being implemented by the Department of Roads, Department of Irrigation, Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee, Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention and Department of Urban Development and Building Construction.
As of now, the DoR has awarded 2,768 contracts through e-bidding which has also saved 27 to 35 percent of the estimated project cost.
Donors in the last Nepal Portfolio Performance Review (NPPR) had talked highly about e-bidding started by the government. “The donors including the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have appreciated our system,” said Lamsal. The donors in the NPPR 2010, had urged the government to implement phased e-bidding and had asked it to enhance the capacity of the Public Procurement Monitoring Office. To ensure transparent and fair outcomes, the Asian Development Bank’s Country Director Barry Hitchcock had suggested a possible role of third parties in the monitoring.
The DoR said its e-procurement system would be upgraded within two months. “We will upgrade the e-procurement system with all the advanced facilities within two months,” said Ajay Kumar Mull, senior divisional engineer of the DoR. He added they would develop the system in such a way that contractors would be able to make the necessary payment online, check tender pricing and details from the public domain, and even check the project activities under the contract monitoring system.
After upgrading of the e-procurement system, contractors will be provided a USB type drive “Hard Key” that will cost Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000. Lamsal said that the key had been mandatory as there was no provision of digital signature authentication developed by the Ministry of Science of Technology and Public Procurement Monitoring Office yet.
The Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal (FCAN) has welcomed the PAC’s directive saying upgrading the system would help make the procurement procedure easy, effective and efficient. “We had long been asking the government to expand this service to other ministries as well,” said FCAN president Yakshya Dhwoj Karki. “It is good that the government is building a central mechanism for all procurement.”
Posted on: 2011-01-21 09:12
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