SARBHANG

11 September, 2009The recent controversy over the health ministry's procurement process questions the government's entire procurement system from the dzongkhags to the central ministries.

In spite of the new standard bidding document (SBD) coming into force from 1 April 2009, many loopholes and old practices still continue. The public procurement policy division (PPPD), under the finance ministry, which came out with the revised SBD document, still receives numerous complaints and queries and, since April, with a 'two volume' thick complaint and enquiry letters from bidders and agencies. In fact, some of the issues facing MoH are also the same ones faced by some other agencies.

For the purchase of medical equipment by the health ministry, there were only two tender committees, the tender opening committee and the inter-ministerial tender selection committee. The new and even old procurement manual requires three separate tender committees for opening, evaluation and then selection.

Again, in the evaluation and selection for equipment, it is done by the selection committee, which, according to experts, is not legal and does not ensure the check and balance required among the three committees.

Another problem in MoH was that members of the tender opening committee were also on the tender selection committee. This also goes against the new SBD, which asks for different members in each of the three committees.

However, in a training workshop organised by PPPD, procurement officers and engineers from various agencies questioned the need for different members in different committees on the basis that it was difficult to get people due to the risk involved. Some also recommended a sitting fee.

"If there are same members on all the committees then, if a member favours a certain company, it becomes very easy for that member to ensure his company gets the tender," said a PPPD official.

An area of concern is that technical advice is sought from doctors and technicians while specifying and selecting equipment for purchase. But the problem is that these doctors are not qualified to judge equipment and many are trained on limited brands, leading to a preference regardless of the quality.

A medical expert told Kuensel that, in other countries, qualified bio-medical engineers would do the specifying and selection, since they would be updated with all medical equipment and also with the latest technology. In spite of the large MoH budget, Bhutan is yet to have a qualified bio-medical engineer.

A PPPD official told Kuensel that such lack of capacity was also a problem in other agencies. "The solution in the short term is to hire experts if need be."

Another big problem right now is having trained people on the ground to check for quality defects, while receiving specialised equipment, drugs, textbooks and construction material and services.

In the case of MoH, it is the medical supply depot in Phuentsholing and Gelephu and the technical advisers, who are supposed to check for quality defects.

An excuse government agencies have used over the years to cover up controversies in big tenders is the 'inter-ministerial tender selection committee', which has members from other ministries. The logic being that blame is shared between ministries.

However, Kuensel has found that the two MoF and MoEA members are outnumbered in the MoH inter ministerial tender committee and only fulfill the role of representation like in other agencies.

PPPD is recommending the dissolution of the inter-ministerial committee system since it has become more of a blame sharing mechanism and allows a ministry to avoid accountability.

Even among bidders there is lack of understanding of the bidding process. Yesterday, MoF issued a circular to all agencies, saying that there are still many bidders not submitting a complete copy of bid documents.

In the MoH equipment bidding process, a major constraint has been the lack of fixed standards and specifications for equipment while announcing tenders. This gives loopholes to suppliers and colluders to supply poor quality items, which is also a problem in other agencies.

"While ordering for a gho, if one just says a mathra gho, then there will be a problem if one has not specified the thread, thickness, quality, etc. The same goes for tendering specifications," said a PPPD official.

One problem area, according to PPPD, is poor planning and the rush to execute projects without proper monitoring like the labour ministry's recent vocational training institutes or even the expressway project.

By Tenzing Lamsang

source: Kuensel