RA’s tender policy under spotlight

THE company that missed out on the multi-million dollar tender to construct the Roads Authority’s headquarters will argue in court that the parastatal failed to adhere to its tender policy, which compels it to accept the lowest bid after the pre-qualification stage.

The tender for the construction of the N$219 million RA head offices, was given to Namibia Construction, a decision that led the Chinese company, New Era Investment, to take the authority to court over the matter.

Also listed as respondents with the RA and its board chairperson are the three companies which tendered for the job – China Jiangsu (in a joint venture with Otjomuise Construction), China Jiangxi International and Namibia Construction.

The case is expected to open in court this Friday.

Even though construction is set to start next month, the project, which has been shelved since 2002, might be halted again because New Era Investment is asking the court to order RA to either give the tender to them, or to reconsider it.

In his founding affidavit, Guihua Li, New Era Investment board chairperson alleges that they list China Jiangsu-Otjomuise Construction JV as a respondent because the joint venture was formed specifically to tender for the RA head office job.

Li argues that under RA’s “own procurement regulations, it should accept the cheapest tender unless good grounds for not doing so exist and then those grounds or reasons must be recorded”.

“Where no tenders are rejected for technical reasons or for not conforming to the terms of reference, the lowest cost tender shall be accepted. Where a tender other than the lowest is accepted, the reason for this recommendation must be documented,” Li quotes RA’s procurement regulations.

New Era Investment scored 10,5 out of 20 in the technical assessment, with documents explaining that the company has “very questionable quality of work and ability to carry out tasks to programme deadlines”, while the low quote was said to have the potential of exposing “the RA to possible risks associated with poor workmanship, and ill conceived programming”.

Cited as examples are previous government jobs such as the construction of the finance offices and the University of Namibia.

New Era Investment has, however, denied these allegations.

Li states that the application seeks to “review and correct or set aside a decision by the board of first respondent (RA)” and to ask the court to “direct the first respondent to award the tender to applicant”.

“In the alternative the award of the tender to fifth respondent (Namibia Construction) should be set aside and the tender be referred back to first respondent (RA) for reconsideration,” he further states, adding that his argument is based on the fact that his company’s bid was the lowest.

Some of New Era Invetsment’s claims are that:

• The RA board of directors did not scrutinise the recommendations made by the consultants, who they claim, were appointed in a dubious manner.

• The technical and financial evaluations were designed “for all intents and purposes” to favour Namibia Construction.

• The architect company – Stauch and Partners Architects, which made the recommendations, was unlawfully appointed; and the company which was appointed to work on the project in 2002 – Chase and Holmes Architects – merged with Stauch and Partners, thereby taking all intellectual property, including the design of the RA’s head office. This, New Era Investment argues, gave Namibia Construction an advantage.

• RA’s divisional corporate manager Rosa Nakale recommended the architects to the board.

“Recommendations were completely, both in form and nature, the same as those from the two profession teams without any serious effort to critically consider and question the recommendations. The decision cannot stand tall,” New Era Investment further argues.

A letter written by Nakale in October last year said Chase and Holmes Architects was awarded the tender in 2003. However, New Era Investment alleges Nakale made the decision before the board of directors, when she was the acting CEO.

RA CEO Conrad Lutombi has, on several occasions, defended the tender award.

“The Ministry of Works and Transport’s evaluation policy was also used to ensure that tender prices were reasonable and market-related.

Tender prices that are not market related and unreasonable were disregarded as this may compromise the quality and pose risks for the construction works,” the RA chief said two weeks ago.

Lutombi instructed the parastatal’s lawyers, Dr Werder, Kauta and Hoveka Inc, to plead innocence.

The seven-storey building with two basement levels, will be situated on the corner of Hochland Park Avenue and Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue in Windhoek’s Southern Industrial Area, and will cover an area of 18 000 square metres.

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