Govt changes tender law

THE Finance Ministry is giving the existing Tender Board Act of 1996 a complete overhaul to strengthen procurement from black economic empowerment and youth groups and give preference to companies with a 30 per cent Namibian ownership.

The Tender Board has the responsibility of allocating tenders for Government construction projects and procurement of goods required by Government institutions. The Board annually handles N$5 billion worth of tenders. Addressing a two-day Tender Board retreat aimed at finalising the new bill, Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said a new Tender Board staff structure would also be put in place.’It shall be made up of men and women with expert qualifications in procurement and related skills to enable them to provide quality service to the Tender Board. This institution is an important stakeholder in public procurement whose role cannot only be confined to administration of the [new] Act, but supporting the development of an appropriate procurement framework.’The Tender Board is serious with its reform drive and last week it prominently placed advertisements in some newspapers announcing that it would only grant tenders to those companies which employed unskilled and semi-skilled people living in Namibia. The new bill is still in an early drafting stage but some major changes include that no longer should only the lowest bid be accepted, that the Board must keep minutes of each meeting of proceedings and its decisions, that all future tenders may only be executed if a written agreement exists and that it can withdraw a tender from a tenderer who has been found guilty of corrupt practices as defined the Anti-Corruption Act. No tender exemption may be negotiated or granted without the approval of the Treasury. When considering tenders, the Board will also give effect to the objectives of the envi-saged Government Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy and the existing Namibian Financial Services Charter. Tender bids by Namibian companies, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), previously disadvantaged groups and the youth will be preferred.